Beyond priority pixels: Delineating and evaluating landscapes for conservation in the contiguous United States

Abstract

Sustaining biodiversity depends on conservation actions coordinated at spatial extents large enough to maintain ecological processes. Numerous conservation prioritizations have been conducted resulting in gridded maps of pixels representing importance. However, it is not always clear how to move from priority pixels to landscape conservation designs, as pixels do not represent tangible, coherent landscapes for conservation attention. We attempted to move from pixels to landscapes by locating patches of high value pixels and overlaying level IV ecoregions from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to delineate 74 landscapes ranging from 2927 to 95,962 km2. These landscapes were delineated to represent large areas of high wildland conservation value on which landscape conservation plans could focus, but where such plans would be embedded in national conservation priorities. After delineating landscapes, we assessed how well they represented the highest value areas with respect to ecological integrity, connectivity value, ecosystem representation priority, and biodiversity priority. We also assessed socio-economic condition of people within landscapes by evaluating economic and demographic data for counties within and adjacent to landscapes. Landscapes represented well high value lands with respect to ecological integrity, connectivity, and the composite wildland value, but poorly captured the highest value places with respect to ecosystem representation priority in the nation’s protected area system. Land ownership and protected status of landscapes varied from <1% to 96% in federal ownership and <1% to 50% in existing highly protected areas. Counties intersecting our landscapes reflected the diversity of socio-economic conditions of the contiguous US. Our analysis and results represent a means of moving from priority pixels to delineated landscapes where conservation plans can be developed collaboratively.