Co-producing decision support tools for strategic conservation of Gulf Coast Landscapes

Abstract

The U.S. Gulf of Mexico Coastal Region encompasses a diverse suite of ecological and cultural characteristics unique to North America. There are unprecedented opportunities for land conservation in the region, but challenges associated with non-complimentary ecological and socioeconomic priorities and access to scientific data can complicate acquisition and stewardship decisions. Thus, land conservation decisions have often been made based on willing sellers and cost of acquisition, rather than scientifically informed and stakeholder-driven conservation priorities. The Strategic Conservation Assessment of Gulf Coast Landscapes (SCA) project co-produced three land conservation decision support tools with over 650 conservation stakeholders in the region to help inform strategic, science-based land conservation decisions. Stakeholders were included in the design and development of all three tools from project initiation through execution. Transparent and frequent communication, full-time coordination staff, and sequential stakeholder design charrettes were vital in building trust and facilitating bidirectional information flow among stakeholders and the SCA Team. The co-production process, stakeholders involved, outputs, and final outcomes are described herein. The result was a suite of decision support tools that inform strategic land conservation decisions.