Regional Conservation Partnerships in New England

Abstract

2 3 Across New England, a new model of regional collaboration is increasingly being used by land 4 conservation trusts, watershed associations, state agencies and others. Regional conservation 5 partnerships (RCPs) serve multiple purposes, such as coordinating among the various active 6 groups in the region and allowing them to leverage funding and staff capacity. However, their 7 essential missions are the same—protect more land from development. We use interviews, 8 geographic information systems (GIS), and statistical analysis on 20 case studies to document 9 RCP growth and characteristics and to analyze which attributes most contribute to their ability to 10 conserve land. Along with well-known factors of organizational development, we find that the 11 RCPs that match the size of the partnership region with the territory and capacity of the host 12 partner organization are better able to achieve measurable conservation gains. 13 14 Management and Policy Implications 15 16 Urbanization and climate change are motivating non-profit conservation land trusts to coordinate 17 their actions at the landscape scale. In large landscapes dominated by family forest ownerships, 18 land conservation trusts are increasingly cultivating regional conservation partnerships (RCPs). 19 RCPs are typically informal networks of people representing non-profit conservation 20 organizations and state and local government agencies that coordinate their activities to plan and 21 conserve connected forested landscapes across town and sometimes state boundaries in regions 22