Coordination and Planning Tools That Can Be Applied to Biodiversity Conservation

• Author: Robert B. McKinstry Jr., James McElfish, and Michael Jacobson
• Pages: 203-226

Chapter 17

Coordination and Planning Tools That

Can Be Applied to Biodiversity

Conservation1

by Robert B. McKinstry Jr., James McElfish, and

Michael Jacobson

I. The Importance of Planning for Biodiversity Conservation: The

Elements of an Effective Plan

Planning represents one of the most important legal tools for meaningful

biodiversity conservation. Meaningful protection of ecological systems re-

quires consideration of the interactions of all media (air, water, soil, and un-

derlying geology), interactions of most taxa of plants and animals, and inter-

actions both within ecoregions spanning many political jurisdictions and be-

tween ecoregions that may span continents. It also requires consideration of

the legal tools, institutions, and attitudes existing within the various jurisdic-

tions. Given these diverse considerations, a mechanism for coordination is

critical to meaningful protection for biodiversity conservation. Planning can

provide such a mechanism.

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1. Some of the discussion in this chapter has been adapted from an analysis of

laws prepared by James McElfish, an analysis of methods for land protection

prepared by Robert B. McKinstry Jr., and Michael Jacobson, and an analysis of

best management practices and best stewardship practices prepared by

McKinstry, Emily B. Schwartz, and Curtis P. Wagner for the Pennsylvania

Biodiversity Partnership (PBP) and the Pennsylvania Department of Conser-

vation and Natural Resources (PDCNR) and is used by their permission. The

three articles are identified on the PBP website at http://www.pabiodiversity.

org (last visited Sept. 14, 2005), and will be posted as Pennsylvania

Biodiversity White Papers Nos. 1, 2, and 3 on the PBP website in the future.

The views expressed here are solely those of the authors and should not be

deemed to represent the views of either the PBP or the PDCNR.

Although planning is a widely used tool under the Endangered Species

Act (ESA)2and other federal conservation laws, the United States lacks a co-

ordinated structure for planning for comprehensive biodiversity conserva-

tion at the federal level. Anumber of private entities and a few states have re-

cently moved to address this gap by developing plans to integrate

biodiversity efforts.3Despite the critical importance of planning for biodi-

versity conservation, most jurisdictions still lack plans to coordinate a

wealth of available tools for biodiversity protection.4Current biodiversity

protection efforts are largely ad hoc with little coordination among the great

variety of governmental bodies and private organizations that acquire and

manage land for conservation purposes or among the great variety of regula-

tory programs and grant and aid programs. However, as will be shown in this

chapter, there are some successful examples and states are moving toward

more comprehensive biodiversity planning.

A biodiversity plan is important because it forces one to consider the big

picture and to articulate an overall strategy for biodiversity protection.

Planning forces one to identify and make explicit the applicable goals across

the many program areas that affect biodiversity. An effective plan will also

identify management constraints. Based on consideration of the goals and

constraints, it can then identify the most efficient way to accomplish the

goals. A good plan enables one to identify costs and constraints and explic-

itly to evaluate trade offs. Planning ultimately enables one to identify and,

thereby, anticipate and avoid problems. The plan should focus on what mix

of strategies will best conserve biodiversity in the long run and what tools

are best suited to the mix. To be meaningful, the strategy in a plan should

not merely focus on means but should identify and coordinate ends. It

should further specify how to monitor and measure success in preserv-

ing biodiversity.

Planning can be directed to the scientific, organizational, and legal issues

alone. For example, a good plan will identify the threats to biodiversity, the

most effective tools for addressing those threats, the institutions and funds

needed, and the available institutional mechanisms for measuring

biodiversity and implementing a plan. Some of these elements of planning

need not be “spatially explicit”—that is, they need not address where conser-

vation should occur. Ultimately, however, for a biodiversity conservation

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Biodiversity Conservation Handbook

2. 16 U.S.C. §§1531-1544 (2000), ELR Stat. ESA §§2-18.

3. See Jessica Wilkinson, Status of the States: Innovative State Strat-

egies for Biodiversity Conservation (Envtl. L. Inst. 2001).

4. In Pennsylvania, public-private partnership of diverse governmental, indus-

trial, and nonprofit conservation organizations has been formed as the PBP

to develop such a plan. See Biodiversity Partnership, Pennsylvania,at

http://www.biodiversitypartners.org/state/pa/. Similar efforts led to the estab-

lishment of the Oregon biodiversity plan. See supra Chapter 7.