Development of a State Biodiversity Conservation Strategy Under Divided Authority: The Challenge in Pennsylvania

• Author: Robert B. McKinstry, Jr./Coreen Ripp/Emily Lisy
• Pages: 481-487

Part VII

Development of a State Biodiversity

Conservation Strategy Under Divided

Authority: The Challenge in

Pennsylvania

Most states do not have well-established and integrated biodiversity

conservation programs. Rather,like Oregon, they have a polyglot as-

semblage of environmental and resource-based programs addressing bio-

diversity incidentally rather than comprehensively. The chapters in Part VII

look at Pennsylvania specifically as an example of some of the challenges

that states face when attempting to develop a comprehensive biodiversity

conservation strategy. Some of these challenges include bridging the gap

created by the divided authority and enforcement of the state agencies. De-

spite the challenge that Pennsylvania faces, there are some efforts already

underway statewide to integrate the agencies and focus their attention and

efforts on biodiversity conservation. This part starts by examining the

biodiversity programs of the existing agencies in Pennsylvania and then

looks at emerging efforts to develop a coordinated approach to biodiversity

conservation through interagency efforts and planning. Most states without

established biodiversity programs have a similar potpourri of agencies and

programs addressing some aspects of biodiversity,with significant gaps and

a lack of coordination. Developing a biodiversity conservation strategy re-

quires the coordination of agencies, the assessment of the status of biodi-

versity and habitat, and the coordinated involvement of all stakeholders, in-

cluding all levels of government, private industry, and nongovernmental

conservation and research institutions. The efforts underway in Pennsylva-

nia to implement such a process, described in the concluding chapters of this

part, are typical of the process that has been successful elsewhere.

Chapters 29 through 33 describe the efforts of various agencies with juris-

diction relating to biodiversity to implement programs that address sus-

tainability and biodiversity conservation. As in many states, creating a con-

sistent and coordinated strategy for biodiversity conservation is complicated

by the fact that jurisdiction is divided among many agencies. In Pennsylva-

nia, the primary agencies with jurisdiction over the issues impacting bio-

diversity include the regulatory agency with primary authority over environ-

mental regulatory programs, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmen-

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