Building partnerships to deliver applied science to natural resource managers: Case studies from southwestern Landscape Conservation Cooperatives

Background/Question/Methods

Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs) were launched in 2010 as public-private partnerships with the goal of sustaining fish and wildlife and other natural resources in the face of increasing environmental threats, including climate change.  Through facilitating identification of shared landscape scale planning needs and desired outcomes among a diverse group of resource managers, self-directed LCCs seek to integrate and translate science and provide decision support tools for on-the-ground conservation applications. 

Results/Conclusions

The presentation includes case studies from the southwest that illustrate how LCCs are fostering novel alliances, effectively reducing scientific uncertainty, and providing tools to help managers make decisions in the face of climate change.  In the Gulf Coast Prairie LCC geography, sea level rise and decreased freshwater flows converge in a region experiencing large demographic changes.  Wildlife managers, in particular, are working to use science, including inventory and monitoring, to identify conservation actions effective in sustaining wildlife populations in the face of these threats.  Effectively applying science requires innovative approaches and the Desert LCC is working to adapt its collaborative processes to meet the needs of its diverse partnership and stakeholders.  Some of these approaches and their early results will be shared.