Conservation Easements as a Conservation Strategy: Is There a Sense to the Spatial Distribution of Easements?

摘要

With limited funding, many land preservation organizations are turning toward conservation easements as a strategy for protecting species, ecosystems, and landscapes. We used metrics of conservation value and threat to explore the extent to which easements are being deployed strategically within California. While easements have been effectively targeted toward counties with greater than expected native plant diversity and extensive private ownership of land, easements have not been used to target areas with the most imperiled species. In addition, although easements can be more cost effective than outright land purchases, easements were not preferentially used over land purchase in counties with higher land costs. These analyses suggest that there is potential for improving the geographic allocation of easement efforts.