Site conservation planning framework in The Nature Conservancy
- Site conservation planning is a scale-independent process that defines the landscape within which conservation targets (i.e., species and communities of concern) can persist
- The process integrates more traditional preserve design and land acquisition activities with newer conservation biology and ecosystem management concepts into a single dynamic framework
- It is cost effective and popular means
- Site conservation planning can be thought of as a series of questions, which if answered would constitute the major components of a plan
Questions asked in site conservation planning
| Planning component | Component question |
| Teams | Who should be included in the planning process and implementation of the plan? |
| Targets and goals | What are the significant conservation targets and long-term goals for those targets? |
| Ecological information | What biotic and abiotic attributes maintain the targets over the long term? |
| Human context information | What are the basic characteristics of the human communities at the site? |
| Threats | What current and potential activities interfere with the survival of the conservation targets and the maintenance of ecological processes? |
| Stakeholders | Who are the organized groups and influential individuals at the site, what impacts might we have on them and how might they help or hinder us in achieving our goals? |
| Conservation strategies | What can we do to prevent or mitigate threatening activities and how can we influence important stakeholders? |
| Conservation zones | What are the areas on the ground where we need to act? |
| Implementation | What kinds of actions are necessary to accomplish our goals, who will do them, how long will they take and how much will they cost? |
| Feasibility | Can we succeed in our goals, based on assessment of ecological and human context concerns and programmatic resources? |
| Measures of progress | How will we know if we are making progress toward our goals and if our actions are bringing about desired results? |
