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Protected Area, Easement, and Rental Contract Data Reveal Five Communities of Land Protection in the United States

2021; Ecological Society of America; Volume: 102; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/bes2.1888

2327-6096

Heather Bird Jackson, Kailin Kroetz, James N. Sanchirico, Alexandra Thompson, Paul R. Armsworth,

American Environmental and Regional History

Photo 1. Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument in Garfield County, Utah. A typical county in the Multi-use Open Space land protection community, Garfield County has most of its area protected (96%), much of it managed by the federally run Bureau of Land Management and managed for multiple uses (GAP 3) using designations and fee ownership. Its socioenvironmental attributes are also typical: low historic and current population size, large county size, high elevation, low numbers of threatened species, western longitude, and low soil productivity. Photo credit: Heather Bird Jackson. Photo 2. Beaver Brook Watershed in Clear Creek County, Colorado. A typical county in the Public Forest protection community, Clear Creek County has most of its area protected (75%), much of it managed by the federally run US Forest Service with significant support from smaller actors, often using easements and with significant amounts of the strictest protection (GAP 1). In the case of Beaver Brook Watershed, US Forest Service fee ownership with multi-use protection (GAP 3) is supplemented by multi-use (GAP 3) fee ownership managed by a regional water district, a strict (GAP 2) easement held by a local non-government agency, and a multi-use (GAP 3) designation by the county government. The socioenvironmental characteristics of the Public Forest community are in the same direction as Multi-use Open Space, but less extreme. Photo credit: Heather Bird Jackson. Photo 3. An agricultural field in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana bordered in the back by privately managed native bottomland hardwood forest. Typical of the Agricultural Heartland protection community, St. Landry Parish has significant protection through federally managed Conservation Reserve Program rental payments (no GAP status) in addition to federally managed easements with strict protection (GAP 2). The vast majority of St. Landry has no recorded protection (93%), an amount more typical of the Low Protection community, though no recorded protection is abundant in both the Agricultural Heartland and Diversified Lowlands communities as well. St. Landry's socioenvironmental characteristics are more typical of the Agricultural Heartland community: low current population size, high soil productivity, low elevation, large numbers of threatened species, low education levels, and western longitude. Photo credit: Heather Bird Jackson. Photo 4. Flag Ponds Nature Park in Calvert County, Maryland, is managed by the Calvert Nature Society, a local non-government organization. Calvert County is most closely aligned with the Diversified Lowlands land protection community. With more and stronger protection than the Agricultural Heartland or Low Protection communities, the Diversified Lowlands community is characterized by a diversity of non-federal actors, including local governments, non-government organizations, and states. Fee ownership and easements, but not designations, are the most common tools. The Diversified Lowlands community has ​substantial amounts of strict protection (GAP 2) and protection without clear conservation objectives (GAP 4). Calvert County has socioenvironmental characteristics typical of the Diversified Lowlands community: low elevation, high historic population size, small county area, high current population size, eastern longitude, and large numbers of threatened species. Photo Credit: Heather Bird Jackson. These photographs illustrate the article "Protected area, easement, and rental contract data reveal five communities of land protection in the United States" by Heather B. Jackson, Kailin Kroetz, James N. Sanchirico, Alexandra Thompson, and Paul R. Armsworth published in Ecological Applications. https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2322.