Private, wild working lands: important settings for conserving imperiled species
Date
2014-09
Authors
Phillips, Mike, speaker
Allison, Lesli, moderator
Taggart, Craig, moderator
Danvir, Rick, moderator
International Wildlife Ranching Symposium, producer
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Abstract
Over 60% of the United States is held in private ownership. These holdings include some of the country's most productive lands and are often managed as working landscapes. Notably, the security of over 80% of the nation's imperiled species depends wholly or in part on private land. Private landowners have, however, been somewhat reluctant to support efforts on behalf of imperiled species based on myriad concerns, especially perceived regulatory restrictions related to the Endangered Species Act. In 1997 the Turner Endangered Species Fund and Turner Biodiversity Divisions were launched to conserve nature by ensuring the persistence of imperiled species and their habitats with an emphasis on private working lands owned by R. E. Turner. Since inception the Fund and the Divisions have been involved in a number of successful conservation efforts, including controversial reintroduction projects that aimed to restore viable populations of imperiled plants, birds, fishes, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. We are currently developing a conservation effort on behalf of a critically imperiled invertebrate. The organizations now stand as the most important private efforts in the world to arrest the extinction crisis. Our work has generated easily understood outcomes that stand as irrefutable evidence that private working landscapes can be used to advance the prospects of rare and vanishing species.
Description
Presented at the 8th international congress for wildlife and livelihoods on private and communal lands: livestock, tourism, and spirit, that was held on September 7-12, 2014 in Estes Park, Colorado.
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Subject
Wildlife management -- Congresses
Range management -- Congresses