Overview of SCA Tools

The US has a long history of practicing land conservation at all levels of government resulting in a robust network of protected lands in the Gulf Coast Region (GCR). However, a persistent conservation planning challenge is the identification of optimal lands in need of protection and subsequent prioritization of those areas based on ecological and socioeconomic valuations. As it is not possible to protect all the land worth protecting within a region at the same time, a strategic approach must be used to identify the most effective lands to conserve relative to ecological and socioeconomic goals.

The Strategic Conservation Assessment (SCA) suite of conservation tools developed in this project can be used by RESTORE Council members to identify and evaluate future land conservation strategies, opportunities, and projects in the GCR. These tools were developed through an inclusive and collaborative process that evaluated data from previously existing land conservation plans, and incorporated local, regional, and Gulf-wide input. The SCA suite of tools include Tool 1: the Conservation Planning Inventory Tool (CIT), a new Geographic Information System (GIS) based visualization of existing plans and other pertinent information; Tool 2: the Conservation Prioritization Tool (CPT), which reflects the Council members’ shared goals and priorities; and Tool 3: the Conservation Visualization Tool (CVT), which identifies land conservation opportunities based upon shared goals and other factors.

The project combined the land conservation plans already in existence in the GCR into decision support tools – the CPT and CVT - that offer a Gulf-wide perspective on land conservation. These tools combined with powerful modeling and analysis provide RESTORE Council members information they can use to ensure that the land conservation decisions they make provide the greatest benefit to current and future ecosystem sustainability and resilience within the states and across the GCR.

The tools developed in this project can lead to better informed decisions regarding land conservation strategies that will support local communities by increasing tourism, keeping working lands working, and maintaining ecosystem health and resilience. Decisions that include local, regional, and watershed perspectives are more likely to achieve the greatest shared economic and ecosystem benefits.