Design Method

To represent the breadth of planning scales, the conservation plans were categorized in three ways: (1) individual states in the Gulf Coast Region (GCR); (2) political and geomorphological subregions (Table 2); and (3) the goals identified by the RESTORE Council (Table 3). Some plans extended beyond an individual state and were grouped as GCR plans in lieu of belonging to an individual state. The plans were also grouped by political and geomorphological subregions because of the importance of planning scale towards achieving conservation objectives. Plans with political boundary classifications (i.e., city, county/parish, region (within the state), statewide, and GCR), were developed by the representative political entity and incorporated some land conservation actions. Regional plans had focal areas of two or more cities or counties/parishes within a state and GCR plans had planning scales that spanned multiple states within the GCR. Geomorphological classification scales included coastal habitat for plans with focal areas such as barrier islands, estuaries, and other areas within the coastal zone (e.g., beaches, dunes, and salt marshes), and basin/watershed for plans which used watersheds as planning scales.

Table 2. Political and geomorphological subregions (subregions) considered in the assessment of Gulf Coast plans. The axis labels in all graphs will refer to the subregions by their short forms displayed here.

Category	Subregion Name
Geopolitical	City (CY)
	County and Parish (CP)
	Regional (REG)
	Statewide (ST)
Geomorphological	Coastal Habitat (CH)
	Basin and Watershed (BW)

Table 3. Goals identified in the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council. The axis labels in all graphs will refer to RESTORE goals by their short forms displayed here.

	RESTORE Goals	Definition
1	Restore and Conserve Habitat (HAB)	Restore and conserve the health, diversity, and resilience of key coastal, estuarine, and marine habitats.
2	Restore Water Quality and Quantity (WAQ)	Restore and protect water quality of the Gulf Coast region’s fresh, estuarine, and marine waters
3	Replenish and Protect Living Coastal and Marine Resources (LCMR)	Restore and protect healthy, diverse, and sustainable living coastal and marine resources
4	Enhance Community Resilience (CRES)	Build upon and sustain communities with capacity to adapt to short- and long-term changes
5	Restore and Revitalize the Gulf Economy (GEC)	Enhance the sustainability and resiliency of the Gulf economy