America’s natural systems and landscapes are impacted by increasing land use pressures and widespread resource threats such as habitat fragmentation, invasive species, and water scarcity. These changes are occurring at an unprecedented pace and scale and are amplified by a rapidly changing climate. By leveraging resources and strategically targeting science to inform conservation decisions and actions, Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs) are a network of partnerships working in unison to ensure the sustainability of America’s land, water, wildlife and cultural resources.
Facilitated by the Department of the Interior (DOI) as part of its collaborative, science-based response to climate change, LCCs complement and build upon existing science and conservation efforts—such as fish habitat partnerships and migratory bird joint ventures—as well as water resources, land, and cultural partnerships.
Each LCC operates within a specific landscape, with 21 geographic areas in total. Partners include federal, state, and local governments, tribes, universities, nongovernmental organizations, landowners, and other stakeholders. Collectively, LCCs form a network of land, water, wildlife and cultural resource managers, scientists, and interested public and private organizations—within the U.S. and across our international borders—that share a common need for scientific information and interest in conservation. By functioning as a network of interdependent units rather than independent entities, LCC partnerships can accomplish more together than any single agency or organization can alone.
Core functions include:
- identifying common science and conservation goals and priorities,
- developing science-based tools and solutions to meet shared conservation goals,
- supporting biological planning, conservation design and adaptive management, and
- evaluating the effectiveness of scientific information and conservation actions.
With an initial federal investment of $25 million in 2010, nine LCCs have been established across the country. These include the Arctic, Great Northern, Great Plains, North Atlantic, South Atlantic, Pacific Islands, Plains and Prairie Potholes, Gulf Coastal Plains and Ozarks, and California regions.
In the face of accelerating climate change and other 21st-century conservation challenges, LCCs will continually seek out new scientific information, assess the effectiveness of conservation actions and make necessary adjustments as new information becomes available. This recurring feedback process will help scientists and resource managers deal with uncertainties on the landscape and transform new knowledge into more effective conservation plans and actions on the ground.