Improving Collaboration Between State Trust Land Managers and Large Landscape Conservation Practitioners

Large landscape-scale conservation (LLC) frameworks hold significant promise for meeting 21st century challenges while maintaining and/or restoring the health and function of critical ecosystem services. This approach recognizes that preservation of functional ecosystems cannot realistically take place on isolated patches of conserved lands, or rely on single agencies or land owners to manage, but that neighboring landowners and managers have an important role to play, especially in ensuring connectivity for wildlife migration. A key factor recognized by nearly all LLC initiatives is the importance of collaboration among multiple stakeholders to the success of the effort.

State trust land managers, as holders and managers of over 38.5 million acres in the Intermountain West, are significant stakeholders and are important to the success of many LLC initiatives. However, they are infrequently involved in LLC initiatives in the West. By bringing such a significant large land owner to the table in landscape-scale conservation initiatives and finding mechanisms that enable their increased participation in development and implementation of management goals, large landscape conservation practitioners will earn a valuable partner, and make important strides in achieving their objectives across multiple jurisdictions.