A process for selection and implementation of conservation approaches

In this book, we have described a variety of approaches designed to achieve biological conservation objectives for both rare and little-known species. Resource managers are usually most concerned, for practical reasons, with approaches that conserve large-bodied and better-known taxa. Because we know so little about population status and life history requirements of rare or little-known (RLK) species, conservation managers have been forced to assume that the needs of these species are being met via proxy through our management of vegetation communities and well-studied species. Because so much of the world's biological diversity consists of rarer and more poorly known species (see chaps. 3 and 4), our focus on these species is warranted. In this chapter, we propose a process by which a land manager might evaluate the conservation issues on a particular planning area and select a set of approaches to address those issues.