Thinking Big: Lessons Learned from a Landscape-Scale Approach to Coastal Habitat Conservation

ABSTRACTWhile historically many coastal habitat conservation activities have focused on single projects and “low-hanging fruit,” there is increasing interest in strategically addressing habitat challenges at landscape scales. Zooming out to identify large-scale conservation needs and areas of greatest impact can yield significant ecological and economic benefits, but requires a new way of thinking and working that can be challenging. Based on a session convened at the Restore America's Estuaries/The Coastal Society Summit in November 2014, this article explores the concept of landscape-scale conservation, describes how it aligns with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Habitat Blueprint initiative, and provides case studies of ongoing landscape-scale efforts in three coastal areas: the Cape Fear River in North Carolina; the Russian River Watershed Habitat Focus Area in California; and the West Hawai‘i Habitat Focus Area. These examples illustrate both the benefits and the challenges of tak...