1. Designing Protected Areas
Lecture 10
Designing Protected Areas
Protected areas cannot coexist in the long term with communities that are hostile to them. However, when placed in the proper context, protected areas can make significant contributions to human welfare. Many protected areas face pressure from increasing populations whose economic well-being has suffered from a cumulative neglect of land and other resources. For protected area managers, detailed knowledge of the people whose lives are affected by the establishment and management of parks is as important as information about the plant and animal species to be conserved. The cultural and socio-economic characteristics of local people form the basis for measures to promote the sustainable use of natural resources, alleviate poverty, raise the quality of human life and create positive support for protected areas.
Because of conflicts between different uses for lands that are important for conservation, or between different economic interests with different objectives, protected area managers must give considerable attention to new ways of resolving conflicts. A key step is to get all parties in a conflict to sit down and try to recognize the validity of the opposing views and search for common ground. It is also important to identify the various "stakeholders" involved in the conflict, as well as to identify their interests.
Human communities living in and around protected zones often have important and longstanding relationships with these areas. These relationships embrace cultural identity, spirituality and subsistence practices which are essential to the continued existence of the community and frequently contribute to the maintenance of biological diversity. Protected areas should thus be seen as making an important contribution to conserving both cultural and biological diversity.
The relationships between people and land have too often been ignored and even destroyed by well-intentioned but insensitive resource conservation and management initiatives. Community participation and equity are necessary components in decision-making processes, together with mutual respect among cultures [Ed. note: see article by Tchamie].
Customary tenure systems, traditional knowledge and practices and the differential role of men and women in communities must be respected and built on in designing and implementing conservation plans.
At the same time, community involvement does not mean opening the national parks to all comers, any more than a banker would seek customers by opening the vault. Rather, a wise protected area manager, like a wise banker, uses the park's assets as a base on which to build customer satisfaction, investment and interest.
Welcome to Yellowstone National Park!
Established in 1872, Yellowstone National Park is America's first national park. Located in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, it is home to a large variety of wildlife including grizzly bears, wolves, bison, and elk. Preserved within Yellowstone National Park are Old Faithful and a collection of the world's most extraordinary geysers and hot springs, and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.
Beaver Lake, Yellowstone National Park, 1964

2. Lecture 3: Outline Species of the Day IUCN Classifications
IUCN Mammalian Extinction
The Three R’s of Reserve Design
Issues of Reserve Design
Conservation Networks
Reserves with Corridors
South Coast Wildlands Project
UCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, helps the world find pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges. It supports scientific research, manages field projects all over the world and brings governments, non-government organizations, United Nations agencies, companies and local communities together to develop and implement policy, laws and best practice.

3. Species of the Day Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA -1972) Impacts:
Beluga Whale (Delphinapterus leucas)
Impacts:
Unsustainable harvesting
Reduction of food resources
Pollution
Noise
Conservation Plan:
Improve our understanding of CIBW biology and factors limiting population growth
Stop direct loses
Protect valuable habitat
Evaluate the effectiveness of the current conservation strategies
The beluga whales of Alaska's Cook Inlet are endangered and require additional protection to survive, the government declared Friday, contradicting Gov. Sarah Palin who has questioned whether the distinctive white whales are actually declining.
The government on Friday put a portion of the whales on the endangered list, rejecting Palin's argument that it lacked scientific evidence to do so. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that a decade-long recovery program had failed to ensure the whales' survival.
TThat has the potential to affect major Alaska projects including an expansion of the Port of Anchorage, additional offshore oil and gas drilling, a proposed $600 million bridge connecting Anchorage to Palin's hometown of Wasilla and a massive coal mine 45 miles south of Anchorage.he decision means that before federaNOAA said Friday the Cook Inlet population declined by 50 percent between 1994 and 1998 and "is still not recovering" despite restrictions on the number of whales that Alaska's native population can kill for subsistence. It said recovery has been hindered by development and a range of economic and industrial activities including those related to oil and gas exploration.l agencies can issue a variety of commercial permits, they must first consult with the National Marine Fisheries Service to determine if there are potential harmful effects on the whales.
Previous population 1300, now
1994: Certain exceptions to the take prohibitions, such as for Alaska Native subsistence and permits and authorizations for scientific research;
The natural factors included stranding events, predation, parasitism
and disease, habitat capacity and environmental change. Human-induced factors were
subsistence harvest, commercial fishing, pollution, vessel traffic, tourism and whale watching,
coastal development, noise, oil and gas activities, and scientific research.

4. IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature
Draws attention to the magnitude and importance of threatened biodiversity
Identifies and documents those species most in need of conservation action
Provides a global index of the decline of biodiversity
Establishes a baseline from which to monitor the future status of species
Provides information to help establish conservation priorities at the local level and guide conservation actionHelps influence national and international policy, and provides information to international agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
CR = extreme (population reduction of 90% over the last 12 years)
EN = very high risk (population reduction of 80% of the last 10 years)
VU = high risk

5. IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature
What is the overall status of biodiversity, and how is it changing over time?
How does the status of biodiversity vary between regions, countries and sub- national areas?
What is the rate at which biodiversity is being lost?
Where is biodiversity being lost most
rapidly?
What are the main drivers of the decline
and loss of biodiversity?
What is the effectiveness and impact of conservation activities?
An example of a regional biodiversity analysis: Threatened terrestrial mammal species richness in Europe.

6. IUCN International Union for Conservation of Nature
Mammalian Extinction:
The results show 188 mammals are in the highest threat category of Critically Endangered
Nearly 450 mammals have been listed as Endangered
Habitat loss and degradation affect 40 percent of the world’s mammals. It is most extreme in Central and South America, West, East and Central Africa, Madagascar, and in South and Southeast Asia.
Overall, the IUCN Red List now includes 44,838 species, of which 16,928 are threatened with extinction (38%). Of these, 3,246 are in the highest category of threat, Critically Endangered, 4,770 are Endangered and 8,912 are Vulnerable to extinction.

7. Reserve Design Issues The Three “R’s” of Reserve Design:
Representation: All conservation units must be represented in the reserve.
Resiliency: Reserves must be sufficiently large and well-protected to maintain all of the conservation units in a healthy condition for the foreseeable future.
Redundancy: Reserves must protect enough examples of each conservation unit to ensure the long-term existence of the unit in the face of uncertainty.
Size and placement of protexted areas are often determined by the distribution of people, potential land values, the political efforts of cosnervation minded citizens, and historical factors. The largest parks often occur in places where foew people live and where the land is considered unsuitable or too remote for agriculture, logging, urban development, or other human activitites.

8. Reserve Design Issues Critical Concepts:
Is it better to have a single large reserve or many smaller reserves?
How large must a nature reserve be to protect species?
How many individuals of endangered species must be protected in a reserve to prevent extinction?
What is the best shape for a nature reserve?
When several reserves are created, should they be close together or far apart and should they be isolated from one another or connected by corridors?

9. Reserve Design Issues
Single Large or Several Small (SLOSS):

11. Reserve Design Issues Practical Applications:
When a new park is established, it should be made as large as possible.
Whenever possible, land adjacent to protected areas should be acquired in order to reduce external threats to existing parks.
If there is a choice between creating a new small park or a new large park in similar habitat types, the large park should be created.

12. Reserve Design Issues The Wildlands Network:
Core wild areas, truly wild areas where natural processes are allowed to function normally
Wildlife linkages, areas of shared use by humans and wildlife that allow wide- ranging species and others the room they need to find food, woo a mate, and travel safely across the land
Stewardship lands, areas that surround and buffer core wild areas and wildlife linkages, in which sustainable economic activities help to promote thriving local communities.
The Wildlands Project's work to reconnect the continent begins with "MegaLinkages"--vast pathways that tie natural places together
Within each continental MegaLinkage we propose regional systems of core protected areas connected to one another by "wildlife linkages," mosaics of public and private lands that provide safe passageways for wildlife to travel freely from place to place.
Although the Wildlands Project's call for restoring keystone species and connectivity was met, at first, with amusement, these goals have now been embraced broadly as the only realistic strategy for ending the extinction crisis.

13. Reserve Design Issues South Coast Wildlands:
Drawbacks of corridors:
May facilitate the spread of pest species and disease
Aniamls dispersing along corridors may be exposed to greater risks.
Organized by the California Wilderness Coalition and supported by the Nature Conservancy, the USGS, California State Parks and several conservation biologists that are experts on California contributed their knowledge.
-Presence of species and ecological processes -Threats present in linkage -Existence of documentation -Opportunity for acquisition and support
To identify potential routes between existing protected areas we conducted landscape
permeability analyses for selected focal species for which appropriate data were available.
Permeability analyses model the relative cost for a species to move between protected core
habitat or population areas. We defined a least-cost corridor—or best potential route—for each
species, and then combined these into a Least Cost Union. We then analyzed the size and
configuration of suitable habitat patches within this Least Cost Union for all focal species to verify
© Clint Graves
that the final Linkage Design would suit the live-in or movethrough
habitat needs of all.