Abstract

Power of Partnerships: Collaborative Conservation in Edwards Plateau Region, Texas
Track: Conservation
Authors: Nicholas Enwright, William Bartush

U.S. Department of Interior initiatives, Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCC), are newly created partnerships that bring together agencies and organizations grappling with landscape scale conservation in the face of threats and stressors such as climate change and urbanization.

Located within the Gulf Coast Prairie (GCP) LCC, the Edwards Plateau (EP) has rich biodiversity, including several endemic plants and animals, threatened by the threats and stressors mentioned above. The GCP LCC has developed a working group comprised of LCC partners working in the EP to define shared conservation goals for the EP.

This presentation outlines geospatial efforts by the working group including: 1) identifying shared priority areas by overlaying partner priority areas for a variety of purposes, mapping where partners are working, and identifying gaps (i.e., where conservation is needed); and 2) analysis of shared priority areas using datasets such as land values, climate projections, urban growth projections, and fragmentation data.