Conservation Planning in a Changing World

As a science and practice dedicated to preventing, stopping, and reversing negative effects on nature, conservation is constantly faced with new challenges. Combine this fact with the rise of large, freely available datasets and computational power, and the result is a need to advance the methods and conceptual approach to conservation planning. In my dissertation I present novel methods and address research questions that aim to keep conservation science and practice relevant and effective in a changing world. This picture of continual change is illustrated in Chapter 1, in which I explore how the ongoing collection of observations of rare species changes spatial conservation priorities. I find that even after a century of data collection, new records do and will continue to significantly affect spatial priorities. I then moved to consider a new threat: the environmental impacts from shale gas surface infrastructure. I focus on how those environmental impacts may be partially abated by changing the locations of infrastructure. In Chapter 2 I assess the relative performance of simple guidelines for placing well pads, access roads, and gathering pipelines for shale gas development. I find that while targeted guidelines can be effective, none are universally so. In Chapter 3, I examine the site-level tradeoffs between reducing environmental impacts and increased construction costs for shale gas surface infrastructure. I find notable heterogeneity among sites in both the degree to which impacts can be reduced and the relative cost of doing so. Finally in Chapter 4, I evaluate the cost effectiveness of different regulations for reducing aggregate impacts from surface infrastructure across sites and find large gains from trade when implementing a cap and trade system. Overall, my dissertation facilitates a transition of knowledge for conservation planning to be able to better adapt to and cope with the changing world

Pet Project or Best Project? Online Decision Support Tools for Prioritizing Barrier Removals in the Great Lakes and Beyond

Structures that block movement of fish through river networks are built to serve a variety of societal needs, including transportation, hydroelectric power, and exclusion of exotic species. Due to their abundance, road crossings and dams reduce the amount of habitat available to fish that migrate from the sea or lakes into rivers to breed. The benefits to fish of removing any particular barrier depends on its location within the river network, its passability to fish, and the relative position of other barriers within the network. Balancing the trade-offs between ecological and societal values makes choosing among potential removal projects difficult. To facilitate prioritization of barrier removals, we developed an online decision support tool (DST) with three functions: (1) view existing barriers at various spatial scales; (2) modify information about barriers, including removal costs; and (3) run optimization models to identify portfolios of removals that provide the greatest amount of habitat access for a given budget. A survey of available DSTs addressing barrier removal prioritization indicates that barrier visualization is becoming widespread but few tools allow dynamic calculation of connectivity metrics, scenario analysis, or optimization. Having these additional functions, our DST enables organizations to develop barrier removal priorities based on cost-effectiveness in restoring aquatic connectivity