Rangeland Ecology & Management

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PARTNERS FOR CONSERVATION - PROMOTING AND SUPPORTING LANDOWNER-LED CONSERVATION COLLABORATIONS
Author
Moore, Dina
Jester, Steve
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
2015
Body

Partners for Conservation (PFC) is a national collaboration of local, landowner-led, landscape-scale collaborations, featuring large-scale public-private partnerships focused on sustaining working landscapes. The group originated from a landowner-led collaboration operating in western Montana that in 2006 received a grant to transfer their highly effective collaborative approach to other landscapes across the nation. As the group developed, it found similar, landowner-led collaborations that also desired to spread and support this community of practice. The organization was officially established in 2010 and operated as a volunteer group until a partnership with the National Wildlife Refuge Association allowed the hiring of a director in mid-2013. The group remains a landowner-led organization and is governed by a very active12-member board of landowners each from a different state. Partners for Conservation has five pillars; 1. Landowner-led, 2. Collaboration gets work done, 3.Local lessons have national impact, 4. Support voluntary incentive-based programs and 5. Sustainability is a balance between ecology and economy. The organization focuses on activities and sets priorities based on these pillars. Unlike the collaborations represented within the membership, PFC does not implement place-based projects. The organization does work to promote “best management practices” of collaboration and works on activities and supports programs and policies that encourage and enable collaborative efforts on working landscapes. To deliver this vision the organization works at several scales. Nationally PFC works with agency partners to bridge the gap between landscapes and agencies that view collaboration as an important part of meeting organizational goals. The organization assists locally and regionally through workshops, meetings or other activities that improve understanding between landowners, landscapes and the various natural resource agencies and conservation partners. While challenges differ PFC has found that landscape stakeholders typically have more that unites than divides and that nationally effective collaborations share a number of attributes.

Language
English
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Conference Proceedings
Conference Name
SRM Sacramento, CA