In this paper, we discuss the perspectives of diverse stakeholders on the changing nature of rural communities and land conservation. We used a questionnaire derived from interviews with stakeholders in two locations near expanding metropolitan areas at the edges of the southeastern and eastern forests. Based on principal component analysis, responses were most highly correlated within three pe...

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) was founded by ecologists as a United States land trust to purchase parcels of habitat for the purpose of scientific study. It has evolved into a global organization working in 35 countries 'to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends'. TNC is now the world 's largest conservation non-governmental organization (NGO), an early adopter of advances in ec...

Conservation easements are being more widely used to facilitate permanent land conservation. While landowners who initially place a conservation easement on their land are generally highly motivated to protect the conservation values of their land, changes in landownership may hinder long-term active landowner support for these easements. Maintaining such support is critical for ensuring their ...

The USDA Farm Bill conservation programs provide landowner incentives to remove less productive and environmentally sensitive lands from agricultural production and reestablish them in natural vegetation (e.g., native grasses, trees, etc.) to achieve conservation objectives. However, removal of arable land from production imposes an opportunity cost associated with loss in revenue from commodit...

Quantitative methods of spatial conservation prioritization have traditionally been applied to issues in conservation biology and reserve design, though their use in other types of natural resource management is growing. The utility maximization problem is one form of a covering problem where multiple criteria can represent the expected social benefits of conservation action. This approach allo...

The influence of past land use on the present-day diversity of stream invertebrates and fish was investigated by comparing watersheds with different land-use history. Whole watershed land use in the 1950s was the best predictor of present-day diversity, whereas riparian land use and watershed land use in the 1990s were comparatively poor indicators. Our findings indicate that past land-use acti...