As our planet faces environmental and social crises and a massive loss of biodiversity, efforts to conserve nature are often seen in conflict with efforts to provide access to housing and adequate food, clean air and water, and outdoor recreation. The emergence of landscape conservation through robust, collaborative efforts by individuals and communities that provide for the interests of wildlife and nature is a necessary approach to meet these daunting challenges. Across the United States, there are many examples of conservation success through landscape collaboration, but the concept is hindered by incomplete application and a lack of suitable measures of program outcomes.
In this webinar, 2019 Kingsbury Browne Fellow Michael Whitfield will make a case for holistic landscape conservation efforts, discuss elements of holistic landscape collaboration that meet both ecological and social goals, and examine the consequences of their implementation in multiple settings. This webinar, which will be moderated by Jim Levitt, draws from Whitfield’s 2019 working paper, “Toward Holistic Landscape Conservation in the 21st Century“, available on the Lincoln Institute website.
Michael Whitfield is a conservation biologist and research associate with the Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative. He is a Founder and former Executive Director of the Heart of the Rockies Initiative, which in turn is the facilitator of the High Divide Collaborative. Prior to that, he was a founder and Executive Director of the Teton Regional Land Trust. Whitfield is a long-time leader in both the Land Trust and large landscape conservation communities in the United States. In 2019, he was awarded the Kingsbury Browne Conservation Leadership Award and Fellowship by the Land Trust Alliance and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. This honor is awarded annually to recognize outstanding leadership, innovation and creativity in land conservation. Whitfield lives and works in Teton Valley, Idaho.
Jim Levitt is Director of the International Land Conservation Network at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a Fellow at the Harvard Forest, Harvard University, in Petersham, Massachusetts. In addition, he serves as a Senior Fellow at Highstead, a non-profit organization advancing land conservation in New England. Jim focuses on landmark innovations in the field of land and biodiversity conservation (both present-day and historic) that are characterized by five traits: novelty and creativity in conception; strategic significance; measurable effectiveness; international transferability; and the ability to endure. Levitt has written and edited dozens of articles and four books on land and biodiversity conservation.