AUTHORS: Jon Podoliak Missouri Department of Conservation; Tom Bonnot US Fish and Wildlife Service; Nate Muenks Missouri Department of Conservation; Shelby Timm Missouri Department of Conservation; Billy Huggins University of Missouri
ABSTRACT: The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) has been a leader among states in advancing landscape conservation. Through landscape-scale planning and prioritization as part of the implementation of the Missouri Comprehensive Conservation Strategy, we have identified 11 Priority Geographies (PGs) in which we are working with partners, including private landowners, to conserve species, habitats, and ecosystem functions. These PGs represent areas with some of the most opportunity for conservation success and remaining intact habitat. To assess ongoing management actions and community engagement within PGs, the department and partners developed a prototype for a Landscape Health Index (LHI) that collects, analyzes, and integrates a variety of data to monitor the responses of species and landscapes to conservation efforts and measures progress over time. Data on biotic communities, landscape processes, and social condition are combined into one score for each PG that can be tracked over time. Further, the index is built on layers of data that can be assessed individually, allowing practitioners to assess which aspect of a landscape may not be meeting expected levels based on predefined goals and respond accordingly. The LHI has been implemented in two pilot PGs and work is ongoing to implement in the remaining nine. We will detail the results from the two pilot PGs as well as updates to the process and ongoing efforts.
