Nearly half of California is protected in some land status that prevents most kinds of intensive human land uses. These lands support extensive natural habitats, and for many species, are a critical stronghold in an increasingly human-dominated world.
Yet, changes in the landscape in and near these places have left many in a degraded and precarious condition. Catastrophic wildfire, invasive species, and climate change threaten vast swathes of the state. Protected lands are becoming increasingly isolated by urban and agricultural development, roads, and other infrastructure. Such obstacles can limit a species’ ability to move to across the landscape and adapt to climate change.
Conservancy scientists are working to enhance the resiliency of protected lands in the face of rapid change, and to maintain the landscape connections necessary for plants and animals to adapt over time.
Golet G.H., Kristen E. Dybala, Joeseph G. Silvera, Adam Henderson, Jennifer Isola, David H. Wright, Ron Melcer Jr., and Danika Tsao.
Lowland alluvial rivers are rich in biodiversity, yet many are highly degraded and no longer support robust natural communities. Over the past few decades, Bank Swallows, which depend upon these…
Michael J Clifford, Peter Gower, Tanya Anderson, Jaina Moan, Mickey Hazelwood, Sophie S Parker, Laurel Saito
Dramatic changes to the transportation and energy sectors are required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and meet the goal of keeping global average temperatures from rising. The authors discuss how…
Carrie A. Schloss, D. Richard Cameron, Bradley Franklin, Christoph Nolte, Scott A. Morrison
In response to biodiversity declines worldwide, over 190 nations committed to protect 30% of their lands and waters by 2030 . As these jurisdictions move from planning to implementation, we propose a…
Erin. E. Conlisk, Gregory H. Golet, Mark D. Reynolds, Nathan Elliot. and Matthew E. Reiter
Shorebirds are the second fastest declining group of birds in North America. To reverse this trend, The Nature Conservancy has been implementing BirdReturns, a habitat incentive program that pays…
William T. Bean, H. Scott Butterfield, Jeanette K. Howard, Thomas J. Batter
In this paper, the authors used a variety of habitat suitability modeling approaches to begin to understand where pronghorn may exist in the future in California under different climate change…
Lucy Genua, Brad Anderson, Meghan Bowen, Genelle Ives, Owen Liu, Thomas Paschos, H. Scott Butterfield, Kelly Easterday, Mark Reynolds, James H. Thorne
In this paper, the authors used historical vegetation data, from both aerial photographs and field transects, to assess the change in major vegetation types at the Dangermond Preserve over the last…
Michael J. Clifford, Sophie S. Parker, Laurel Saito, Brian S. Cohen, Naomi S. Fraga
Lithium batteries are important for the clean energy transition in the United States because they are used in electric vehicles and for grid power storage. However, lithium extraction may have impacts…
Nicholas A. Povak, Patricia N. Manley, Kristen N. Wilson
This study presents a methodology to integrate spatial assessments of current and future forest conditions to understand the potential to achieve desired conditions under climate change with ongoing…
Sophie S. Parker, Michael J. Clifford, Brian S. Cohen
To address climate change, the United States is incentivizing the production of electric vehicles containing domestically derived lithium batteries. Extracting this lithium may have environmental…
Michael Clifford, Sophie Parker, Matt Rader, Lydia Bailey, Naomi Fraga, Chris Hass, Estella Hernandez, Jan Kempf, Lois Merkler, Michael Swink
The Amargosa River supports one of the most outstanding suites of endemic and imperiled species in the world. In 2019, TNC acquired the Atwood Preserve in the river’s headwaters, the…
Michael J. Clifford, Sophie S. Parker, Brian S. Cohen, Elaine York, Joel Tuhy
This paper provides an assessment of changes in the conservation value of lands in the Mojave Desert of Nevada and Utah resulting from renewable energy and other development between 2010 and 2018. The…
The Nature Conservancy with Willis Towers Watson, Sarah Heard
California has the highest wildfire risk in the US, and climate change will continue to exacerbate the risk, at least in the foreseeable future. As a result, California is facing an insurance crisis,…
Adam H. Love, Andy Zdon, Naomi S. Fraga, Brian Cohen, Maura Palacios Mejia, Rachel Maxwell, Sophie Parker
This paper presents results from the Mojave Desert Springs research project. The authors present a comprehensive statistical analysis of similarities between California desert springs. An observed…
Kristen E. Dybala, Kristin. A. Sesser, Matthew E. Reiter, W. David Shuford, Gregory. H. Golet, Catherine Hickey, and Thomas Gardali
Conserving birds is a key goal for management of the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta ecosystem, one of the largest estuaries on the Pacific Coast, and is likely to have effects for populations well…
Jasmine Lu, Emily E. Hamblen, Lara J. Brenner, Julie L. King, Bridgett M. VonHoldt, Alexandra L. DeCandia
Over 50% of federally threatened Santa Catalina Island foxes (Urocyon littoralis catalinae) develop life-threatening ceruminous gland tumors in their ear canals. Previous work suggests that tumors may…
