Beyond the Easement

The Problem

Over two-thirds of land in the US is privately owned, making private landowners a crucial partner for conservation efforts. Implementation of best management practices on private lands can make these areas an important piece of a large-landscape conservation strategy and increase the resilience of existing protected areas. Federal agencies, state governments, and non-profits such as land trusts already have programs in place to incentivize private land conservation. Conservation easements have been become synonymous with private lands conservation, but easements are not always the best option for a landowner. While many other types of opportunities exist, there is currently no "one-stop shop" for landowners hoping to explore their options, nor is there an easy way to understand what conservation actions are best tailored to their property type or size. For landowners who are on the fence about taking action, the amount of work necessary to understand all options could be a barrier to entry.

Our Proposal

A new online tool will allow users to navigate to their property and explore the conservation opportunities specifically tailored for their land. Using a base landcover layer, opportunities will be based on current ecosystem type and property size. Users will also be able to input their goals: are they motivated by tax breaks? Conservation of a certain species? Do they want an easement or some other conservation solution? Opportunities will be ranked by how well they match user preferences. By taking into account property location, landowners can be matched with state-specific programs (e.g. California's Private Lands Management Program) or land trusts working in their area. Since landowners are often inspired by the action of their neighbors, users will also have the opportunity to create a profile and connect with other users in the area. This tool will serve as a on-stop shop resource for landowners, lowering the barrier of entry to taking conservation action on their land.

We Assume that...

We assume that private landowners want to take conservation action on their lands.

We assume that conservation action on private lands will help combat the current biodiversity process.

We assume that private landowners will be excited by this tool and will find it useful.

We assume that we can find all of the data necessary to make this tool useful, including all programs existing at the local level.

We assume that land trusts and other nonprofits will be willing to share information about where they work.

We assume that we can build a team with the technical capacity to create this map, and the automation to keep it updated.

We assume that by having information presented more readily, more private landowners will engage in conservation action.

We assume that the federal government and state governments will continue to fund these conservation programs.

Constraints to Overcome

The biggest constraint is organizational - while many opportunities already exist for private lands conservation, they are extremely silo'd. The federal government has one set of programs, which exist across multiple agencies, and the same problem is true at the state level. Nonprofit organizations also offer different opportunities, but often only in certain geographies. It's extremely difficult for any one landowner to understand what opportunity is the best fit for their goals and their property. This tool will bring all of this information into one place, streamlining the process and ensuring that private landowners can put their energy into bringing conservation to the ground, not searching the web.

Current Work

The project is still just an initial idea, but tasks could include: End user interviews - are private landowners interested in this type of tool? what would they want from it? Collect base information - what data will go into the site Brainstorm on user interface - what is the workflow once a user arrives at the site (customization, etc.) Build initial prototype - maybe focus on a single state?

Current Needs

Technical expertise - website development & web scraping for data Subject matter expertise - familiarity with incentive programs for private lands conservation across the US Communication support - once the tool is built, figuring out how to make landowners aware of it