Part 1 of a series on protected area significance

The truth about conservation is that some of the best work is done by intelligent folks sitting in front of computer screens, tied to a global community by a tangle of phone and internet lines, or in a board rooms surrounded by like-minded Patagonia- and Carhartt-clad colleagues. Several years ago I made the commitment to surrender to the requisite technology, frequent meetings, plane trips and long days indoors that are needed to make effective conservation happen; however, I also vowed to live within the wild archetypal landscapes I work hard to conserve.

I prefer that the surrounding roads are dirt and to live and work in original wood and stone structures that were built by early Anglo settlers. My work soundtrack comes not through speakers but from open windows that are set to the sound of spring winds roaring down from the Rocky Mountain ranges several thousand feet above my home, and of the chirping of migrating birds that have returned this spring. My colleagues are the mountains and the network of trails winding for miles into the hills behind my home. My coffee break conversations are with a landscape rich in colorful wildflowers. I know the places that brown bear families forage and where I can watch them without fear. On lunch breaks, I tuck myself into the landscape, willing invisibility and grateful for what awaits finding. I can teach you how to listen when the forest offers secrets and can show you that true darkness rarely falls in the mountains.  I am free, alive and blessed with the time to know where the light falls on a grove of trees just so, where the first Sand Lilies bloom and the location of the first snow-free picnic spots.  

On a daily basis, these experiences solidify my (and others’) belief that protected areas are a cornerstone of our communities. The small ones ground our hometown experience by providing places for spring Frisbee, community meetings, fall flag football, winter sledding and summer concerts. The open fields, rivers, mountains and streams we live nestled within are the setting of our daily lives. The more grandiose protected places, such as wilderness areas and national parks, provide structure for our dreams. From childhood, we intend to live on a working ranch adjacent to Yellowstone, to climb a special mountain or to see a rutting herd of elk. Large or local, these places provide a canvas for connecting little ones, retirees and every age in the middle to water, grass, wildflowers, weather, mud, insects and wild animals.

My work at the Conservation Biology Institute (CBI), where I coordinate our protected area mapping and research efforts, also provides me a connection to place. Given the complexity and variation of our national protected areas network, I especially enjoy having a hand in the publication of our Protected Areas GIS database, PAD-US 1.1 (CBI Edition). Our team works tirelessly to identify and aggregate all lands dedicated to the preservation of biological diversity and other natural, recreational and cultural uses, and managed for these purposes through legal or other effective means (adapted from the IUCN definition). Guided by CBI’s ever-present goal of providing users with tools to address their own conservation projects, PAD provides those who depend on critical conservation resources with a database that represents the full range of conservation lands that are designated to preserve natural values.  We strive to capture not only the highly restricted places where man is only a visitor, but also the local designations where conservation is integrated into community landscapes.

It is fulfilling to see the ways the conservation community is tailoring PAD-US 1.1 (CBI Edition) to further land protection. In the National Conservation Easement Database Project, PAD-US 1.1 (CBI Edition) provides a framework for relating conservation easements to our national network of public protected areas. We are working with the United States Air Force to identify “no fly zones” over critical federal conservation lands. It is also rewarding have a hand in furthering U.S. Forest Service Legacy Program efforts to conserve state and private “working forests” that protect water quality, provide habitat, forest products, opportunities for recreation and other public benefits.

I encourage you to explore our Protected Areas Center. After you visit the site, please write or call me [csupples at consbio.org] Let’s  connect on opportunities for you to use this important resource to conserve biodiversity, open space and other natural areas. As Thoreau affirmed, “In wildness is the preservation of the world.”