Regional conservation design for the southern Sierra Nevada and Tehachapi Mountains, USA

Regional Conservation Design generated by the Southern Sierra Partnership as part of the report ("Framework"): “ Framework for Cooperative Conservation and Climate Adaptation for the Southern Sierra Nevada and Tehachapi Mountains”.   It is a synthesis of the four scenarios.  See section 5.0 of Framework for goals and methods. 

The Regional Conservation Design is the SSP’s spatial vision for conservation that takes into account the current distribution of biodiversity and threats as well as the projected effects of climate change in the region.   The SSP’s Regional Conservation Design identifies a network of core areas and connections between them that support high biodiversity and valuable ecosystem services. 

The regional design is not a public or private land acquisition plan*, nor is it meant to imply that areas in blue should be subject to increasing regulatory constraints.  The regional design does not presuppose specific strategies, rather it serves as a hypothesis of what it will take to conserve the natural systems of the region in the context of a changing climate.  The priority areas represent how different parts of the region can contribute to a network managed for ecosystem resilience.