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Landscape-scale conservation planning performed in a systematic and transparent manner is becoming more common as it is increasingly evident that ecological processes are being affected at large spatial scales. The Appalachian Landscape Conservation Cooperative undertook a 15-state landscape conservation planning project, resulting in a landscape conservation design called "NatureScape." To facilitate "NatureScape's" implementation by groups and individuals participating in on-the-ground landscape conservation, we developed an online decision support tool. This tool has the potential to assist Extension services in delivering research-based information to varied stakeholders as they make land use decisions.

Native ecosystem and biodiversity loss from land use conversion into human‐modified landscapes are evident in the United States and globally. In addition to public land conservation, there is an increase in private land conservation through conservation easements (CEs) across exurban landscapes. Not every CE was established strictly for biodiversity protection and permitted land uses can increase human modification. No research of which we are aware has examined the actual tax assessor's land use designations (LUDs) through time. We constructed granular CE datasets (GCED) of CEs and their parcels' tax assessment LUDs for 1997–2008/2009, based on original data from 12 counties in six US states. Using the GCED, we examined patterns in the LUDs, with implications for land uses that could impact CE biological outcomes. We show that LUDs on exurban private conservation lands were predominately residential and agricultural, with increased residential over time. Critically, the LUDs lack a biological conservation exempt designation/category. There is no consistent trend in association between the primary CE reason and its parcel's LUD, suggesting that they coincide in some circumstances but in others, the CE may be a response to contravene the LUD. The majority of the first CE reasons are focused on open space preservation, except in some counties where agricultural land uses and agricultural CEs are associated. The economically and human‐focused LUD is one of many social factors that should be considered in a classification system for private land conservation and CEs more specifically. These results prompt the land conservation, conservation biology, and environmental planning communities to explore assessed land uses' impact on biodiversity conservation objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental education (EE) is instrumental in developing environmentally literate citizens with the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to support sustainable development. In the case of EE school field trips in the USA, these experiences also foster learning and skill development that supports meeting state and national educational standards. However, despite the importance of EE field trip programs, not all schools participate. This study explored the barriers to accessibility to EE field trips by conducting semi-structured interviews with EE providers and administrators of middle schools in the Congaree Biosphere Reserve (CBR), South Carolina, USA. We also used geospatial information systems to investigate accessibility spatially. Results suggest that aspatial barriers such as curricular constraints, capacity to plan and lead field trips, costs, and transportation influence participation. The results also suggest that these aspatial barriers are often interlinked and that access to EE field trips is disproportionately allocated to students in private education and urban settings and that rural, poor, minority, underperforming, and English as Second Language students face additional hurdles. We discuss a range of potential solutions to overcoming these barriers that reduce participation in EE field trips in the CBR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Carolina coastal and inland wetlands are continentally important to resident, migrating, and wintering dabbling ducks (Anatini), diving and sea ducks (Aythini, Mergini, Oxyurini), pelagic waterbirds (Anhingidae, Laridae, Pelicanidae, and Phalcrocoracidae), and wading birds (Ardeidaie, Ciconiidae, Threskiornithidae). Our goal was to model wetland selection of these waterbird guilds in South Carolina during autumn–winter to determine habitat preferences and guide wetland conservation and restoration amid sea‐level rise and other coastal pressures. We conducted aerial surveys and recorded waterbird occurrence and relative abundance in winters 2017–2019. We modeled waterbird–habitat relationships relative to managed and unmanaged coastal and inland wetlands, legally protected conservation lands (e.g. federal, state, and private easements), and habitat diversity. Waterbirds selected a variety of wetlands emphasizing the importance of wetland diversity within habitat complexes. However, only managed tidal impoundments (MTIs) and protected conservation lands were selected across all waterbird guilds. Results suggest these are contemporary keystone habitats for promoting wintering waterbird abundance and diversity in South Carolina and other South Atlantic coastal regions. To compensate for future coastal wetland loss while facilitating the current and future needs of migrating and wintering waterbirds, we recommend: (1) identification and continued management of MTIs resilient to sea‐level rise; (2) strategic planning and partnerships for land acquisition and legal protections inland; and (3) land protection networks between extant coastal and inland sites designated for future construction and emigration of decommissioned MTIs. Stakeholder and partner engagement is paramount to prioritize resource allocation for the restoration, construction, and decommissioning of coastal and inland wetlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Blue Ridge and Piedmont of the southeastern United States are rich in biodiversity and have undergone centuries of extensive deforestation and subsequent urbanization resulting in geomorphic landscape changes. To investigate the impacts of past and present land uses on stream salamander communities across both ecoregions, we surveyed streams associated with different land uses at the riparian zone and watershed. Using the USGS land-cover data set (2006) and aerial photographs (1940), we assessed the current and historical percent land cover (urban, agriculture, and forests) at local and landscape scales for each sampling site. Using percent land cover as predictors and diversity indices (species richness, Simpson's index, and relative abundance) as response variables, we developed a stepwise multiple regression model and a redundancy analysis. Both analyses indicated the negative impacts of historical land uses, particularly row-crop agriculture, on stream salamander diversity and community structure rendering streams unsuitable for all but the most tolerant species. Legacy effects were prominent in the Piedmont where protected areas with agricultural history were species-deprived (70% decline) compared with stream habitats that had sustained a continuous forest cover through time. Our findings suggested that landscape processes resulting in historical forest cover loss may persist over 50 years during forest recovery. Key words: historical land use, amphibians, land-use legacies, urbanization, farming, stream ecosystems. Les regions du Blue Ridge et du Piedmont du sud-est des Etats-Unis ont une riche biodiversite et ont connu des siecles de deforestation extensive suivie d'une urbanisation qui ont entrame des modifications au paysage geomorphologique. Pour etudier les impacts des utilisations passees et actuelles des sols sur les communautes de salamandres de cours d'eau dans les deux ecoregions, nous avons examine des cours d'eau associes a differentes utilisations des sols a l'echelle de la zone riveraine et du bassin versant. A l'aide de l'ensemble de donnees sur la couverture du territoire du USGS (2006) et de photographies aeriennes (1940), nous avons evalue les pourcentages actuels et passes de couverture du territoire (urbaine, agricole et forestiere) a l'echelle locale et du paysage pour chaque site d'echantillonnage. En utilisant les pourcentages de couverture du territoire comme variables predictives et des indices de diversite (richesse specifique, indice de Simpson et abondance relative) comme variables dependantes, nous avons mis au point un modele de regression multiple pas a pas et procede a une analyse de redondance. Les deux analyses ont fait ressortir les impacts negatifs des utilisations historiques des sols, en particulier la culture en rangs, sur la diversite et la structure des communautes de salamandres de cours d'eau, qui rendent les cours d'eau impropres a presque toutes les especes a l'exception des plus tolerantes. Des effets herites etaient importants dans le Piedmont, ou des zones protegees ayant des antecedents agricoles etaient appauvries en especes (baisse de 70 %) par rapport a des habitats lotiques qui avaient beneficie d'une couverture forestiere continue dans le temps. Nos resultats donnent a penser que des processus geomorphologiques decoulant de pertes de couverture forestiere par le passe pourraient persister pendant plus de 50 ans durant le retablissement de la foret. [Traduit par la Redaction] Mots-cles : utilisation passee des sols, amphibiens, caracteres herites de l'utilisation des sols, urbanisation, agriculture, ecosystemes lotiques., Introduction Increasing human populations and their demand for natural resources have resulted in a diverse array of transient and permanent land-cover transformations including farming, timber harvest, and settlements (Ellis et [...]

In the US, land records are fragmented and difficult to assemble. This paper details issues of access to land records from traditional land record institutions within US counties, focusing on conservation easements (CEs), CE geospatial data, and tax-assessment data. This paper also explores the issue of privacy related to CE land records and land trusts, the primary type of non-profit that holds CEs. Previous literature has cited landowner concerns about privacy as a driving force behind land trust's hesitancies to share information. However, we find evidence that landowner privacy concerns may be overestimated and more nuanced than previously reported. Additionally, we document widespread issues related to access of CE documents from register of deed's offices. This paper supports reforms to better track CEs within register of deeds offices and reforms to make land records data more accessible for pluralistic societal needs and to support inclusion in environmental governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]