STRATEGIC CONSERVATION VISION (SCV) Tool

The Gulf Partnership’s SCV is a geospatial planning tool to help guide land and water conservation across the Gulf to achieve the most significant environmental benefit. With its first iteration launched in 2014, this tool has provided over a decade's worth of information to regional partners, turning science into action and leveraging millions in support for conservation projects.

The SCV tool was built in collaboration with partners from the Strategic Conservation Assessment team, Mississippi State University, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and a dozen regional conservation partners, with funding provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Gulf of America Alliance, and the RESTORE Council.

History of the Strategic Conservation Vision

Land Conservation Vision (1.0)

In 2014, the Land Trust Alliance (the Alliance), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and The Conservation Fund (TCF) pooled their resources to assist the Gulf Partnership with the implementation of a science-based, replicable planning process to identify priority areas for conservation within the five Gulf Coast states. Our approach included several steps:

Identify species, habitats, ecosystem services, natural resources, and other priorities for conservation and restoration. This includes four primary focus areas: large contiguous wetlands, migratory birds, scenic rivers, and longleaf pine habitat.
Combine these factors with local knowledge to identify priority areas for land protection within the RESTORE-defined region of each Gulf Coast state.
Implement land protection activities in cooperation with local communities, willing landowners, state governments, and/or federal agencies, placing emphasis on the lands identified in the report.

This report can be found below and served as the building block for the eventual Strategic Conservation Vision mapping tool.

Strategic Conservation Vision (The Pilot)

In 2020, the US Fish & Wildlife Service, RESTORE Council, and the Strategic Conservation Assessment Team (SCA), in partnership with Mississippi State University Quantitative Ecology and Spatial Technologies Lab worked to build off prior regional planning efforts to launch a new geospatial planning tool that would identify regional conservation needs and align funding programs to promote strategic land conservation.

Origins in Collaboration

One of the largest collaborative stakeholder tool-building endeavors, the SCA Team, and Gulf Partnership worked with 24 regional partners, representing a diverse coalition with a variety of goals and objectives.

Refining Goals

Six priority conservation layers were identified by the working group: wetlands over 10ha, Longleaf Pine, Migratory Birds, Working Lands, Connectivity of Natural Lands, and Composition of Riparian Zones. Additionally, to ensure the inclusion of the Partners’ focus areas, we encouraged each partner to provide geospatial data files of their priority conservation areas of interest. Finally, a ranking was established based on overlapping conservation priorities to create a multitiered geospatial tool for conservation across the Gulf states.

Results

In its first year, the SCV tool guided approximately $350,000 in funding for 23 regional projects, covering over 26,000 acres and leveraging an estimated $48,000,000 in conservation value. With these immediate results, the Gulf Partnership began the process of launching a final version of an all-encompassing SCV tool.

Strategic Conservation Vision (2.0)

Building on the Pilot's groundwork, the SCV was retooled with new additions and expanded services, with a focus on three primary objectives.

Platform migration and modernization: To improve stability, usability, and long-term maintenance, the SCV tool was migrated from its temporary home on RShiny to an Esri-based, ArcGIS Enterprise system hosted by Mississippi State University. This update also enabled the integration of project GIS data into analysis.
Geographic expansion: The initial pilot framework limited the SCV tool to the RESTORE boundary, which covered all of Florida, but only a narrow coastal ribbon for Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. The final version is now statewide for all Gulf States, with Georgia also included. This update benefits all regional partners and aids in the conservation of natural resources beyond the estuaries, across the entire watershed.
Data layer updates and integration: The original conservation data layers were updated with the most recent datasets currently available. Additionally, Audubon’s Climate Stronghold (add link) and American Farmland Trust Farms Under Threat (add link) were incorporated, recognizing the need for predictive analysis for landscape threats and future habitat conditions. New SCV tool reporting provides a similar multi-tier ranking score, along with individual conservation analysis. Additionally, acreage and area summaries of ancillary data layers for The Nature Conservancy’s RAMP (Regional Advance Mitigation Planning) data, Florida Wildlife Corridors, and Florida Ecological Greenways Network are provided in optional data summaries.

Science Into Action

The Strategic Conservation Vision (SCV) was incorporated into the Project Assistance Fund (PAF) Program to guide funding for on-the-ground conservation efforts. Since its launch, the SCV tool has guided approximately $2,000,000 in funding for 72 regional projects, covering over 82,000 acres and leveraging an estimated $167,000,000 in conservation value. With these results, the Gulf Partnership continues to incorporate the SCV tool into its conservation programs, ensuring alignment with regional planning efforts.

"We will have a dynamic, online Conservation Vision that will aid our efforts and those in the region in making decisions about conservation priorities both for acquisition as well as restoration.” - Tom Kay, former Chair - Gulf Partnership Board of Directors