Project Title

Optimizing Landscape Planning for Co-Benefits Among Wildlife Populations and Agricultural Communities

Project Description

Wildlife management areas (WMA) protect wildlife, support outdoor recreation, provide ecosystem services and affect rural economies. This project will focus on the development of tools to measure the value of WMAs in the southeastern United States and to identify land parcels best suited for future protection in future WMAs. This will help ensure that the development of WMAs improves wildlife conservation efforts and rural well-being by quantifying wildlife conservation value, impacts to nearby property values, economic contributions via rural tourism, and carbon storage value of land considered for inclusion in WMAs.

Principal Investigators

• Nils Peterson, director
• Krishna Pacifici
• Chris Moorman
• Erin Sills

Collaborators

• State wildlife management agencies and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service refuge system managers
• Municipalities and representatives from non-governmental organizations
• Katie Warnell and Lydia Olander, Duke University Ecosystem Services Program
• Jane Harrison, North Carolina Sea Grant
• Rua Mordecai, South Atlantic Land Conservation Cooperative

Expected Outcomes

• Optimize wildlife management area expansion to benefit both wildlife and rural communities
• Collaborate with WMA managers in 15 southeastern U.S. states and Puerto Rico on future land conservation planning

About McIntire-Stennis

The McIntire-Stennis program, a unique federal-state partnership, cultivates and delivers forestry and natural resource innovations for a better future. By advancing research and education that increases the understanding of emerging challenges and fosters the development of relevant solutions, the program has ensured healthy, resilient forests and communities and an exceptional natural resources workforce since 1962.