Protecting Endangered Species in the USA Requires Both Public and Private Land Conservation

Authors

Niall G. Clancy, Utah State UniversityFollow
John P. Draper, Utah State UniversityFollow
J. Marshall Wolf, Utah State UniversityFollow
Umarfarooq A. Abdulwahab, Utah State UniversityFollow
Maya Cassidy Pendleton, Utah State UniversityFollow
Soren Brothers, Utah State UniversityFollow
Janice Brahney, Utah State UniversityFollow
Jennifer M. Weathered, Utah State UniversityFollow
Edd Hammill, Utah State UniversityFollow
Trisha B. Atwood, Utah State UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Scientific Reports

Volume

10

Publisher

Nature Publishing Group

Publication Date

7-17-2020

First Page

1

Last Page

8

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Abstract

Crucial to the successful conservation of endangered species is the overlap of their ranges with protected areas. We analyzed protected areas in the continental USA to assess the extent to which they covered the ranges of endangered tetrapods. We show that in 80% of ecoregions, protected areas offer equal (25%) or worse (55%) protection for species than if their locations were chosen at random. Additionally, we demonstrate that it is possible to achieve sufficient protection for 100% of the USA’s endangered tetrapods through targeted protection of undeveloped public and private lands. Our results highlight that the USA is likely to fall short of its commitments to halting biodiversity loss unless more considerable investments in both public and private land conservation are made.

Recommended Citation

Clancy, N.G., Draper, J.P., Wolf, J.M. et al. Protecting endangered species in the USA requires both public and private land conservation. Sci Rep 10, 11925 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-68780-y