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As the Fences Come Down: Emerging Concerns in Transfrontier Conservation Areas
This document spells out why governments, the private sector, and civil society organizations involved in agriculture, livestock production, land-use planning, poverty alleviation, and public health should be concerned about the emergence of Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs).
Backyard Conservation? Landholder Stewardship vs. the 'Public Trust' Model of Natural Resource Protection
The idea is simple: If you own the land, you’re more likely to take care of its natural resources. But are landowners good stewards of natural resources? Yes, say the contributors to a new publication of the Madison, Wisconsin-based Sand County Foundation and The Aspen Institute,
Natural Resources as Community Assets - Lessons from Two Continents. Community-based natural resource management is shown in several case studies to restore damaged ecological systems and enhance biodiversity. Moreover, it bolsters the civic capacity of communities and creates economic opportunity. But not everyone agrees.
CCAs are natural and/or modified ecosystems containing significant biodiversity values, ecological services and cultural values, voluntarily conserved by indigenous, mobile and local communities through customary laws or other effective means. This briefing note provides definitions and illustrative examples of the CCA's around the globe.
Case Studies: Ranches in Utah exemplifying sustainable livestock production and range management
This paper presents several examples of excellent livestock production and range management in Utah. Included in the report are Harold Selman Ranch, winner of the Leopold Conservation Awartd in 2007; Johnson Ranch, winner of the Leopold Conservation Award in 2008; and Red Pine Land and Livestock, a finalist for the Leopold Conservation Award in 2009.
Commercial Wind Energy Development in Wyoming: A Guide for Landowners
Sand County Foundation Director Indy Burke contributed to the development of this guide, which assists landowners in developing wind farms on their properties.
Community Conservation from Concept to Practice: A Practical Framework
A useful conceptual overview of the range of community conservation frameworks and initiatives as they have evolved in Africa.
Community Forests - A Community Investment Strategy
This report on Community Forest models from New England builds upon analysis begun at Sand County Foundation's "Natural Resources as Community Assets" workshop held in Savanna, GA in 2003. It was funded in part by Sand County Foundation's Bradley Fund for the Environment. The report offers experiences and lessons learned from five case studies, and offers recommendations to facilitate expansion of the Community Forest Model.
A report, authored by Fred Nelson, then with Sand County Foundation, found that diversifying into Tanzania's vast cultural and ecotourism products could ease pressure on game parks and ensure long term environmental sustainability.
Conservation goes back to its roots
PUNE, India: Dawa Tsering Sherpa never thought he would see this day. Standing in a village high in the Kanchenjunga range of the Himalayas, he witnessed his community being handed the responsibility of managing the surrounding mountains and valleys as a conservation area …
Developing a Participatory Socio-Economic Model for Food Security, Improved Rural Livelihoods, Watershed Management, and Biodiversity Conservation in Southern Africa
A USAID-SANREM CRSP funded project with collaboration among WCS, Cornell University and a range of host country institutions, the multidisciplinary partnership between Cornell University and the WCS Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO) program (
http://www.itswild.org/ ) in Zambia is off to an encouraging start.
This study, primarily funded by Sand County Foundation's Bradley Fund for the Environment, found that the devolution of wildlife management to a system of Community Wildlife Management (CWM) in Tanzania is in need of new institutional models. The report examines how CWM needs to be approached as part of a broader social process of building local rights and access to resources through institutional reforms, rather than as a project-based or technical assistance strategy with short time horizons. It also provides suggestions for how practitioners in Tanzania and elsewhere might foster more effective and adaptive CWM approaches in light of these outcomes and experiences.
Hands-On Environmentalism
Part situation report, part manifesto, Hands On Environmentalism shows that it is possible to reach voluntary, enduring solutions to pressing environmental problems without heavy handed governmental intervention.
Improving Fisheries Management: Finding a Better Way
A report on the two-day workshop in Mystic, Conn. on November 13-15, 2007. The workshop had an Atlantic Ocean focus and drew upon select examples from other regional and international case studies. The intent was to inform improved management of U.S. east coast fisheries.
Lone Star Land Steward 2008
Texas Parks & Wildlife's Tom Harvey writes about the Vandivier Family's Llano Springs Ranch. The Vandiviers won the 2008 Leopold Conservation Award in Texas.
Patronage or participation? Community-based Natural Resource Management reform in Sub-Saharan Africa
Sand County Foundation's Bradley Fund for the Environment helped to fund this research, which examines the institutional factors that account for the outcome of efforts to decentralize control over natural resources to local communities.
Producers find economic, environmental value in cover crops through incentive program
Discovery Farms' Nancy Drummy discusses the partnership between Discovery Farms and Sand County Foundation, which offers incentives to Midwestern farmers who utilize cover crops.
Quotas down under: American fisherman get a firsthand look at New Zealand's management system
Article on the New Zealand Fishermen Exchange funded by Sand County Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, California Sea Grant, and the Alex C. Walker Foundation.
Recreational Hunting, Conservation and Rural Livelihoods
Sand County Foundation's Bradley Fund for the Environment helped to sponsor a conference, entitled, "Recreational Hunting, Conservation and Rural Livelihoods: Science and Practice" in London in 2006, which led to the recent publication of a book of the same title.
Reviving the Trinity
Article about Dr. Robert McFarlane and the Trinity River Initiative, an effort to preserve and restore the Trinity River basin in Texas.
Sagebrush initiative unveiled: Credit banking and marketing proposed
Article by Cat Urbigkit of
Wyoming Livestock Roundup on Sand County Foundation's Cooperative Sagebrush Initiative. The article appears in the March 17, 2007 issue.
Amy Grondin, salmon fishermen and presenter at Sand County Foundation's 2007 "Improving Fisheries Management" workshop in Mystic, CT, has prepared a question & answer paper on the ecological, socio-economic, and gastronomic status wild caught salmon in coastal Washington state. It is a compilation of a number of experts' insights on how consumers, restraunteurs, and seafood markets should view harvesting and eating wild salmon.
Taking Stock of the Seas
Jonathan V. Last writes about improving ocean fisheries through property-rights systems. The article highlights the Bradley Fund for the Environment's efforts to initiate partnerships with other funders for solutions that conserve fisheries and protect fishermen.
Taking the 'Wild' in Wildlife Seriously
Burgeoning populations of wild animals in cities and suburbs throughout the country may thrill folks who rarely, if ever, see such creatures outside a zoo or museum, but these animals can wreak havoc on human health and safety.
The Dead Zone: The Deepwater Horizon oil spill versus the dead zone in the northern Gulf of Mexico - which is worse?
Sand County Foundation sponsored a
discussion about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill’s interaction with the hypoxic zone in the northern Gulf of Mexico at the Soil and Water Conservation Society’s annual meeting in St. Louis in July 2010.This article is a synopsis of the report Dr. Nathaniel Ostrom gave at the meeting.
The San Diego Sea Urchin Project
This report, which is the culmination of research partially funded by the Sand County Foundation Bradley Fund for the Environment, presents a scientifically sound model for community-based management of the sea urchin fishery. The San Diego Watermen's Association concludes that community-based management is the approach most likely to lead to the long-term sustainability and profitability of the fishery.
The true value of open spaces
Sand County Foundation Director David K. Langford writes about the importance of preserving open spaces.
Wildlife is Our Oil: Conservation, Livelihoods and NGOs in the Tarangire Ecosystem, Tanzania
Maintaining the health of the Tarangire and Lake Manyara Parks is important to Tanzania‘s tourism industry and economy. Of particular importance are grazing and calving areas in the Simanjiro Plains. Conservation of the ecosystem‘s migratory wildlife populations depends on maintaining these habitats on communally owned lands. However, populations of most large mammal species have declined substantially. The conversion of pastoral rangelands to agriculture is believed to be a major factor. Community-based conservation interventions in the Tarangire ecosystem aim to increase the economic returns from wildlife and pastoral livestock production in order to reduce incentives for non-wildlife compatible agricultural land-use change.
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