Areas of critical environmental concern as a strategy for landscape level conservation across the Colorado Plateau regio

Increasing pressure from climate and land use changes across the West are leading to increased habitat fragmentation, loss of biodiversity, and the alteration of important ecological processes. To better manage for these impacts, the protected area networks across the United States are tasked with conserving an adequate representation of all biodiversity. Unfortunately, research indicates that the most highly protected areas are failing to do so. In light of this, recent research has identified valuable biogeophysical characteristics across our public lands, the majority of which is managed for multiple uses by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). In addition to the management of the National Conservation Lands (NCL) system, the BLM also manages a local conservation designation called an Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC). First, I quantify the designation patterns of ACECs across the Colorado Plateau region to understand how ACECs have been applied across the landscape. I then conduct an ecological and geophysical representation assessment of all BLM land and both the NCL and ACEC networks separately. The results of this analysis demonstrate that ACECs are well positioned to fill significant conservation gaps that exist within the NCL system, and they can better enhance the representation of biogeophysical diversity within the BLM conservation portfolio. If better coordinated, the NCL and ACEC conservation networks provide an opportunity for the BLM to emerge as the future leader of landscape conservation in the U.S.