Using Systematic Conservation Planning to Identify Climate Resilient Habitat for Endangered Species Recovery While Retaining Areas of Cultural Importance

Abstract

The effective management of at-risk species often requires fine-scale actions by natural resource managers. However, balancing these actions with concurrent land uses is challenging, particularly when compounded by the interplay of climate shifts, and escalating wildland–urban interface conflicts. We used spatial prioritization tools designed for biodiversity conservation to help resource managers on the Island of Lānaʻi prioritize mutually exclusive land use objectives: endangered species recovery and subsistence and recreational hunting. We weighed the current and anticipated future distributions of threatened and endangered plant species against the distribution of non-native game mammals to plan for species recovery more effectively. Prioritization results identified multiple footprints that could support recovery of all endangered species targets in climate resilient areas while retaining the majority of existing hunting areas. However, very little native vegetation was retained in conservation footprints without deliberate inclusion, which increased footprint area by 268%. Scenarios which prioritized contiguous conservation areas also dramatically increased conservation footprint area, although these scenarios may reduce associated fencing costs. This work demonstrates how spatial prioritization may guide localized species recovery efforts by supporting long-term conservation planning that addresses anticipated climate-driven increases in conflict between conservation and other land uses, with clear applicability beyond Lānaʻi.

Keywords

• spatial conservation prioritization
• systematic conservation planning
• climate resilience
• threatened and endangered species
• hunting and conservation conflict