Priorities and Planning For Utah's The Largest Ever Conservation Effort

None by KCPW

(KCPW News) The Living Lands & Waters Campaign was launched yesterday, but its backers have been working on the science of the State's largest-ever conservation effort for two years.

"We've been involved for over two years with our science team looking across America at the most significant natural areas," says David Livermore, Utah Director of The Nature Conservancy. "We've done something called eco-regional planning, which is an effort to prioritize areas for growth and development, and areas that should be protected," Livermore explains. "Here in Utah, looking at our seven different eco-regions, or essentially the seven different habitat types, we've been boiled down to a broad array targets to the eight major working landscapes we are going to be involved."

While the Campaign plans to acquire more than eleven thousand acres of Utah land for conservation, many ecological areas of concern, such as the Book Cliffs, are not on the Campaign's list of priorities.

"Areas that are not in, you might say the red circles or the focus areas of our campaign, doesn't mean we are not interested or unwilling to lend a hand," says Livermore. "At this point we are focusing on several of these new initiatives in this round for the next four years. We will reevaluate at the end of that four years and develop a new plan for ecological hot spots."

The current hot spots on the Living Lands & Waters Campaign include: the Virgin River Headwaters, Boulder Creek Canyon Ranch, the Great Salt Lake and White Dome. The Nature Conservancy of Utah plans to raise forty-three million dollars over the next four years to accomplish its goals. The entire Midday Metro interview with Livermore can be found online at KCPW.org.

Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom. Copyright 2008 KCPW