How PLC Protects
Conservation Planning
Conservation planning is a critical aspect of PLC’s Land Protection Program. Conservation plans usually focus on specific natural resources in a particular area such as water quality in the Dan River, biological diversity of Alamance County, or agriculture in Surry County. Regardless of the resource being studied, a conservation plan includes the following components:
- An assessment of data documenting the resource’s current condition;
- An assessment of ecological, economical, political and social factors that affect the short and long-term condition of the resource;
- An identification of available tools or conservation strategies for the management of the resource; and
- A prioritized list of recommended conservation strategies to protect or enhance the resource over the long-term.
PLC creates conservation plans and relies on plans produced by our partners such as county/city based land-use plans, county-based natural heritage inventories, riparian corridor designs, watershed protection plans, recreational master plans, and farmland inventories. PLC uses these plans to identify areas of high conservation significance that are threatened and have motivated landowners. Conservation planning enables PLC to strategically deploy our limited resources and achieve the greatest possible permanent protection of our region’s ecological riches.
