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Conservation of Biological Diversity in the Great Lakes Basin
Ecosystem: Issues and Opportunities
Afterword: The Role
of The Nature Conservancy
The mission of The Nature Conservancy is to preserve plants,
animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life
on earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. The
Conservancy has a long history of protecting areas of ecological
significance to the Great Lakes. Over the past 43 years, Conservancy
state chapters have acquired for conservation purposes some 98
thousand acres throughout the Great Lakes basin, at a cost of over 41
million dollars.
It is becoming increasingly clear, as illustrated by the analysis
in this document, that even broader and more ambitious action will be
necessary to protect biological resources over the long term. Not only
are key areas too numerous to be secured through purchase, but species
and communities depend upon ecological processes that operate over
large landscapes subject to multiple human uses. These processes must
be safeguarded in order for biological diversity to be truly
protected. This will involve assisting local communities in finding
sustainable ways of living within natural ecosystems.
In the Great Lakes basin, The Nature Conservancy's primary emphasis
will continue to be on-the-ground protection activities. Over the next
two years, the Conservancy will undertake a series of large-scale,
sustainable, locally driven protection initiatives. These initiatives
will protect globally significant biodiversity that depends on the
Great Lakes ecosystem, and will address strategically important
threats to that biological diversity. Ways will be sought to help
local communities live compatibly with natural ecological systems.
Through this work, much will be learned about how key threats can be
addressed throughout the basin.
Because the basin's biodiversity resources are so vast and are
sustained by processes that operate on such large scales, no one
organization acting alone can hope to have a meaningful impact. In its
work, the Conservancy will continue to seek and build local and
regional partnerships that contribute directly to conserving
biological diversity in key places.
The Conservancy will continue to work with the network of state and
provincial Natural Heritage programs to monitor the status of
biological diversity and address information gaps. Over the next two
years, a framework for the systematic identification of aquatic
biological diversity will be designed and piloted in the basin. The
Conservancy will also assist Heritage programs in sharing biodiversity
information widely and effectively for the design of conservation
activities within the basin. The Conservancy will work with partners
in the scientific community to develop a better understanding of how
key ecosystems function and to better evaluate the principle threats
to Great Lakes biodiversity.
Sharing of information and experience will be critical to the
success of biodiversity conservation in the basin. As managers of the
world's largest system of privately owned natural areas, the
Conservancy is specially positioned to provide information on the
management of lands for the conservation of natural diversity. The
Conservancy will share this knowledge and learn from the experience of
others through an electronic bulletin board service. This system will
allow workers throughout the basin to access and contribute
information, sharing it over great distances.
The Conservancy will also support efforts to foster a broad
understanding among the basin's residents of the unique biological
diversity of the Great Lakes ecosystem and the ecological processes
which sustain it. The Conservancy will continue to focus our
activities at the local level, sharing information with landowners and
communities on important biodiversity features and how they can best
be protected.
The Conservancy welcomes input to these intended actions and
invites others to work with us in the protection of the outstanding
biological diversity of the Great Lakes ecosystem.
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