Protecting the Places We Love

Protecting special places in danger of being changed forever requires urgent action. It’s time for bold conservation strategies to boost land protection around the world.Bold conservation goals require strategic action. In Protecting the Places We Love: Conservation Strategies for Entrusted Lands and Parks, conservationist and geospatial designer Breece Robertson applies her conservation experience, real-world examples, and myriad resources to deliver a vision for success and clear guidance for conservation groups large and small to achieve their goals.The goals of these strategies are familiar: support species, habitats, and natural resources and healthy, livable communities that are climate resilient and socially cohesive, all without high costs. Robertson's tools, many of them free, feel quickly accessible, effective, and adaptable to a new or existing conservation strategy. Readers finish this book feeling confident about integrating existing practices with geospatial data and modern applications.With the smart analysis and targeted action explained in Protecting the Places We Love, readers will better identify places needing protection and better understand how to maximize partnerships, inspire, educate, and engage communities and donors, and produce better results.See the vision and learn to:create maps that tell compelling stories to stakeholders and the publicanalyze park system equity and access and show the economic benefitsmap, model, and analyze land characteristics to enhance biodiversity, connectivity, and climate resilienceuse maps and data to gain insights for fundraising, program initiatives, policy, advocacy, finances, and marketing.  Protecting the Places We Love is perfect for citizens, and for conservation advocates and professionals at small to medium-sized land trusts, conservation organizations, and park agencies. Examples from land protection organizations all over the globe provide field-tested approaches to improve strategic effectiveness. Robertson provides a vision, strategies, and resources that can take your conservation efforts to the next level.

“Breece Robertson provides both seasoned professionals and engaged citizens an essential guide for using GIS data and mapping that illuminates technical concepts and their practical application to address our most pressing issues related to land, water, climate, and social equity.” --George W. McCarthy, President and CEO, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy,  “Time is short to protect the ‘last chance’ ecosystems and crucial landscapes that provide habitat, protection from weather events, and connection with nature. Breece Robertson powerfully demonstrates how geospatial tools can guide critical decisions in the most urgent phase of conservation the world has ever faced.”  --Jennifer Morris, CEO of The Nature Conservancy, “Protecting the Places We Love provides a brilliant road map forward for anyone who is curious about a world where fresh air, majestic landscapes, and human connection can help solve our most intractable social challenges.”  —Diane Regas, President and CEO of The Trust for Public Land

Breece Robertson has over twenty years’ experience building and leading strategic initiatives that combine cutting-edge technologies, research, and planning to support progress in the park, conservation, and environmental fields. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.