Chapter Synthesis

Habitat conservation is the foundation of population conservation. Yet conservation biologists still struggle, often in an apparent state of conceptual confusion, to understand the separate and interactive effects of habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, and habitat isolation on plant and animal populations, to communicate these effects coherently to the public, and to translate their understanding into meaningful policies that effectively manage habitat and the processes that shape it. The importance of habitat is recognized in concepts like that of "critical habitat," written into the Endangered Species Act (chapter 2), yet often ignored in many other conservation laws. Despite the vital role of habitat in all aspects of conservation, few major federal conservation laws in the United States and few international conventions are written specifically to protect or restore habitat. Likewise, most conservation organizations present their missions in terms of species, not landscapes. A notable exception, The Nature Conservancy, offers a commendable example of how to articulate an alternative conservation vision. The Nature Conservancy states that its mission is "to preserve the plants, animals, and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive," a complement to its memorable organizational slogan, "Saving the last great places."

More conservation organizations, more conservation laws, and more conservation efforts must come to The Nature Conservancy's level of awareness of the importance of habitat conservation if species are to survive. Perhaps humans have been reticent to embrace habitat conservation as enthusiastically as species conservation because habitat conservation is fundamentally an issue of land use. Natural habitats cannot be conserved in zoos. They can persist only if people choose to use and occupy less land, and to use the land they occupy in less destructive and degrading ways. To commit to habitat conservation is to commit to radical and pervasive changes in practices of human residence and land use.

Some habitat conservation can and is being achieved through the establishment of refuges and reserves. But not all habitats can be saved by setting them apart from the human presence. Humans must become more intentional in determining what critical habitat components are, and then find ways to occupy and use landscapes in ways such that their presence and activity do not destroy these components, but preserve them, at least in part, in place and function. If refuge design is not complemented by the presence of sufficient functional habitats in the surrounding and vastly greater array of nonreserve lands, no population, especially of a large, mobile species, has any real hope of long-term persistence.

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