Conservation planning 33be restored in low elevation areas. Because of the typical scarcity and degraded
state of wetlands in an urban region, their successful restoration can be expected
tohave a noticeable benefit for both nature and the public. Also, wetland species
quickly colonize wet spots, so restoration success tends to be rapid.
Finally, successful land planning and management normally requires a rea-
sonable level of public knowledge and support. Land can be managed directly,
but is better managed when preceded by planning. Still better isadaptive man-
agementwhich incorporates new knowledge and planning on an ongoing basis.
Management of a protected area by local people is valuable, because they know
and care about the local area. Management by government or experts from afar
is valuable, because they bring a broader perspective and expertise, and are less
affected by narrowly focused local interests. Probably combined management by
local and broad outside expertise is usually optimal for sustaining the resources
protected. This combination may also be more likely to provide the political and
public support needed for long-term protection.
Furthermore, public perception plays a key role. If the public perceives that
aplace is beautiful or appealing, that translates into both public support and
ultimately political support (Yaroet al.1990, Nassauer1997,Eaton1997,Forman
2002a,Johnson and Hill2002,Berkowitzet al.2003). Aesthetics is embedded in
culture, a deep and persistent force providing stability (Seddon1997,Nassauer
2005).If people are culturally tied to a place, long-term protection is facilitated.
Conservation planning
Conservation planners must be sustained by rare idealism, as every day
and in almost every place they are faced by, paraphrasing Aldo Leopold, a world
of wounds. The wounds are festering, the land degrading. However, let us start
this section with the values, resources, and types of conservation. Then we add
theprocesses of land protection, planning, and management.
In conservation planning, a storied literature lays out the theories, controver-
sies, trends, and successes (Noss and Cooperider1994,Robin1998,Dale and Haeu-
ber2001). Impressive, perceptive, even courageous US leaders here would cer-
tainly include Henry David Thoreau, George Perkins Marsh, John Muir, Theodore
Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot, Aldo Leopold, Marjorie Stonenan Douglas, Wendel
Berry, and Edward O. Wilson, among others.
Values and resources of conservation
Without conserving a resource, loss follows and we are incrementally
poorer. Without long-term conservation, nature and people become impover-
ished. Although conservation is certainly important for historic buildings and
heritage sites, here we focus on the much bigger picture of conservation of