Conservation Significance of America's Newest System of Protected Areas: National Landscape Conservation System

Using a dataset of special status animal species aggregated from NatureServe (2006), we assessed the conservation significance of the newest U.S. network of protected areas, the BLM-administered National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS) composed of similar to 11 million hectares of specially designated conservation areas. We examined the number of special status animal species that occur within the NLCS as compared to the number that would be predicted by area alone, occurrences within the NLCS as compared to other BLM lands, and the conservation implications of these species-area relationships. Our analyses suggest that the NLCS plays a significant role in the conservation of special status species and the natural ecosystems on which they depend.