Author Sandy Andelman says "Conservation agencies are spending
ten's of millions of dollars on systematic planning, but it
doesn't translate to saving wildlife". "We need to reallocate
dollars spent on 'perfect world' planning scenarios to
aggressively pursue opportunities to safeguard habitat for
species that are most in need." Creating networks of parks and
protected areas is a cornerstone of global conservation
strategies. Yet 40% of highly threatened vertebrates mammals,
birds, amphibians and reptiles do not occur in a single
protected area around the globe. Wanting to reverse the rapid
decline of species, both public and private conservation groups
from the Park Service to The Nature Conservancy face a constant
dilemma of when, where, and how to invest limited funds to
maximize conservation benefits. In attempts to have a scientific
foundation for these decisions, policy makers have invested in
complex processes to design blueprints for the optimal
configurations of protected area networks. Ironically, t