North Atlantic LCC Annual Report highlights conservation in action

The North Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC) reached a major milestone in 2016. This year, the concept that inspired the establishment of our partnership in 2010 ago transformed from an idea to a reality -- twice.   

First, in the spring, partners from New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, and Massachusetts completed Connect the Connecticut, a landscape conservation design for the Connecticut River watershed. Then, in the fall, collaborators from13 states released the first set of products from Nature’s Network, a landscape conservation design for the entire Northeast region.  

These accomplishments embody all that we stand for: fostering collaboration among diverse partners to achieve shared goals, supporting science that addresses some of most urgent conservation issues of our time, and developing information and tools that help organizations and individuals make decisions with regional context.

Landscape conservation design is about more than conserving lands and waters. Our success is measured not only in acres, but in clean water, safe roadways, pathways for migration, open spaces, working lands, and communities of fish, wildlife, and people that are more resilient to change.

More exciting than the completion of landscape conservation design projects is that people are using the resulting products to guide work on various scales across the region, from the Eightmile River watershed in Connecticut, to the five-state Chesapeake Bay watershed. As a whole, this work is greater than the sum of its parts because it reflects a vision shaped by partners across the region.

It also allows us to make progress on priorities we identified in the fall of 2016 focusing on Landscape Conservation, Aquatic Connectivity, Coastal Resilience, and At-Risk Species -- all areas where the North Atlantic LCC is advancing across the region through the development and distribution of scientific information.

This year’s Annual Report shows how our partnership is leading the way to a sustainable landscape by empowering stakeholders to make decisions at scales that matter for future generations of people and wildlife.

Read the full report