Managing the landscapes that provide our natural and cultural resources has become increasingly challenging. With the signing of Secretarial Order No. 3289, the Department of the Interior launched the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs) to better integrate science and management to address climate change and other landscape-scale issues. By building a network that is holistic, collaborative, adaptive, and grounded in science, LCCs are working to ensure the sustainability of our economy, land, water, wildlife, and cultural resources.
The 22 LCCs collectively form a network of resource managers and scientists who share a common need for scientific information and interest in conservation. Each LCC brings together federal, state, and local governments along with Tribes and First Nations, non-governmental organizations, universities, and interested public and private organizations. LCC partners work collaboratively to identify best practices, connect efforts, identify science gaps, and avoid duplication through conservation planning and design.
Currently NOAA actively participates in 20 of the 22 LCCs, either as a steering committee member and/or as an individual LCC working group member. NOAA is also a permanent federal agency member of the LCC Council, and is represented by the director and/or the deputy director of NOAA Fisheries Office of Habitat Conservation. NOAA also has a national coordinator to facilitate coordination of the agency’s conservation, habitat and climate priorities between the various NOAA staff participating in the LCCs, the LCC Council, and the LCC staff.
NOAA is involved in a variety of LCC initiatives, including:
- Nutrient reduction in the Mississippi River Watershed & Hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico
- Gulf Coast Vulnerability Assessment
- Changes in Coastal Storm and their impacts in Western Alaska
- Climate-smart approach to adaptive management in the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary
For more information please contact: Brady Phillips