SCIENCE FOR CONSERVATION POLICY

Coyote Valley, Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority

About

This website showcases conservation policy recommendations developed by students at Stanford University.

These recommendations represent original work produced by undergraduate and Master's students in the course Science for Conservation Policy (BIO 101 / EARTHSYS 101C). Each iteration of the course will focus on a specific real-world conservation policy challenge. See below for details on each year's course.

Winter 2022

Meeting California's Pledge to Protect 30% by 2030
California has set the ambitious goal of conserving 30% of its lands and waters by the year 2030. In this course, students will develop science-based recommendations to help policymakers reach this “30 by 30” goal. Through lectures, labs, and field trips, students will gain practical skills in ecology, protected area design in the face of climate change, and science communication. Students will apply these skills to analyze real-world data, formulate conservation recommendations, and communicate their findings in verbal and written testimony to environmental decision makers.

Challenge for students: Design a potected area system that conserves biodiversity, is resilient to climate change, and provides equitable access to nature

californianature.ca.gov

Rick Derevan / Audubon Photography Awards

Click to view course syllabus

Please contact Tyler McFadden (tmcfadde@stanford) if you are interested in using any course materials for your own teaching.

Topics covered

Protected area design
Spatial data in R and QGIS
Species distribution modeling
Connectivity and corridor identification
Systematic conservation prioritization
Conservation baselines, paleoecology, and traditional ecological knowledge
Science communication and stakeholder engagement

Activities

R labs
- Intro to spatial data
- Species distribution modeling
- Connectivity modeling
- Conservation prioritization
Field trips
- Coyote Valley Open Space Preserve (with Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority)
- Cooley Landing Park (with Grassroots Ecology)
Guest speakers
- Avery Hill, Stanford University (species distributions and niches)
- Dr. Kelly McManus Chauvin, Stanford University (stewardship and conservation prioritization)
- Dr. Brooke Bateman, National Audubon Society (modeling climate impacts to biodiversty)
- Dr. Lynne Trulio, San Jose State University (burrowing owl ecology and reintroduction)
- Dr. Liz Hadly, Stanford University (communicating science to policymakers)
- Millie Chapman, UC Berkeley (California 30x30 stakeholder engagement)