Department of Environmental Studies DISSERTATION COMMITTEE PAGE The undersigned have ...

181 Pages·2016·5.2 MB·English

by  Jill Weiss

Department of Environmental Studies
DISSERTATION COMMITTEE PAGE
The undersigned have examined the dissertation titled:

Collaboration in Conservation Networks: Regional Conservation Partnerships in New England

Presented by Jill Weiss, candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, and hereby certify it
as accepted*.

Peter A. Palmiotto, Doctorate of Forestry
Joy W. Ackerman, PhD
Michael Hutton-Woodland, PhD

Defense Date: Friday May 15, 2015
Date approved by all committee members:
Date submitted to the Registrar’s Office:

*Signatures are on file with the Registrar’s Office at Antioch University New England.
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Collaboration in Conservation Networks: Regional Conservation Partnerships in New England

By

Jill L. Weiss

A dissertation in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy
(Environmental Studies)

at

Antioch University New England

2016
© Copyright by Jill L. Weiss 2016
All Rights Reserved.
Dedication

This dissertation is dedicated to the people who persist in their efforts to span boundaries and
connect us in this ever complex, interdisciplinary, landscape of social and ecological systems.

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Acknowledgements
Thank you to my sister Janet Patching, her husband Stephen, and their sons Patric and Adam for
the diversions, the shelter, and the encouragement.

Thank you to Peter Palmiotto for respecting my work and sharing yours. I am so thankful for my
experience with MERE and the Northeast Alpine Stewardship Network. I consider myself
especially fortunate that you were able to take over the Chair position on my dissertation
committee. Your insights on this project are so important, for it is the people in your field that
will most benefit from this application of social research.

Thank you to Joy Ackerman for acting as my advisor from the start, and serving on my
dissertation committee. Your interest and support of me and my development as a scholar is very
much appreciated. I am certain I would not have been able to make the journey without you and
your great questions.

Thank you to Michael Hutton-Woodland for joining my committee and allowing me to bring this
project to its conclusion. Your work on collaboration has been a great help to this research. I
really appreciate your time and your contribution to my success.

Thank you to the faculty, administration and fellow students of the Environmental Studies
Department at Antioch University New England.

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A special thank you to Bill Labich, Regional Conservationist for the Highstead Foundation. It
was very gracious of you to act as the RCP Network Representative for this research. I
appreciate all the time you volunteered to speak with me over the past four years. You provided
the best background information, introductions, and guidance for the work I find that I have only
started. Thank you for your help. I am very grateful. I hope this project benefits your work as
yours has benefited mine.

Thanks also to Emily Bateson, Conservation Director at the Highstead Foundation for your
support of this research.

Thank you to Brian Hall for furnishing the shape file and Arc GIS data from Highstead and
Harvard Forest. Thanks to Apollinaire William, for assisting with creating the population map.

Thank you to all the research participants from the RCP Network for your generosity with your
time and thoughts. I am especially indebted to those who agreed to speak with me in person,
either formally in the interviews, or informally at one of the Gatherings. Seeing and hearing your
passion for this work in person was inspiring.

Thank you to my wonderful students at Keene State College whom I have taught for the past few
years. Your honesty, patience, and humor made my all too brief breaks from my dissertation
work truly enjoyable.
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Abstract
Environmental problems are becoming increasingly complex and harder for any one
discipline or approach to address. In the case of land conservation, there is an incongruity
between how we view and manage social and natural systems even though each is reliant on the
other. Adaptive co-management of these socio-ecological landscapes by a cross section of
stakeholders and disciplines is necessary. In New England this is happening through Regional
Conservation Partnerships (RCPs). RCPs are conservation networks comprised of land trusts,
local governments, landowners, and localized conservation action groups. The geographic range
of each RCP varies in size from a few hundred to half a million acres. Their activities break
down disciplinary, political, and organizational boundaries and connect management of land for
people through conserving contiguous and ecologically sustainable landscapes in an increasingly
developed Northeast. RCPs represent a great diversity of resources, knowledge, and skills.
Partnerships pool what they have and leverage it for their shared purpose. The purpose of this
study is to characterize Regional Conservation Partnerships (RCPs), to better understand
communication and collaboration among practitioners and across organizations in conservation
networks, and find what the participants consider when measuring their success. The study has
its theoretical roots in the fields of collaborative adaptive management, landscape ecology,
organizational assessment, and communication. Methods employed include archival research,
interviews, and surveys, with both qualitative and quantitative analysis. The conclusions drawn
were themed around communication and collaboration. This population values opportunities to
share information, yet, they do not meet often. When they do meet, important communication
opportunities occur through storytelling and shared experience. It was found that elastic and
sometimes temporary network relationships, along with clear information sharing expectations,
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were most useful for pooling resources aimed at decisive conservation actions. While trust and
regular communication were prized, further integration of organizations was not. RCPs are
knowledge transfer centers, and an embodiment of landscape ecology theory. Successful RCPs
apply the promising practices mentioned above and utilize an ephemeral type of collaboration
that allows partner organizations to come together to take action on parcel projects or bolster
capacity, then loosen ties to work autonomously. RCPs are a land conservation model worthy of
further study and emulation, for, doing more conservation work with less resources is a future
certainty.

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