Regional Conservation Partnerships in New England 2009-2012

Across New England, a new model of regional collaboration is increasingly being used by land conservation trusts, watershed associations, state agencies and others. Regional conservation partnerships (RCPs) serve multiple purposes, such as coordinating among the various active groups in the region and allowing them to leverage funding and staff capacity. However, their essential missions are the same--protect more land from development. We use interviews, geographic information systems (GIS), and statistical analysis on 20 case studies to document RCP growth and characteristics and to analyze which attributes most contribute to their ability to conserve land. Along with well-known factors of organizational development, we find that the RCPs that match the size of the partnership region with the territory and capacity of the host partner organization are better able to achieve measurable conservation gains.

在新英格兰地区，一种新型区域协作模式正日益为土地保护信托机构、流域协会、州级行政部门及其他相关主体所采用。区域保护合作组织（Regional Conservation Partnerships，RCPs）具备多重职能，例如协调区域内各类活跃团体的联动协作，使其能够统筹撬动资金、整合人员资源。但其核心使命始终一致：保护更多土地免受开发侵扰。本研究通过对20个案例开展访谈、地理信息系统（Geographic Information Systems，GIS）分析与统计研究，系统梳理了RCPs的发展历程与特征，并探究了哪些属性对其土地保护能力的提升贡献最为显著。除组织发展领域的经典影响因子外，本研究发现，当合作区域的规模与牵头合作组织的管辖范围及能力相匹配时，此类区域保护合作组织更易取得可量化的土地保护成效。