Tennessee's SWAP Conservation Opportunity Areas (2015)

<div>For the <a href='https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/twra/documents/swap/2015Swap.pdf' target='_blank' rel='nofollow ugc noopener noreferrer'>2015 Tennessee State Wildlife Action Plan</a> update, the designation of “Conservation Opportunity Areas” (COAs) is a new approach to help focus the conservation efforts, not only of the <a href='https://www.tn.gov/twra.html' target='_blank' rel='nofollow ugc noopener noreferrer'>Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency</a>, but also of a wide range of other agency and nongovernmental partners. The identification of COAs is a recommended best practice for SWAP updates (AFWA 2012).</div><div><br /></div><div><div>While designing the COAs for Tennessee, the planning team considered three major attributes:  Species of Greatest Conservation Need habitat priority, the problems affecting the habitats, and the on the-ground opportunities to implement conservation actions.</div></div><div><img /><br /></div><div><div>The planning team used the GCN habitat priority maps as the background data for identifying COAs. The boundary outlines of the COAs were then drawn to capture a geographic footprint where one or more conservation actions are needed to address a specific issue (e.g. agricultural best management practices, expanded conservation areas, urban stormwater management, or habitat restoration). The planning team also used expert knowledge on partnerships which are active and working in different areas to inform the boundaries, and capture the list of partners in each Conservation Opportunity Area Summary.  </div></div><div><br /></div><div>The COA boundary designations do not carry any new legal, regulatory, or jurisdictional authorities, nor do they place any restrictions on land uses or activities occurring within these areas. COAs are intended to foster partnership collaborations, investments and voluntary actions to conserve habitat within a given region of the state. This general approach to COA development is consistent with other states such as Illinois, Missouri, and Pennsylvania.  Another important consideration is that COAs are not intended to be fixed, limiting geographic boundaries. As more projects are designed and executed with partners, changes to the COA designations may be useful to better represent new information or the footprint of a particular project opportunity. In addition, achieving habitat conservation objectives will require adequate consideration of all terrestrial, aquatic, and subterranean priorities regardless of whether they are physically located within a COA.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>For more information on the COAs, see the <a href='https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/twra/documents/swap/2015Swap.pdf' target='_blank' rel='nofollow ugc noopener noreferrer'>2015 Tennessee State Wildlife Action Plan</a>.</div><div><br /></div>