HISTORY

The Conservation Lands Network was created by the Upland Habitat Goals Project.  A look at the past and present state of upland habitats can be found in Chapter 2 of the report.

Initiated by the Open Space Council in 2004, the San Francisco Bay Area Upland Habitat Goals project is a science-based planning process designed to recommend the types, amounts and distribution of conservation lands as well as actions needed to sustain diverse and healthy communities of plant, fish and wildlife resources in the nine county Bay Area.  The Open Space Council recognized the Bay Area as a leader in open space protection – nearly 1.2 million acres have been conserved as of 2011 - but noted the region lacked a scientific vision for biodiversity conservation.  The Upland Habitat Goals are intended to serve as a guide for public and private conservation practitioners for selecting lands to be conserved. 

Further inspiration came from the Baylands Ecosystem Habitat Goals Project.  The Baylands Goals Project, completed in 1999 by a consortium of public agencies, focused on goals for historic tidelands. The successful, and ongoing, implementation of the Baylands Goals served as a model to the Open Space Council to undertake a similar project for upland habitats beyond the Bay’s edge.  

In early 2011, the San Francisco Bay Subtidal Habitat Goals Project released their vision for the Bay in 50 years.  The Subtidal Habitat Goals Project is a collaborative, regional planning effort to advance the understanding and future science-based protection and restoration of submerged habitats in San Francisco Bay.  Along with the Baylands Goals, the Subtidal and Upland Habitat Goals projects cover the entire Bay Area with habitat conservation plans.

Photos: Flowers by Stuart Weiss.  Ladybug by Annie Burke.