TY - Generic T1 - Optimization in the utility maximization framework for conservation planning: a comparison of solution procedures in a study of multifunctional agriculture Y1 - 2014 A1 - Kreitler, J. A1 - Stoms, D.M. A1 - Davis, F.W. KW - conservation planning UR - https://peerj.com/articles/690/#additional-information ER - TY - THES T1 - Ecosystem services and cost-effective conservation planning T2 - Bren School of Environmental Science and Management Y1 - 2011 A1 - Kreitler, J. JF - Bren School of Environmental Science and Management VL - Ph.D. ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The power of information for targeting cost-effective conservation investments in multifunctional farmlands JF - Environmental Modelling & Software Y1 - 2011 A1 - Stoms, D. M. A1 - Kreitler, J. A1 - Davis, F. W. KW - spatial targeting farmland preservation marginal value benefits costs Great Central Valley California threats additionality ecosystem services urban growth management AB - Decisions about which places to conserve are based upon the geographic heterogeneity of three types of information: public goods or benefits, their vulnerability to threats, and the costs to avert those threats. The choice of public goods depends on the mission of the conservation organization (e.g., biodiversity, open space, cultural values, or farmland). For spatial targeting of conservation at the regional scale, practitioners must estimate the values of these types of information. The quality of the estimations will vary by the primary data used, the assumptions made, and the practitioner's technical ability to analyze complex data. This paper contributes to the growing literature by presenting a systematic evaluation of effect of the quality of the estimation on the cost-effectiveness of the set of sites selected for conservation based upon those estimates. The specific case study targets farmland for preservation from urban development in California's Central Valley where a new land trust was recently established to purchase conservation easements. In one analysis, we compared the cost-effectiveness of farmland benefits using our most sophisticated estimation procedures to those that ignored costs and/or potential loss (i.e., assumed they were equal among sites). Excluding information about the potential loss of resources caused only a slight decrease in cost-effectiveness. On the other hand, ignoring cost information was extremely inefficient. The second analysis compared the performance of the sophisticated estimated to increasingly simpler estimates, such as those representative of the methods used by many American farmland preservation programs. The simplification of the estimates caused a 5- to 20-fold decline in the benefits that could be retained for a given budget. To make more cost-effective targeting strategies accessible to farmland preservation programs, we recommend that researchers develop new spatial targeting tools to overcome obstacles in data processing. VL - 26 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Carnivore use of an avocado orchard in southern California JF - California Fish and Game Journal Y1 - 2008 A1 - Borchert, M. A1 - Davis, F. W. A1 - Kreitler, J. AB - In southern California avocados are an important commercial fruit that often are planted near or immediately adjacent to wildlands. Among cultivated fruits, avocados are unusually high in both lipids and proteins. Fruits remain green on the tree and ripen only after they fall to the ground or are harvested. As a result, they offer a relatively constant, year-round food source in the form of unharvested, fallen fruit. In 2005 for 5.5 months, we camera-trapped medium and large mammals in 13.5 ha of a 55.5 ha commercial avocado orchard in southern California. We also monitored fruit fall and subsequent removal to quantify the amount of energy available to mammals and estimated how much of the ground fruit they consumed. Cameras captured 7 carnivores: black bear, Ursus americanus, domestic dog, coyote, Canis latrans, bobcat, Lynx rufus, gray fox, Urocyon cinereoargenteus, raccoon, Procyon lotor, and striped skunk, Mephitis mephitis; non-carnivores included western gray squirrel, Sciurus griseus and Virginia opossum, Didelphia virginiana. All but bobcats were photographed eating avocados. Black bears, gray foxes and striped skunks frequented the part of the orchard least affected by human activities. In contrast, coyotes and raccoons were more common where humans and domestic dogs were present. Mammals consumed all or nearly all marked avocados on the ground, usually within 50 days. We estimated that they consumed only a small portion (<2%) of the total fruit crop. Avocado orchards offer super-rich food patches that are readily accessible to an array of medium and large mammals. VL - 94 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Prioritizing farmland preservation cost-effectively for multiple objectives JF - Journal of Soil and Water Conservation Y1 - 2006 A1 - Machado, E. A. A1 - Stoms, D. M. A1 - Davis, F. W. A1 - Kreitler, J. KW - amenities KW - Bay Delta bioregion KW - California Legacy Project KW - conservation planning KW - cost-effectiveness KW - decision analysis KW - ecosystem services KW - farmland preservation KW - GIS KW - marginal value KW - public preferences KW - social welfare KW - urban growth boundary KW - urban growth management KW - utility AB - American society derives many benefits from farmland and is often willing to pay to preserve it from urbanization. We present an innovative framework to support farmland preservation programs in prioritizing conservation investments. The framework considers the full range of social benefits of farmland and improves the application of decision analysis methods to the process. Key factors for ranking farms are: 1) social objectives and priorities 2) how much farmland value is expected to be lost to development if not preserved, 3) how much farmland value is already secured in the agricultural region; and 4) how much it will cost to secure the farm's benefits. The framework can be applied strategically over an entire region or to rank a set of applications from landowners. We demonstrate our framework using three criteria in the Bay Area/Delta bioregion of California, USA. VL - 61 UR - ://000242001800007 ER -