Conservation Planning for Offsetting the Impacts of Development: A Case Study of Biodiversity and Renewable Energy in the Mojave Desert
Balancing society's competing needs of development and conservation requires careful consideration of tradeoffs. Renewable energy development and biodiversity conservation are often considered beneficial environmental goals. The direct footprint and disturbance of renewable energy, however, can...
Gespeichert in:
| Veröffentlicht in: | PloS one 2015-11, Vol.10 (11), p.e0140226 |
|---|---|
| Hauptverfasser: | , , , , |
| Format: | Artikel |
| Sprache: | eng |
| Schlagworte: | |
| Online-Zugang: | Volltext |
| Tags: |
Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
|
| container_end_page | |
|---|---|
| container_issue | 11 |
| container_start_page | e0140226 |
| container_title | PloS one |
| container_volume | 10 |
| creator | Kreitler, Jason Schloss, Carrie A Soong, Oliver Hannah, Lee Davis, Frank W |
| description | Balancing society's competing needs of development and conservation requires careful consideration of tradeoffs. Renewable energy development and biodiversity conservation are often considered beneficial environmental goals. The direct footprint and disturbance of renewable energy, however, can displace species' habitat and negatively impact populations and natural communities if sited without ecological consideration. Offsets have emerged as a potentially useful tool to mitigate residual impacts after trying to avoid, minimize, or restore affected sites. Yet the problem of efficiently designing a set of offset sites becomes increasingly complex where many species or many sites are involved. Spatial conservation prioritization tools are designed to handle this problem, but have seen little application to offset siting and analysis. To address this need we designed an offset siting support tool for the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP) of California, and present a case study of hypothetical impacts from solar development in the Western Mojave subsection. We compare two offset scenarios designed to mitigate a hypothetical 15,331 ha derived from proposed utility-scale solar energy development (USSED) projects. The first scenario prioritizes offsets based precisely on impacted features, while the second scenario offsets impacts to maximize biodiversity conservation gains in the region. The two methods only agree on 28% of their prioritized sites and differ in meeting species-specific offset goals. Differences between the two scenarios highlight the importance of clearly specifying choices and priorities for offset siting and mitigation in general. Similarly, the effects of background climate and land use change may lessen the durability or effectiveness of offsets if not considered. Our offset siting support tool was designed specifically for the DRECP area, but with minor code modification could work well in other offset analyses, and could provide continuing support for a potentially innovative mitigation solution to environmental impacts. |
| doi_str_mv | 10.1371/journal.pone.0140226 |
| format | Article |
| fullrecord | <record><control><sourceid>gale_plos_</sourceid><recordid>TN_cdi_plos_journals_1729340533</recordid><sourceformat>XML</sourceformat><sourcesystem>PC</sourcesystem><galeid>A433544429</galeid><doaj_id>oai_doaj_org_article_ffb5420a3d134f348c2d859dae67794e</doaj_id><sourcerecordid>A433544429</sourcerecordid><originalsourceid>FETCH-LOGICAL-c692t-36ab9b759b3b41038cf246b385727dc7aa3a65579464ad63a95a96cd7c7599af3</originalsourceid><addsrcrecordid>eNqNk2GL0zAYx4so3jn9BqIBQfDFZtuk6eILYc5TByeTO_VteJomW0abzCSd7hP4tc1uvWMFBemLNsnv_8_Dv8-TJE-zdJLhMnu9sZ0z0Ey21shJmpE0z-m95DxjOB_TPMX3T77Pkkfeb9K0wFNKHyZnOS1yVrDiPPk9t8ZLt4OgrUFfGjBGmxVS1qGlUl6GcFiGtUSLdgsieGQVei93srHbVprwBs3QHLxE16Gr94fDd9rWeied12GPwNToShr5E6pGogsj3WqPtLkx_Gw3sJPRLN4fHicPFDRePunfo-Tbh4uv80_jy-XHxXx2ORaU5WGMKVSsKgtW4YpkKZ4KlRNa4WlR5mUtSgAMtChKRiiBmmJgBTAq6lJEDQOFR8nzo--2sZ73GXqelTnDJOaDI7E4ErWFDd863YLbcwua32xYt-LgghaN5EpVBclTwHWGicJkKvJ6WrAaJC1jCTJ6ve1v66pW1iIG5qAZmA5PjF7zld1xQnH8yTQavOgNnP3RSR_-UXJPrSBWpY2y0Uy02gs-IxgXhJDIjpLJX6j41LLVInaR0nF_IHg1EEQmyF9hBZ33fHF99f_s8vuQfXnCriU0Ye1t0x1a0A9BcgSFs947qe6Sy1J-GILbNPhhCHg_BFH27DT1O9Ft1-M_kNMCfw</addsrcrecordid><sourcetype>Open Website</sourcetype><iscdi>true</iscdi><recordtype>article</recordtype><pqid>1729340533</pqid></control><display><type>article</type><title>Conservation Planning for Offsetting the Impacts of Development: A Case Study of Biodiversity and Renewable Energy in the Mojave Desert</title><source>MEDLINE</source><source>DOAJ Directory of Open Access Journals</source><source>Public Library of Science (PLoS) Journals Open Access</source><source>EZB-FREE-00999 freely available EZB journals</source><source>PubMed Central</source><source>Free Full-Text Journals in Chemistry</source><creator>Kreitler, Jason ; Schloss, Carrie A ; Soong, Oliver ; Hannah, Lee ; Davis, Frank W</creator><contributor>Longcore, Travis</contributor><creatorcontrib>Kreitler, Jason ; Schloss, Carrie A ; Soong, Oliver ; Hannah, Lee ; Davis, Frank W ; Longcore, Travis</creatorcontrib><description>Balancing society's competing needs of development and conservation requires careful consideration of tradeoffs. Renewable energy development and biodiversity conservation are often considered beneficial environmental goals. The direct footprint and disturbance of renewable energy, however, can displace species' habitat and negatively impact populations and natural communities if sited without ecological consideration. Offsets have emerged as a potentially useful tool to mitigate residual impacts after trying to avoid, minimize, or restore affected sites. Yet the problem of efficiently designing a set of offset sites becomes increasingly complex where many species or many sites are involved. Spatial conservation prioritization tools are designed to handle this problem, but have seen little application to offset siting and analysis. To address this need we designed an offset siting support tool for the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP) of California, and present a case study of hypothetical impacts from solar development in the Western Mojave subsection. We compare two offset scenarios designed to mitigate a hypothetical 15,331 ha derived from proposed utility-scale solar energy development (USSED) projects. The first scenario prioritizes offsets based precisely on impacted features, while the second scenario offsets impacts to maximize biodiversity conservation gains in the region. The two methods only agree on 28% of their prioritized sites and differ in meeting species-specific offset goals. Differences between the two scenarios highlight the importance of clearly specifying choices and priorities for offset siting and mitigation in general. Similarly, the effects of background climate and land use change may lessen the durability or effectiveness of offsets if not considered. Our offset siting support tool was designed specifically for the DRECP area, but with minor code modification could work well in other offset analyses, and could provide continuing support for a potentially innovative mitigation solution to environmental impacts.</description><identifier>ISSN: 1932-6203</identifier><identifier>EISSN: 1932-6203</identifier><identifier>DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0140226</identifier><identifier>PMID: 26529595</identifier><language>eng</language><publisher>United States: Public Library of Science</publisher><subject>Alternative energy sources ; Analysis ; Biodiversity ; Biodiversity conservation ; California ; Case reports ; Case studies ; Climate and land use ; Climate change ; Climate effects ; Community relations ; Conservation biology ; Conservation of Energy Resources - methods ; Desert Climate ; Desert environments ; Deserts ; Durability ; Ecology ; Ecosystem ; Ecosystem biology ; Ecosystems ; Energy conservation ; Energy industry ; Environmental impact ; Environmental science ; Geospatial data ; Land use ; Mitigation ; Net losses ; Offsets ; Planning ; Protection and preservation ; Renewable energy ; Solar Energy ; Species ; Trends ; United States ; Wildlife conservation</subject><ispartof>PloS one, 2015-11, Vol.10 (11), p.e0140226</ispartof><rights>COPYRIGHT 2015 Public Library of Science</rights><rights>This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ (the “License”) Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.</rights><lds50>peer_reviewed</lds50><oa>free_for_read</oa><woscitedreferencessubscribed>false</woscitedreferencessubscribed><citedby>FETCH-LOGICAL-c692t-36ab9b759b3b41038cf246b385727dc7aa3a65579464ad63a95a96cd7c7599af3</citedby><cites>FETCH-LOGICAL-c692t-36ab9b759b3b41038cf246b385727dc7aa3a65579464ad63a95a96cd7c7599af3</cites></display><links><openurl>$$Topenurl_article</openurl><openurlfulltext>$$Topenurlfull_article</openurlfulltext><thumbnail>$$Tsyndetics_thumb_exl</thumbnail><linktopdf>$$Uhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4631376/pdf/$$EPDF$$P50$$Gpubmedcentral$$Hfree_for_read</linktopdf><linktohtml>$$Uhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4631376/$$EHTML$$P50$$Gpubmedcentral$$Hfree_for_read</linktohtml><link.rule.ids>230,314,723,776,780,860,881,2095,2914,23846,27903,27904,53769,53771,79346,79347</link.rule.ids><backlink>$$Uhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26529595$$D View this record in MEDLINE/PubMed$$Hfree_for_read</backlink></links><search><contributor>Longcore, Travis</contributor><creatorcontrib>Kreitler, Jason</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Schloss, Carrie A</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Soong, Oliver</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Hannah, Lee</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Davis, Frank W</creatorcontrib><title>Conservation Planning for Offsetting the Impacts of Development: A Case Study of Biodiversity and Renewable Energy in the Mojave Desert</title><title>PloS one</title><addtitle>PLoS One</addtitle><description>Balancing society's competing needs of development and conservation requires careful consideration of tradeoffs. Renewable energy development and biodiversity conservation are often considered beneficial environmental goals. The direct footprint and disturbance of renewable energy, however, can displace species' habitat and negatively impact populations and natural communities if sited without ecological consideration. Offsets have emerged as a potentially useful tool to mitigate residual impacts after trying to avoid, minimize, or restore affected sites. Yet the problem of efficiently designing a set of offset sites becomes increasingly complex where many species or many sites are involved. Spatial conservation prioritization tools are designed to handle this problem, but have seen little application to offset siting and analysis. To address this need we designed an offset siting support tool for the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP) of California, and present a case study of hypothetical impacts from solar development in the Western Mojave subsection. We compare two offset scenarios designed to mitigate a hypothetical 15,331 ha derived from proposed utility-scale solar energy development (USSED) projects. The first scenario prioritizes offsets based precisely on impacted features, while the second scenario offsets impacts to maximize biodiversity conservation gains in the region. The two methods only agree on 28% of their prioritized sites and differ in meeting species-specific offset goals. Differences between the two scenarios highlight the importance of clearly specifying choices and priorities for offset siting and mitigation in general. Similarly, the effects of background climate and land use change may lessen the durability or effectiveness of offsets if not considered. Our offset siting support tool was designed specifically for the DRECP area, but with minor code modification could work well in other offset analyses, and could provide continuing support for a potentially innovative mitigation solution to environmental impacts.</description><subject>Alternative energy sources</subject><subject>Analysis</subject><subject>Biodiversity</subject><subject>Biodiversity conservation</subject><subject>California</subject><subject>Case reports</subject><subject>Case studies</subject><subject>Climate and land use</subject><subject>Climate change</subject><subject>Climate effects</subject><subject>Community relations</subject><subject>Conservation biology</subject><subject>Conservation of Energy Resources - methods</subject><subject>Desert Climate</subject><subject>Desert environments</subject><subject>Deserts</subject><subject>Durability</subject><subject>Ecology</subject><subject>Ecosystem</subject><subject>Ecosystem biology</subject><subject>Ecosystems</subject><subject>Energy conservation</subject><subject>Energy industry</subject><subject>Environmental impact</subject><subject>Environmental science</subject><subject>Geospatial data</subject><subject>Land use</subject><subject>Mitigation</subject><subject>Net losses</subject><subject>Offsets</subject><subject>Planning</subject><subject>Protection and preservation</subject><subject>Renewable energy</subject><subject>Solar Energy</subject><subject>Species</subject><subject>Trends</subject><subject>United States</subject><subject>Wildlife conservation</subject><issn>1932-6203</issn><issn>1932-6203</issn><fulltext>true</fulltext><rsrctype>article</rsrctype><creationdate>2015</creationdate><recordtype>article</recordtype><sourceid>EIF</sourceid><sourceid>ABUWG</sourceid><sourceid>AFKRA</sourceid><sourceid>AZQEC</sourceid><sourceid>BENPR</sourceid><sourceid>CCPQU</sourceid><sourceid>DWQXO</sourceid><sourceid>GNUQQ</sourceid><sourceid>DOA</sourceid><recordid>eNqNk2GL0zAYx4so3jn9BqIBQfDFZtuk6eILYc5TByeTO_VteJomW0abzCSd7hP4tc1uvWMFBemLNsnv_8_Dv8-TJE-zdJLhMnu9sZ0z0Ey21shJmpE0z-m95DxjOB_TPMX3T77Pkkfeb9K0wFNKHyZnOS1yVrDiPPk9t8ZLt4OgrUFfGjBGmxVS1qGlUl6GcFiGtUSLdgsieGQVei93srHbVprwBs3QHLxE16Gr94fDd9rWeied12GPwNToShr5E6pGogsj3WqPtLkx_Gw3sJPRLN4fHicPFDRePunfo-Tbh4uv80_jy-XHxXx2ORaU5WGMKVSsKgtW4YpkKZ4KlRNa4WlR5mUtSgAMtChKRiiBmmJgBTAq6lJEDQOFR8nzo--2sZ73GXqelTnDJOaDI7E4ErWFDd863YLbcwua32xYt-LgghaN5EpVBclTwHWGicJkKvJ6WrAaJC1jCTJ6ve1v66pW1iIG5qAZmA5PjF7zld1xQnH8yTQavOgNnP3RSR_-UXJPrSBWpY2y0Uy02gs-IxgXhJDIjpLJX6j41LLVInaR0nF_IHg1EEQmyF9hBZ33fHF99f_s8vuQfXnCriU0Ye1t0x1a0A9BcgSFs947qe6Sy1J-GILbNPhhCHg_BFH27DT1O9Ft1-M_kNMCfw</recordid><startdate>20151103</startdate><enddate>20151103</enddate><creator>Kreitler, Jason</creator><creator>Schloss, Carrie A</creator><creator>Soong, Oliver</creator><creator>Hannah, Lee</creator><creator>Davis, Frank W</creator><general>Public Library of Science</general><general>Public Library of Science (PLoS)</general><scope>CGR</scope><scope>CUY</scope><scope>CVF</scope><scope>ECM</scope><scope>EIF</scope><scope>NPM</scope><scope>AAYXX</scope><scope>CITATION</scope><scope>IOV</scope><scope>ISR</scope><scope>3V.</scope><scope>7QG</scope><scope>7QL</scope><scope>7QO</scope><scope>7RV</scope><scope>7SN</scope><scope>7SS</scope><scope>7T5</scope><scope>7TG</scope><scope>7TM</scope><scope>7U9</scope><scope>7X2</scope><scope>7X7</scope><scope>7XB</scope><scope>88E</scope><scope>8AO</scope><scope>8C1</scope><scope>8FD</scope><scope>8FE</scope><scope>8FG</scope><scope>8FH</scope><scope>8FI</scope><scope>8FJ</scope><scope>8FK</scope><scope>ABJCF</scope><scope>ABUWG</scope><scope>AEUYN</scope><scope>AFKRA</scope><scope>ARAPS</scope><scope>ATCPS</scope><scope>AZQEC</scope><scope>BBNVY</scope><scope>BENPR</scope><scope>BGLVJ</scope><scope>BHPHI</scope><scope>C1K</scope><scope>CCPQU</scope><scope>D1I</scope><scope>DWQXO</scope><scope>FR3</scope><scope>FYUFA</scope><scope>GHDGH</scope><scope>GNUQQ</scope><scope>H94</scope><scope>HCIFZ</scope><scope>K9.</scope><scope>KB.</scope><scope>KB0</scope><scope>KL.</scope><scope>L6V</scope><scope>LK8</scope><scope>M0K</scope><scope>M0S</scope><scope>M1P</scope><scope>M7N</scope><scope>M7P</scope><scope>M7S</scope><scope>NAPCQ</scope><scope>P5Z</scope><scope>P62</scope><scope>P64</scope><scope>PATMY</scope><scope>PDBOC</scope><scope>PIMPY</scope><scope>PQEST</scope><scope>PQQKQ</scope><scope>PQUKI</scope><scope>PTHSS</scope><scope>PYCSY</scope><scope>RC3</scope><scope>5PM</scope><scope>DOA</scope></search><sort><creationdate>20151103</creationdate><title>Conservation Planning for Offsetting the Impacts of Development: A Case Study of Biodiversity and Renewable Energy in the Mojave Desert</title><author>Kreitler, Jason ; Schloss, Carrie A ; Soong, Oliver ; Hannah, Lee ; Davis, Frank W</author></sort><facets><frbrtype>5</frbrtype><frbrgroupid>cdi_FETCH-LOGICAL-c692t-36ab9b759b3b41038cf246b385727dc7aa3a65579464ad63a95a96cd7c7599af3</frbrgroupid><rsrctype>articles</rsrctype><prefilter>articles</prefilter><language>eng</language><creationdate>2015</creationdate><topic>Alternative energy sources</topic><topic>Analysis</topic><topic>Biodiversity</topic><topic>Biodiversity conservation</topic><topic>California</topic><topic>Case reports</topic><topic>Case studies</topic><topic>Climate and land use</topic><topic>Climate change</topic><topic>Climate effects</topic><topic>Community relations</topic><topic>Conservation biology</topic><topic>Conservation of Energy Resources - methods</topic><topic>Desert Climate</topic><topic>Desert environments</topic><topic>Deserts</topic><topic>Durability</topic><topic>Ecology</topic><topic>Ecosystem</topic><topic>Ecosystem biology</topic><topic>Ecosystems</topic><topic>Energy conservation</topic><topic>Energy industry</topic><topic>Environmental impact</topic><topic>Environmental science</topic><topic>Geospatial data</topic><topic>Land use</topic><topic>Mitigation</topic><topic>Net losses</topic><topic>Offsets</topic><topic>Planning</topic><topic>Protection and preservation</topic><topic>Renewable energy</topic><topic>Solar Energy</topic><topic>Species</topic><topic>Trends</topic><topic>United States</topic><topic>Wildlife conservation</topic><toplevel>peer_reviewed</toplevel><toplevel>online_resources</toplevel><creatorcontrib>Kreitler, Jason</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Schloss, Carrie A</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Soong, Oliver</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Hannah, Lee</creatorcontrib><creatorcontrib>Davis, Frank W</creatorcontrib><collection>Medline</collection><collection>MEDLINE</collection><collection>MEDLINE (Ovid)</collection><collection>MEDLINE</collection><collection>MEDLINE</collection><collection>PubMed</collection><collection>CrossRef</collection><collection>Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints</collection><collection>Gale In Context: Science</collection><collection>ProQuest Central (Corporate)</collection><collection>Animal Behavior Abstracts</collection><collection>Bacteriology Abstracts (Microbiology B)</collection><collection>Biotechnology Research Abstracts</collection><collection>Nursing & Allied Health Database</collection><collection>Ecology Abstracts</collection><collection>Entomology Abstracts (Full archive)</collection><collection>Immunology Abstracts</collection><collection>Meteorological & Geoastrophysical Abstracts</collection><collection>Nucleic Acids Abstracts</collection><collection>Virology and AIDS Abstracts</collection><collection>Agricultural Science Collection</collection><collection>Health & Medical Collection</collection><collection>ProQuest Central (purchase pre-March 2016)</collection><collection>Medical Database (Alumni Edition)</collection><collection>ProQuest Pharma Collection</collection><collection>Public Health Database</collection><collection>Technology Research Database</collection><collection>ProQuest SciTech Collection</collection><collection>ProQuest Technology Collection</collection><collection>ProQuest Natural Science Collection</collection><collection>Hospital Premium Collection</collection><collection>Hospital Premium Collection (Alumni Edition)</collection><collection>ProQuest Central (Alumni) (purchase pre-March 2016)</collection><collection>Materials Science & Engineering Collection</collection><collection>ProQuest Central (Alumni Edition)</collection><collection>ProQuest One Sustainability</collection><collection>ProQuest Central UK/Ireland</collection><collection>Advanced Technologies & Aerospace Collection</collection><collection>Agricultural & Environmental Science Collection</collection><collection>ProQuest Central Essentials</collection><collection>Biological Science Collection</collection><collection>ProQuest Central</collection><collection>Technology Collection</collection><collection>Natural Science Collection (ProQuest)</collection><collection>Environmental Sciences and Pollution Management</collection><collection>ProQuest One Community College</collection><collection>ProQuest Materials Science Collection</collection><collection>ProQuest Central Korea</collection><collection>Engineering Research Database</collection><collection>Health Research Premium Collection</collection><collection>Health Research Premium Collection (Alumni)</collection><collection>ProQuest Central Student</collection><collection>AIDS and Cancer Research Abstracts</collection><collection>SciTech Premium Collection</collection><collection>ProQuest Health & Medical Complete (Alumni)</collection><collection>Materials Science Database</collection><collection>Nursing & Allied Health Database (Alumni Edition)</collection><collection>Meteorological & Geoastrophysical Abstracts - Academic</collection><collection>ProQuest Engineering Collection</collection><collection>ProQuest Biological Science Collection</collection><collection>Agricultural Science Database</collection><collection>Health & Medical Collection (Alumni Edition)</collection><collection>Medical Database</collection><collection>Algology Mycology and Protozoology Abstracts (Microbiology C)</collection><collection>Biological Science Database</collection><collection>Engineering Database</collection><collection>Nursing & Allied Health Premium</collection><collection>Advanced Technologies & Aerospace Database</collection><collection>ProQuest Advanced Technologies & Aerospace Collection</collection><collection>Biotechnology and BioEngineering Abstracts</collection><collection>Environmental Science Database</collection><collection>Materials Science Collection</collection><collection>Publicly Available Content Database</collection><collection>ProQuest One Academic Eastern Edition (DO NOT USE)</collection><collection>ProQuest One Academic</collection><collection>ProQuest One Academic UKI Edition</collection><collection>Engineering Collection</collection><collection>Environmental Science Collection</collection><collection>Genetics Abstracts</collection><collection>PubMed Central (Full Participant titles)</collection><collection>DOAJ Directory of Open Access Journals</collection><jtitle>PloS one</jtitle></facets><delivery><delcategory>Remote Search Resource</delcategory><fulltext>fulltext</fulltext></delivery><addata><au>Kreitler, Jason</au><au>Schloss, Carrie A</au><au>Soong, Oliver</au><au>Hannah, Lee</au><au>Davis, Frank W</au><au>Longcore, Travis</au><format>journal</format><genre>article</genre><ristype>JOUR</ristype><atitle>Conservation Planning for Offsetting the Impacts of Development: A Case Study of Biodiversity and Renewable Energy in the Mojave Desert</atitle><jtitle>PloS one</jtitle><addtitle>PLoS One</addtitle><date>2015-11-03</date><risdate>2015</risdate><volume>10</volume><issue>11</issue><spage>e0140226</spage><pages>e0140226-</pages><issn>1932-6203</issn><eissn>1932-6203</eissn><abstract>Balancing society's competing needs of development and conservation requires careful consideration of tradeoffs. Renewable energy development and biodiversity conservation are often considered beneficial environmental goals. The direct footprint and disturbance of renewable energy, however, can displace species' habitat and negatively impact populations and natural communities if sited without ecological consideration. Offsets have emerged as a potentially useful tool to mitigate residual impacts after trying to avoid, minimize, or restore affected sites. Yet the problem of efficiently designing a set of offset sites becomes increasingly complex where many species or many sites are involved. Spatial conservation prioritization tools are designed to handle this problem, but have seen little application to offset siting and analysis. To address this need we designed an offset siting support tool for the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP) of California, and present a case study of hypothetical impacts from solar development in the Western Mojave subsection. We compare two offset scenarios designed to mitigate a hypothetical 15,331 ha derived from proposed utility-scale solar energy development (USSED) projects. The first scenario prioritizes offsets based precisely on impacted features, while the second scenario offsets impacts to maximize biodiversity conservation gains in the region. The two methods only agree on 28% of their prioritized sites and differ in meeting species-specific offset goals. Differences between the two scenarios highlight the importance of clearly specifying choices and priorities for offset siting and mitigation in general. Similarly, the effects of background climate and land use change may lessen the durability or effectiveness of offsets if not considered. Our offset siting support tool was designed specifically for the DRECP area, but with minor code modification could work well in other offset analyses, and could provide continuing support for a potentially innovative mitigation solution to environmental impacts.</abstract><cop>United States</cop><pub>Public Library of Science</pub><pmid>26529595</pmid><doi>10.1371/journal.pone.0140226</doi><oa>free_for_read</oa></addata></record> |
| fulltext | fulltext |
| identifier | ISSN: 1932-6203 |
| ispartof | PloS one, 2015-11, Vol.10 (11), p.e0140226 |
| issn | 1932-6203 1932-6203 |
| language | eng |
| recordid | cdi_plos_journals_1729340533 |
| source | MEDLINE; DOAJ Directory of Open Access Journals; Public Library of Science (PLoS) Journals Open Access; EZB-FREE-00999 freely available EZB journals; PubMed Central; Free Full-Text Journals in Chemistry |
| subjects | Alternative energy sources Analysis Biodiversity Biodiversity conservation California Case reports Case studies Climate and land use Climate change Climate effects Community relations Conservation biology Conservation of Energy Resources - methods Desert Climate Desert environments Deserts Durability Ecology Ecosystem Ecosystem biology Ecosystems Energy conservation Energy industry Environmental impact Environmental science Geospatial data Land use Mitigation Net losses Offsets Planning Protection and preservation Renewable energy Solar Energy Species Trends United States Wildlife conservation |
| title | Conservation Planning for Offsetting the Impacts of Development: A Case Study of Biodiversity and Renewable Energy in the Mojave Desert |
| url | https://sfx.bib-bvb.de/sfx_tum?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&ctx_enc=info:ofi/enc:UTF-8&ctx_tim=2025-01-24T10%3A10%3A54IST&url_ver=Z39.88-2004&url_ctx_fmt=infofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rfr_id=info:sid/primo.exlibrisgroup.com:primo3-Article-gale_plos_&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.genre=article&rft.atitle=Conservation%20Planning%20for%20Offsetting%20the%20Impacts%20of%20Development:%20A%20Case%20Study%20of%20Biodiversity%20and%20Renewable%20Energy%20in%20the%20Mojave%20Desert&rft.jtitle=PloS%20one&rft.au=Kreitler,%20Jason&rft.date=2015-11-03&rft.volume=10&rft.issue=11&rft.spage=e0140226&rft.pages=e0140226-&rft.issn=1932-6203&rft.eissn=1932-6203&rft_id=info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0140226&rft_dat=%3Cgale_plos_%3EA433544429%3C/gale_plos_%3E%3Curl%3E%3C/url%3E&disable_directlink=true&sfx.directlink=off&sfx.report_link=0&rft_id=info:oai/&rft_pqid=1729340533&rft_id=info:pmid/26529595&rft_galeid=A433544429&rft_doaj_id=oai_doaj_org_article_ffb5420a3d134f348c2d859dae67794e&rfr_iscdi=true |