Priority Conservation Areas (PCAs)
Candidate sites for Priority Conservation Areas will be considered based on the following guidelines.
Definition to the Lower Hudson PRISM from the ISPZ Working Group- approved by partners March 20, 2018 and amended January 2020.
"A Priority Conservation Area (PCA) is an area adhering to LH PRISM criteria that is under active management to prevent invasive species from harming its intact native components”.
1. The site to be designated is predominantly characterized by native systems (e.g., habitat, communities, species abundance or composition – with some flexibility on the particular measure to be used so that it is appropriate to the site)
2. The site must be facing some threat from invasion
3. The site must have a written management plan including assessment of conservation targets and threats; including long-term strategies for monitoring, control, mitigation, early detection / rapid response (EDRR) and introduction pathway/invasibility management AND there are dedicated staff or volunteer structure to effect management plan.
4. There is no size requirement, but the area must be sufficiently defined that it is ecologically defensible* (i.e., the boundaries are clear and practicable in terms of preventing invasion across them and the area is neither too small nor too large to preclude effective prevention)
5. The area can form part of a larger, single ownership parcel or can comprise multiple parcels with multiple owners; however, in all cases, there must be a single entity with competent authority and sufficient capacity to take responsibility for and implement the appropriate prevention plan.
6. The feasibility of prevention is evaluated in the context of other threats (deer, development, etc.)
7. There must be conservation value to protect based upon not only conservation priority habitats, communities or species or satisfying other LH PRISM criteria as a conservation target area, but also on the site’s value as a largely uninvaded site for outreach, education or research.
8. Sites can be terrestrial or aquatic, and not only invasive plants, but other invasive taxa can be included, as appropriate, when considering site designation (with the prevention plan stating which groups of taxa, e.g., plants, forest pests, aquatics are its focus).
To Propose an area as a candidate PCA, please use this form:
https://www.lhprism.org/document/priority-conservation-area-proposal-form
