Land Use & Open Space Conservation

Ariane de Bremond's international research program that focuses on land use for agriculture and other purposes amid environmental change moved headquarters to the University of Maryland.

The Plan aims to provide data-driven solutions and priorities for conserving natural resources within the Texas Hill Country and includes a written report, maps, and recommendations for a path forward.

Jonathan Likeke Scheuer hopes that the conversation will now move to a “much more productive place” that considered “actual barriers” to affordable housing rather targeting the LUC’s oversight.

Dustin Mulvaney was featured in a May 2023 KSQD Sustainability Now! episode on the social and ecological impacts of large solar farms in the desert and whether they can contribute to a “just energy transition”. Listen here

Tiehm’s buckwheat, the rare wildflower at the center of controversy for supposedly “standing in the way” of a lithium mine, is teetering on the edge of extinction. Dubious conservation programs, touted loudly by a mining company and its boosters, not only will fail to prevent the plant’s extinction in its natural range, but they do damage to the reputation and practice of rare plant conservation.

Abstract: Wildly destructive fires, wind driven through unmanaged and untended lands, take lives and homes and the solace of familiar places. Ash blankets the remains, trauma takes hold, but even when the smoke clears and communities begin...

Described as a ‘botanical wonderland’, the rocky ridge is home to more than 30 species of rare plants and Indigenous village sites, the Guardian reports.

"You can go for a walk and under your feet are millions of seeds just sitting there in the seed bank. That potential for beauty in a landscape that is otherwise essentially barren in a non-good year is so freaking cool.”