The Bowral Checklist

Product Information

Leading and emerging researchers in landscape ecology and conservation biology gathered in Bowral, southern New South Wales, in March 2006 to discuss whether it was possible to create a general framework to guide the management of landscapes for conservation. Participants were asked to appraise a given topic in landscape research and identify 5–10 general insights or key issues emerging from that topic. The topics were clustered into 10 major themes with researchers asked to produce 4000 word essays on each topic.

The result of their discussions was a 600-page textbook titled Managing and Designing Landscapes for Conservation: Moving from perspectives to principles. The book provides a distillation of current thinking in landscape management and conservation. It offers a blend of theoretical and practical information that is illustrated with case studies drawn from across the globe.

The workshop was partially funded by Land & Water Australia and the Australian Research Council.

This technical note presents information on the Bowral Checklist. It is based on Lindenmayer, D.B., Hobbs, R.J., Montague-Drake, R. et al. 2008, A Checklist for Ecological Management of Landscapes for Conservation, Ecology Letters, vol. 11, pp. 78–91.

If you’d like a more detailed read on the discussions that led to the creation of this checklist, see Lindenmayer, D.B. and Hobbs, R.J. (editors), 2007, Managing and Designing Landscapes for Conservation: Moving from perspectives to principles, Blackwell Publishing.