Incorporating biodiversity in municipal land-use planning: An assessment of technical assistance, policy capacity, and conservation outcomes in New York’s Hudson Valley

In the United States, municipal governments play an essential role in creating plans, policies, and procedures that consider biodiversity. However, municipal leaders do not always have the knowledge or capacity to integrate conservation into land-use planning effectively. Habitats and natural areas that occur outside of protected areas are vulnerable to incompatible land-use change and planning decisions made by local governments. Recent scientific evidence suggests that municipal actions are a critical dimension of biodiversity conservation. Yet adaptations are needed to foster municipal policy and practice that would yield more meaningful conservation outcomes, including increasing the capacity for conservation planning by local governments. Our research examines how biodiversity conservation measures are included in the planning and decision-making of local municipal officials who participated in a biodiversity outreach program in the Hudson River estuary watershed in New York State, as compared to a sample of non-participants. Our analysis of biodiversity program participants illuminates factors that support or hinder their consideration of biodiversity in land-use planning. Our findings demonstrate how both individual and municipal policy capacity significantly influence the adoption of plans, policies, and procedures that address the need for biodiversity conservation at the local level. Even where capacity is high, municipal officials experience political and other barriers that prevent them from pursuing effective biodiversity conservation measures in land-use planning.