Managing land use and land cover change: The New Jersey Pinelands biosphere reserve

The biosphere reserve is an explicitly spatial approach to ecosystem manage ment. Based on the theory of island biogeography, a biosphere reserve consi sts of a core area of high ecological value protected by buffers of increas ing land-use intensity that provide a gradual transition to surrounding, hu man-dominated landscapes. This paper addresses implementation of the biosph ere reserve associated with the New Jersey Pinelands Comprehensive Manageme nt Plan (PCMP). We present results of a statistical analysis assessing clai ms that the plan has managed to direct growth and land-cover change in a ma nner consistent with environmental objectives. We show that it has had a st rong effect in reducing conversion of natural areas in the Pinelands reserv e, and that the effect observed is consistent with biosphere theory. In par ticular, conversion is lowest in the protection core, and increasing in the protective buffers. Evidently, multiple jurisdictions can unite to reduce the pace of regional ecosystem degradation. We conclude the paper with spec ulations about the prospects for implementing biosphere planning more broad ly, given the apparent success of the PCMP.