Women in Landscape-Scale Conservation: Deb Davidson

Women's History Month

Conservation at landscape scales takes cooperation, patience, and people! In honor of Women's History Month in March, we want to highlight the work of influential women who dedicate their time and energy to protecting our cultural, recreational, and natural resources. 

How did you get started working in landscape-scale conservation?

I have been working in landscape conservation for more than 20 years since completing graduate school at the University of Montana. I originally exited graduate school thinking I would focus on defending public lands from logging and road building (this was the time of the Roadless Rule and salvage logging). But I was fortunate to take a more solution-oriented path by working for an organization called American Wildlands, which was one of the pioneers for the protection of wildlife corridors and addressing the wildlife movement across highways and roads. It was there that the work of landscape conservation took hold for me and became my passion. Since then, I have been working at both the local scale and up to a larger regional scale such as the Yellowstone to Yukon region or Carpathian Mountain ecoregion in Europe and building partnerships and collaborations in these areas.
What does the term connected conservation mean to you?
I am a very visual person and I see connected conservation as a large jigsaw puzzle with the various community members, decision makers, agencies, and others coming to the table to work to put the puzzle pieces back together to make a whole and healthy landscape for wildlife and people. It takes time, effort, coordination, and a vision to accomplish connected conservation, but I firmly believe that it is the most important conservation approach we can take at this time. It is crucial in this time of climate change and adaptation, and it will hopefully result in long-term endurance of conservation efforts.

Deb Davidson is the Vice President for Partnerships and Advancement at the Center for Large Landscape Conservation. She is also the Associate Director for the Network for Landscape Conservation.

Tell us about a project that you have worked on that you are especially proud of.

Twenty years ago, very few people knew what a wildlife corridor was, or why habitat connectivity was important for healthy wildlife populations, and the term “landscape conservation” was rarely used. I am proud of having been part of this critically effective conservation approach becoming a mainstream effort, and now wildlife corridors, connectivity, connected conservation, and other similar approaches have clearly come of age. Most conservation groups now seem to be examining how they can integrate this approach into their work, the Biden Administration has embraced these as crucial components of its America the Beautiful vision, and conservation funders have stepped up and funded the coordination and science to support such efforts. I am grateful to have been part of the growth of this field for the past 20 years, and I look forward to continuing to be part of building a large community of practice.

If you could collaborate with anyone or any organization who would it be?

I work with such incredible partners here in the US and abroad. But if I could spend a week learning from a group of people, I would be honored to learn from the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition. It would be so incredible to better understand their process and secret to success in developing a strong coalition of five distinct sovereign Tribal nations that are working to protect the Bears Ears region.

Any advice for women wanting to get into the field?

We are just starting to see this field of landscape and connected conservation really take off. It is a practice that is built on solid science, policy, and planning, but most importantly it is built upon communication with diverse parties, listening skills and deep curiosity, and the desire to network with others to work toward a common goal. Having a background and training in conservation science is key, but really one of the most important skills to develop is the ability to coordinate, collaborate, and be a jack of all trades.

Women in Landscape Conservation