For years, conservationists have been at loggerheads about how exactly to decide what land should be preserved. Should the focus be on large contiguous tracts of land, or would it be better to focus on the most valuable, biodiverse plots of land, and save them, no matter the size? This disagreement has had real implications for landowners and conservationists and has led to fights about research, results and strategy. Matthew Betts, a professor in the department of Forest Ecosystems & Society at Oregon State University, is the co-author of a new paper that lays out a strategy for finding agreement.
