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A Successful SECAS Conservation Leadership Summit!

lcc-staff-at-secas-v-1-17-oct-2016
October’s Southeast Conservation Adaptation Strategy (SECAS) Conservation Leadership Summit saw the most visible collaboration between the LCCs and CSCs in the Southeast! The conference in Baton Rouge, Louisiana was standing room only, and included the state directors from nearly all 15 of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies member states. Those who were able to get in to the fully booked event were treated with outstanding presentations from LCC staff about SECAS and case studies from their staff on how SECAS can truly make a difference. This included a presentation by SECSC project PI, Bruce Stein, from the National Wildlife Federation.
The summit culminated in the release of SECAS v. 1.0, which offers a bold vision secas-mapfor a cross-collaborative effort to design and achieve a connected network of landscapes and seascapes that supports thriving fish and wildlife populations and improved quality of life for people across the Southeastern United States and the Caribbean. In the words of Bill Uihlein, SECAS represents “5 years of EPIC Collaborative Conservation!”
There was a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and excitement at the summit and throughout SEAFWA and, at their business meeting, the directors unanimously approved continuing to move SECAS forward! This has been a tremendous effort to create a shared conservation vision for the future for 15 states and Puerto Rico on the part of the 6 southeastern LCCs and CSCs over the past five years. We look forward to seeing the ways that SECAS can bring us all together in the future!