SECAS brings together public and private organizations around a bold vision for the future of our region. We're connecting the lands and waters of the Southeast and Caribbean to support healthy ecosystems, thriving fish and wildlife populations, and vibrant communities. With a data-driven spatial plan and an ambitious regional goal, SECAS helps accelerate conservation action in the places where it will make the biggest impact.
From the blog
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Upcoming webinars in the SECAS Third Thursday Web Forum series. Winter web forum flyer (better late than never)
The partial government shutdown last fall shook up the SECAS web forum schedule, and staff had to make some adjustments. So this flyer for the December, January, and February webinar series is coming out quite late–but hopefully better late than never!
SECAS hosts this web forum on the third Thursday of every month at 10 am Eastern time. »Click here for an interactive pdf of the flyer with links to register.
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The current fire frequency indicator is due for an update! Please sign up for a 1-hr call to help review draft improvements. Photo: A prescribed burn at Cedar Island National Wildlife Refuge. Photo credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Help review update to fire frequency indicator
SECAS staff are always working on ways to improve the indicators for the Southeast Conservation Blueprint and make them more informative and useful. When we last convened a group to review the fire frequency indicator, there were several great ideas that we couldn’t integrate at the time. In particular, folks wanted to go beyond just how often an area has been burned and incorporate things like historic fire frequency and a longer fire history. Now, we have new methods to make that possible and want to share a potential approach with a draft indicator update.
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Two new indicators in the 2025 version of the Southeast Conservation Blueprint use habitat models for Southeast animal Regional Species of Greatest Conservation Need (RSGCN) to identify important areas for key reptiles, amphibians, and mammals, with special emphasis on species with restricted ranges, like narrow endemics. How state priority species help inform the latest version of the Southeast Conservation Blueprint
It’s not an exaggeration to say that the Southeast is one of the most biodiverse regions in the country and the world. Tennessee’s Duck River alone holds more species of freshwater fish than all the rivers of Europe combined. Our lands, waters, and the species they support have shaped our history, ecology, and culture and even the way we work together to conserve them.
Working in partnership and collaboration has long been the norm in the Southeast. Partially, because we have a lot to consider (looking at you, Duck River), but also because collaboration is one of the most effective and efficient ways to get conservation done in a region where the majority of the landscape is in private ownership.
From the beginning, SECAS has focused on scaling local priorities to the regional level while also making sure partners can see themselves, and the places they care about, reflected in conservation planning. Last year, we released the 2025 version of the Southeast Conservation Blueprint and, among the many improvements, we added two new indicators that speak to this: imperiled amphibians and reptiles and imperiled mammals.
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Visit the SECAS blog for a full archive of posts.