We've been talking about reserve design mostly in the abstract. Let's take a look at an example of a statewide conservation plan and ask
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts released a report two years ago on its BioMap project (http://www.state.ma.us/dfwele/dfw/nhesp/nhbiomap.htm). The agencies that produced BioMap are using it ``to target those lands with greater ecological value.''
The goal of the BioMap is to promote strategic land protection by producing a map showing areas, that if protected, would provide suitable habitat over the long term for the maximum number of Massachusetts' terrestrial and wetland plant and animal species and natural communities.