Researchers from the University of British Columbia have developed a conservation tool that could help environmentalists and conservationists figure out how to best spend conservation dollars to save the most species. The tool, Priority Threat Management (PTM), 
The swift fox is one of thirteen animals that was used to test the new tool (Source: WikiCommons)uses empirical data and expert knowledge to determine the best method to save animals from extinction. PTM was used to determine how to tackle the declining populations of 15 species in southwestern Saskatchewan.
"Recovery of species at risk in Canada and around the world is failing--often we are spending our limited conservation resources on species with the lowest likelihood of recovery at the highest cost," said Tara Martin, lead author and professor in the faculty of forestry at the University of British Columbia. "We've developed the first scientific tool aimed at recovering as many species as possible within any given budget.”
PTM prioritizes conservation strategies while answering key questions about potential conservation. The tool considers conservation costs and management strategies, as well as identifying what animals might never be recovered.
"We calculate the cost-effectiveness of different decisions every day, from what we're going to buy at the grocery store to which school we're going to send our children to, but in conservation, we've been shopping with no price tags," said Martin. "This tool will help us make those calculations, put a price tag to conservation strategies and determine how effective they will be."
To test the tool, the researchers applied it to 15 species thought to be lost, endangered or threatened. Thirteen of the 15 species were included in the 2017 ECCC multi-species action plan. Eighteen management strategies and 200 conserving actions could potentially be taken to save animals.
"This tool helps us make those conservation decisions in a more transparent, repeatable and defensible way," said Paul Smith, an ECCC researcher involved in the project.
Before applying the tool to their research, the team found that two out of the 15 species are likely to be recovered with little to no management or intervention. After the team applied PTM, they found that if five out of the 18 potential strategies were implemented, 13 out of the 15 endangered species will likely meet their recovery goals.
"We estimate the overall cost of deploying those five management strategies would be $126 million over 20 years," said Martin. "We can't recover all the species but can achieve the best possible outcome for at least 13 of those species."
The paper on the new tool was published in Conservation Letters.
