New Development: The Paired Study Project Over the past three years, the CRA has partnered with the Conservation Planning Institute (CPI) to develop a fine-scale, community-based conservation planning strategy that emphasizes social and economic issues. Now, the CRA has joined with the CPI to begin an important new phase of work - an initiative called the Paired Study Project.   The goal of the project is to develop the first-ever land-and-sea integrated conservation planning framework applicable to any coastal region in the world. The project is termed 'paired' because the framework's development will occur concurrently in the US Northwest and Queensland, Australia.   Conservation planning is a worldwide enterprise involving hundreds of projects, thousands of participants, and scores of governments and international organizations. Significant contributions to the science of conservation planning have been made by CPI associated scientists Bob Pressey and Reed Noss.   The heart of conservation planning involves the spatial identification of reserves and protected areas in some pattern that provides for the long-term conservation of biological diversity.   The development of conservation planning has occurred over the past twenty years. Notable junctures in conservation planning have been the development of: 1. Developing the science and methods of planning. 2. Building analytic and decision support tools. 3. Achieving larger planning/implementation frameworks.   The planning framework is of interest in the Paired Study Project. It is through the development of a framework that conservation planning matured beyond a one-time, expert developed plan and entered the realm of a long-term planning and implementation process involving scientists, the public, and government. Conservation planning is now a supporting, if not fundamental, exercise that compliments all other efforts to achieve social, economic, and ecological sustainability.   Crucial to a planning framework are the integration of the social and economic dimensions and a re-conceptualization of the design process to allow for the involvement of stakeholders and policy officials.   A good planning framework guides the planning process, provides necessary information and tools, insures the integrity of outcomes, educates those involved, and speaks forcefully to the issue of costs.   Numerous planning cookbooks offer guidance on one or more planning levels, planning science, the use of planning tools, and framework development. None have adequately achieved the integration of social and economic issues and no there is no existing framework that integrates land and sea planning. These are the issues that the Paired Study Project will address.   Work during the coming year will involve CRA staff in: · Identify project issues, challenges, and opportunities specific to Oregon and the Northwest. · Seeking out potential project partners. · Assist in project management development. · Identify stakeholders relevant to multiple planning areas. · Carry out specific field-based work assignments as directed by the project.   The project has the potential to support and leverage multiple Northwest conservation initiatives now grappling with the land-sea connection, ecosystem-based management, and the interface of the human community and the natural world.   Stay tuned for further developments!