Sustaining biodiversity depends on conservation actions coordinated at spatial extents large enough to maintain ecological processes. Numerous conservation prioritizations have been conducted resulting in gridded maps of pixels representing importance. However, it is not always clear how to move from priority pixels to landscape conservation designs, as pixels do not represent tangible, coherent landscapes for conservation attention. We attempted to move from pixels to landscapes by locating patches of high value pixels and overlaying level IV ecoregions from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to delineate 74 landscapes ranging from 2927 to 95,962 km². These landscapes were delineated to represent large areas of high wildland conservation value on which landscape conservation plans could focus, but where such plans would be embedded in national conservation priorities. After delineating landscapes, we assessed how well they represented the highest value areas with respect to ecological integrity, connectivity value, ecosystem representation priority, and biodiversity priority. We also assessed socio-economic condition of people within landscapes by evaluating economic and demographic data for counties within and adjacent to landscapes. Landscapes represented well high value lands with respect to ecological integrity, connectivity, and the composite wildland value, but poorly captured the highest value places with respect to ecosystem representation priority in the nation’s protected area system. Land ownership and protected status of landscapes varied from <1% to 96% in federal ownership and <1% to 50% in existing highly protected areas. Counties intersecting our landscapes reflected the diversity of socio-economic conditions of the contiguous US. Our analysis and results represent a means of moving from priority pixels to delineated landscapes where conservation plans can be developed collaboratively.

维持生物多样性取决于在足够大的空间范围内协调以维持生态过程的保护行动。已经进行了许多保护优先级排序，从而形成了代表重要性的像素网格图。但是，由于像素不能代表有保护意义的有形，连贯的景观，因此，如何从优先级像素转移到景观保护设计并不总是很清楚。我们试图通过定位高价值像素的块并覆盖美国环境保护局（EPA）的IV级生态区域来从像素移动到景观，以描绘2927至95,962 km ^2的74个景观。划定了这些景观以代表具有高野生动植物保护价值的大片区域，景观保护计划可以将重点放在这些区域上，但是这些计划将被纳入国家保护优先领域。在划定景观之后，我们评估了它们在生态完整性，连通性价值，生态系统代表优先权和生物多样性优先权方面代表最高价值区域的程度。我们还通过评估景观内外景观县的经济和人口数据，评估了景观内人的社会经济状况。就生态完整性，连通性和综合的野生地价值而言，景观是高价值的土地，但在国家保护区系统中，就生态系统代表优先权而言，却无法获得最高价值的位置。土地所有权和景观的受保护状况在联邦所有权中从<1％到96％不等，而在现有高度保护区中则在<1％到50％之间。与我们的景观相交的县反映了邻近美国的社会经济状况的多样性。我们的分析和结果代表了一种从优先级像素转移到可以共同制定保护计划的轮廓的方法。