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Globally, hundreds of thousands of rangers patrol protected areas every day. The data they collect have immense potential for monitoring biodiversity and threats to it. Technologies like SMART (Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool), which facilitate the management of ranger‐collected data, have enhanced this potential. However, based on our experience across diverse use cases and geographies, we have found that ranger‐based monitoring is often implemented without a clear plan for how the data will inform management and without critical evaluation of whether the data are reliable enough to meet specific monitoring goals. Here we distill six key lessons and present a decision framework to guide funders, governments, protected area managers, and NGOs toward more effective use of ranger‐based monitoring for protected area management and suggest when alternative monitoring approaches may add value. Essential considerations include the welfare and motivation of rangers, biases in patrol coverage and detectability, the capacity to analyze data, and the buy‐in of those tasked with using the data to inform management decisions. When implemented well, ranger‐based monitoring can help improve conservation outcomes through evaluating management interventions, more efficient deployment of limited law enforcement budgets to optimize the deterrence of illegal activities, and basic ecological monitoring.

Ranger‐led law enforcement patrols are the primary, site‐level response to – and the most common source of data on – illegal activity threatening wildlife in protected areas. Yet evidence that patrols effectively deter rule‐breaking is limited, and common management metrics for evaluating deterrence, which use ranger‐collected data, are particularly vulnerable to bias. “Differenced plots” (of the association between change in patrol effort and subsequent change in illegal activity) were recently proposed as a simple, new metric for deterrence, which, in tests with simulated patrol data, were more robust than the common alternatives. Here, we trial application of differenced plots to real patrol data collected in four protected areas, and explore methods for applying the metric in practice, using two indicators of rule‐breaking: snares, and people. We find evidence which is consistent with deterrence in some but not all sites, over shorter timescales than observed hitherto: increases in patrol effort were associated with subsequent reductions in snaring in one site, and in the presence of people in two sites. However, whether pressure on wildlife had been reduced or merely displaced was unclear from differenced plots, nor could the metric confirm absence of deterrence, raising questions for future applications. Our findings suggest differenced plots can be a useful metric, particularly for exploring variation in deterrence within sites, but should be applied and interpreted with care, and further work is urgently needed to determine whether and how patrols deter illegal activity, and to evaluate the effect reliably. Ranger patrols are the primary response to – and the most common source of data on – illegal activity in protected areas, but evidence that patrols effectively deter rule‐breaking is limited, and common metrics for evaluating deterrence, which use ranger‐collected data, are particularly vulnerable to bias. We trialled a recently proposed metric for determining deterrence from patrol data, which hitherto had only been tested using simulated data – ‘differenced plots’. We find evidence for deterrence operating in three out of four study sites, but also find weakness in the differenced plots approach, with implications for future applications.

Wildlife is an essential component of all ecosystems. Most places in the globe do not have local, timely information on which species are present or how their populations are changing. With the arrival of new technologies, camera traps have become a popular way to collect wildlife data. However, data collection has increased at a much faster rate than the development of tools to manage, process and analyse these data. Without these tools, wildlife managers and other stakeholders have little information to effectively manage, understand and monitor wildlife populations. We identify four barriers that are hindering the widespread use of camera trap data for conservation. We propose specific solutions to remove these barriers integrated in a modern technology platform called Wildlife Insights. We present an architecture for this platform and describe its main components. We recognize and discuss the potential risks of publishing shared biodiversity data and a framework to mitigate those risks. Finally, we discuss a strategy to ensure platforms like Wildlife Insights are sustainable and have an enduring impact on the conservation of wildlife.

Ranger-led law enforcement patrols are the primary response to illegal use of natural resources in protected areas globally. To date, however, the effectiveness of patrolling as a means to reduce illegal activity has been neglected as a subject of study. Relatedly, there has been no rigorous evaluation of tools which aim to increase patrol effectiveness through patrol monitoring and management. In this thesis, I explore the use of patrols for reducing illegal activity, and evaluate a popular tool for increasing patrol effectiveness: SMART. SMART involves ranger-based monitoring - collection of data by rangers on patrol - of both natural resource use and patrol activity. I exploit data collected via SMART to investigate the extent of patrolling conducted in terrestrial protected areas globally. I show that patrol presence within and across sites is typically very low, is constrained by limited budgets, and frequently falls short of industry targets. I also use SMART data to explore whether and in what contexts deterrence - the primary mechanism through which patrols are assumed to reduce illegal activity - operates in practice. I focus on four protected areas with relatively high patrol presence and find that patrols may have deterred illegal activity in three sites, but the effect was weak and inconsistent. I draw on these results and guidance from other policy arenas to evaluate SMART. I illustrate the causal pathways through which SMART aims to reduce illegal activity, using a theory of change approach. I develop evidence to verify SMART's theory of change, including whether the intervention was implemented as intended, and whether the chain of expected results occurred. I also develop a novel framework for describing heterogeneity among implemented interventions. I find that patrol presence is improving in SMART sites. Yet inconsistent implementation of management activities, and mixed evidence for deterrence, precluded a causal claim for SMART at this time. My findings suggest that patrol activity globally is insufficient to either reduce or monitor illegal activity in protected areas. SMART may improve patrol presence, and might improve it further through more faithful implementation of management. However, inconsistent evidence of deterrence, even in sites with high patrol presence, highlights the need for fundamental research into whether and how well-managed and socially just patrolling can be effective. My findings also demonstrate that robust monitoring of threats in protected areas, independent of patrolling, is essential.

Protected areas are key to biodiversity conservation and ranger-based monitoring, and law enforcement is the cornerstone upon which effective protected areas are built. Frontline practitioners, however, are often asked to protect large swathes of land or sea with limited resources, support, infrastructure, capacity, and/or training. Technology, when applied effectively and appropriately, has the capacity to empower practitioners, revolutionize ranger operations, improve ranger safety, and enhance wildlife protection and conservation outcomes. To do so, technology must be recognized, from the frontlines through to key decisionmakers, as a force multiplier, but only when it is fit for purpose, accessible, cost-effective, and supportive of rangers’ needs. In this paper we detail the general state of conservation technology and innovation within the ranger context and provide a series of detailed recommendations to help the Universal Ranger Support Alliance (URSA) meet the needs of rangers around the world, including: demystifying technology and clarifying what it can and cannot do, connecting the right technology with the right people and places, focusing technology development and investment on substantive improvements and support, broadening ranger familiarization with technology, building technology capacity in rangers, fostering greater community building and creating opportunities around technologies, engaging the technology sector to innovate and design technology to support rangers, and supporting technology as a complement to traditional knowledge and skills, rather than a replacement. These recommendations constitute an ambitious vision which cannot be delivered by URSA in isolation. Rather, we propose URSA leverages existing efforts to ensure rangers are supported around the world.

The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of a required school year long Character Education and Class-Wide Peer Tutoring program (CE+CWPT) for students who scored at or below proficiency in one, two, or three of their reading fluency, reading comprehension, or writing assessments at the beginning of their 5th-grade school year. The study analyzed performance on criterion referenced tests, performance on norm-referenced tests, behavioral referrals, and attendance to determine what relationship, if any, exists between levels of achievement amongst students participating in a required CE+CWPT program. Following a year of program participation, 5th-grade students with one or two areas of measured non-proficiency (n = 14) demonstrated a significant pretest-posttest improvement on their reading fluency scores but did not significantly improve their reading comprehension and writing scores. 5th-grade students with three areas of measured non-proficiency ( n = 8) demonstrated a significant pretest-posttest improvement on reading fluency scores and writing scores but did not significantly improve their reading comprehension scores. On posttest-posttest comparisons, there were no significant differences between the groups on reading fluency, reading comprehension, and writing scores. Behavioral comparisons for both groups indicated that the percentage of zero office referrals improved from pretest to posttest with a corresponding decrease for one or more office referrals. Posttest-posttest behavioral comparisons support improvement primarily in the area of office referral frequencies and percents for both groups. The observed level of absence frequencies was consistent with reported elementary school behavioral issues. In light of the study results, program scale-up of the required CE+CWPT program should be considered.

Todd Bolender coaches dancers in excerpts from Stravinsky's Renard, with movements choreographed by Balanchine in 1947.

Conservationists take extreme exception, to The Times editorial (Feb. 15) which describes the reclassification of Point Mugu from a state recreation area to a state park as a victory.