The rate of impacts to plant and animal populations is such that we simply cannot keep up with each species individually. Instead, conservation strategies are focusing on natural communities, defined as specific assemblages of plants and animals and the physical environment within which they live. By conserving natural communities, all species of plants and animals within the community can be conserved at the same time. The second trend is to evaluate natural resources on a regional or landscape level. Instead of assessing the ecological value of an individual area or parcel, the site is evaluated in the context of the entire state.
Black bears provide an excellent example here.
Black bears are ranging animals requiring many square miles of forest land to survive. As a result, bears need to move freely from one block of forest to another. Simply conserving individual parcels of land containing critical bear foods will not ensure a future bear population.