Consider optimization methods when strategies are highly dependent on spatial context.

Opti­miza­tion meth­ods can be ben­e­fi­cial when there are spa­tial depen­den­cies, such that the selec­tion of one place influ­ences the val­ue of includ­ing oth­er areas. Opti­miza­tion may also be use­ful when a con­ser­va­tion project has mul­ti­ple goals and there are trade­offs among the goals. Mul­ti­ple-objec­tive spa­tial plan­ning is a rapid­ly evolv­ing field, with approach­es that vary wide­ly in their com­plex­i­ty. Marx­an, Con­snet, and Zona­tion have been used suc­cess­ful­ly in con­ser­va­tion con­texts. If a strat­e­gy is like­ly to have costs that also vary spa­tial­ly, you may want to include this cost infor­ma­tion (see step 6 below) before run­ning an optimization.