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Covert rewilding is the secret and illegal translocation of species in the pursuit of conservation objectives. Recent history contains multiple covert rewilding events, frequently occurring after official permission was denied. In order to better understand the phenomenon, I formulate covert rewilding as an optimisation problem, with the goal of creating a population that is too large to be eradicated once it is detected. I then consider a hypothetical covert rewilding of Tasmanian devils Sarcophilus harrisii to the Australian mainland. Three different release locations would allow a covert devil population to remain undetected for years, by which time its size and distribution may preclude eradication. Optimal release locations also represent optimal locations for official surveillance, but a more effective approach to halting covert rewilding could be a more permissive stance towards legal rewilding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conservation spending in California, USA exceeds conservation expenditures in many countries. To date, there has been no objective method to assess the efficiency of such spending for achieving species conservation outcomes. We conducted the first such retrospective analysis of conservation spending, examining the distribution of $2.8 billion spent on land protection by the state of California and partners from 1990 to 2006. Using a return on investment algorithm with species protection as the sole objective, we describe a “cost-efficient” funding scenario that would have protected four times more distinct species and three times more threatened and endangered species compared to the observed allocation. Differences between the species-diversity spending and the observed spending patterns reflect the myriad funding objectives, beyond protecting species, of the state. Identifying cost-effective conservation strategies are essential given the need to maintain species diversity in the face of global change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]