The recipe for building and executing a translocation program will change throughout its lifetime, and can never be a ‘set and forget’ affair. Not only do the goal posts need to move over time, but the ground on which a program is built is constantly shifting and revealing additional sources of uncertainty.

Here I present the ‘Translocation Continuum’ framework, which considers the uncertainty associated with a translocation program along a contextual continuum, and proposes criteria, primary strategies, recommended tactics, evaluation measures, and expected outcomes for five key translocation ‘phases’: (1) Feasibility Studies, (2) Pilot Studies, (3) Primary Trials, (4) Secondary Experiments, and (5) Tertiary Reinforcements. The framework aims to balance conservation and research strategies, and highlights the need to act both proactively in anticipating and mitigating threats, and reactively within an adaptive management framework.

I will discuss the confines of ‘success’ and ‘failure’ labels in translocation science, and the importance of parsimonious decision-making that balances objectives to maximise learning with the least amount of loss. Only by managing expectations of the likelihood of establishment, growth, and regulation throughout a program’s lifetime can we galvanise trust and investment in translocations so they can contribute meaningfully to restoration in the long term.

By promoting parsimony and clarifying phase-appropriate goals and measures of success, the Translocation Continuum framework offers a multi-phased approach that practitioners can use to guide their decisions to resolve uncertainty and make several steps toward conservation goals.