Over the past ten years the scientific basis for reserve selection anddesign have rapidly developed. This period has also been characterized by ashift in emphasis toward large spatial and organizational scales ofconservation efforts. I discuss the evidence in support of this shift towardlarger scale conservation by contrasting the success of fine-filter (genes,populations, species) conservation and coarse-filter (communities, habitats,ecosystems, landscapes) conservation. Conservation at both organizationalscales has been successful and merits continued support, although fine-filterconservation is more straightforward. Ecological theory suggests thatconservation at large scales is preferred. Despite this preference, both fine-and coarse-filter conservation objectives have been met by small reserves. Inmany landscapes there are no opportunities for the conservation of nativespecies diversity that encompass a large spatial scale. Thus, reserve selectionat any organizational scale may include conservation at a variety of spatialscales. A variety of methods have been suggested that integrate across scalesof conservation. Some, such as umbrella, flagship, and indicator species,remain very problematic. Reserve selection algorithms and gap analyses, incontrast, offer promising opportunities to increase the efficiency ofconservation at all scales.