How can ecologists be more effective in supporting ecologically informed rural land-use planning and policy? Improved decision making about rural lands requires careful consideration of how ecological information and analyses can inform specific planning and policy needs. We provide a brief overview of rural land-use planning, including recently developed approaches to conservation. Effective participation in land-use planning requires ecologists to understand trade-offs - for example, the need to balance a land owner's desire for a fair and predictable process with the 'learn as you go' approach of adaptive management - and the importance of integrating local knowledge with landscape-level information. Four primary challenges require attention from ecologists to improve rural land-use planning. First is the mismatch between the spatial and temporal scales in which ecological processes occur and the scales and tempos of land-use planning. Second, ecologists must engage in interdisciplinary research to critically evaluate and determine how, if, and when ecological information influences rural land-use outcomes. Third, a comprehensive land-use framework is needed to better place ecological studies within a broader landscape context. Finally, ecologists have a key role in developing environmental indicators that directly inform local, rural land-use planning efforts.