We consider in this paper the maximization problem for the quantity ∫ Ωu(t, x)dx with respect to u0 =: u(0, ⋅), where u is the solution of a given reaction diffusion equation. This problem is motivated by biological conservation questions. We show the existence of a maximizer and derive optimality conditions through an adjoint problem. We have to face regularity issues since non-smooth initial data could give a better result than smooth ones. We then derive an algorithm enabling to approximate the maximizer and discuss some open problems.