Decades of blasting the tops of mountains for coal have clouded generations of human life and millions of years' worth of other life in Appalachia. A new approach that centers on reclaiming mine sites, supporting health in order to build livelihoods, can reset that.
The Defense Department helps this Minnesota wolf defend its turf. (Photo by Julie DeJong, Minnesota DNR, via the US Army Flickr feed.)
The United States' military apparatus depends on stable land for security at its sites. A partnership with land trusts and other stewards makes conservation hay from that conviction.
Organizations across the country, and across land types, are working to implement aggregation projects to help family forest owners, small farmers, and all those who own smaller parcels of land. These projects serve farmer whose priorities may differ internally and in comparison to commercial operations.
The International Society for Tropical Forestry’s 2022 conference at Yale emphasized scale and the importance of COVID-19 recovery efforts for the “Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.”
In looking at forest restoration finance in a tropical context, three experts at a Yale-sponsored panel spoke of clearer images from space and more inclusive planning on the ground.
(Photo by Sam Feibel/Franklin & Marshall College.) This restored wetland brings life back to a Pennsylvania site that once posed a threat to the Chesapeake Bay.
By removing "legacy sediment" from dam diversions, scientists can expand wetlands and their conservation oomph. In Pennsylvania, a commercial real estate firm learned how this wetland protection can create more developable land - and more profit.
With the International Land Conservation Network, CFN offers a handbook for handling gatherings to boost impact.
Intractable social and environmental problems require collective action. These challenges demand that we step beyond individual mission statements and business models to craft strategies, chart paths forward, and unlock scaled impact—together. A new guide draws on lessons from convenings around the world to make gatherings more enjoyable and effective.
Every year, the Land Trust Alliance Rally unites practitioners across the conservation finance firmament. The 2021 rally weighed more in our memories, marking an end to isolation and raising our prospects. Our team members reflect below.
District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DC Water) created a municipal bond that covers the downside risk of using green infrastructure to control stormwater runoff. By offloading risk to investors, the utility drew new financing -and time to get its practices right. Now other cities are following its lead.
Boot camp can mean the start of a long, uphill financial journey.
I have always envisioned myself as the wildlife field biologist who camps in the woods or sleeps on a boat. But while attending the boot camp, I found that the difference between fundraising and financing affected whether an organization could sustain its projects.
In the wake of Katrina, National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries
and the state of Louisiana teamed up to rebuild
significant portions of a 19-mile expanse of
barrier islands off Barataria Bay. Newly
rebuilt beaches and dunes were erected from
2006-2009, and scientists today continue to
monitor for changes in elevation, vegetation
and species abundance at this site. To learn more
about this project, visit the NOAA website.
(Credit: NOAA)
Bordered by beautiful wetlands along the Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana is a hub of transportation and industry. A pilot environmental impact bond could seed a set of wetland-restoration projects for the state. Environmental Defense Fund, Quantified Ventures, and their project partners are proposing to draw on funding from the Deepwater...
