Takeaways From Our October 2025 Conservation Finance Roundtable

In Brief

- The 14th annual Conservation Finance Roundtable in Portland, OR was held at The World Forestry Center and brought together land conservation practitioners, policy experts, state agency staff, and private forestland investors to discuss conservation funding opportunities and challenges in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.

- Key topics included both proven and new strategies for funding forestland conservation; partnering with Indigenous nations to return ancestral lands; and the considerations private investment firms bring to forestland ownership and land valuation in the Pacific Northwest.

- We workshopped efforts to blend public and private funding for wildfire mitigation and the challenges of identifying low-cost capital to acquire and conserve community forests.

On October 14-15, 2025, the Conservation Finance network convened our 14th annual Conservation Finance Roundtable at The World Forestry Center. We were joined by practitioners from Washington and Oregon, and beyond. The conversation focused on pragmatic strategies for funding conservation projects in an era of declining public resources. This article summarizes topics discussed; the full event agenda is available here.

Scott Bailey, former Southwest Regional Economist for the state of Washington, provided a keynote address which grounded attendees in the economic situation of Oregon and Washington with a particular focus on natural resources. Farmland has declined from 20 million to 15 million acres since 1964, and timber harvests have dropped from 8,000 to 3,000 board feet annually. Operating mills have decreased from about thirty to just five, and forestry employment has fallen from 80,000 to 20,000 jobs. Despite declining employment overall in the timber industry, between 1964 and 2019 lumber production has increased slightly in Washington, and has declined slightly in Oregon. Bailey cautioned that restricted immigration and an aging population will soon create labor shortages in natural resource industries. Bailey closed by sharing his concerns about climate change, nanoplastics, financial instability, and the uncertain impacts of AI-driven technologies on the economy and joked that some call him “Dr. Doom.”

Following Scott Bailey’s talk, Vanessa Kritzer, Executive Director of the Washington Association of Land Trusts, and Joe Buttafuoco, Executive Director of the Coalition of Oregon Land Trusts, oriented attendees to conservation work happening in the two states. The Washington Association of Land Trusts works with the 36 land trusts in Washington State, which have collectively protected over 1 million acres. Vanessa described key state funding sources for conservation in Washington state, such as the Washington Wildlife and Recreation program, Farm Protection & Affordability Investment program, Farmland Protection and Land Access program, the Community Forest Grant Program, and the Climate Commitment Act. Joe Buttafuoco described how Oregon’s 31 land trusts and partner organizations have protected 780,000 acres, including 127,000 acres returned or made accessible to Tribes, and discussed efforts like the Oregon Land Justice Project and the Indigenous Land Relationship Fund. He also reviewed Oregon’s major conservation funding programs, noting that despite strong public support for conservation in Oregon, there is a scarcity of sustained state-level conservation funding.

Lesley Kane Szynal, Director of Outdoors America, provided updates on federal funding for conservation, focusing on the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). In 2020, President Trump signed the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA), which permanently authorized LWCF (which is funded from offshore oil and gas proceeds). This year has brought challenges to LWCF and overall funding for conservation. At the time of the Roundtable, the federal government was shut down, leading to much uncertainty. Though the Great American Outdoors Act explicitly distinguished between LWCF acquisition and maintenance backlog funding, there have been attempts this year to divert LWCF acquisition dollars for maintenance. The LWCF Coalition has monitored and thus far successfully opposed these efforts. Despite federal headwinds, bipartisan support for conservation and public lands has remained strong. A recent bipartisan poll, which will be published soon, further substantiates this support: 93% of Americans want to see continued investment of offshore oil and gas revenues (the funding source for the LCWF) into onshore conservation programs. 78% of Americans prefer investing in land, water and wildlife protection over roads or infrastructure on public lands, and 89% said that even with efforts to decrease the overall size of the federal budget, funding to protect land, air, and water should not be reduced.

A session on Fostering Partnerships in Indigenous Leadership explored two recent land back transactions. Jason Robison with the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians described the Canyon Creek project. Project partner the Trust for Public Land (TPL) purchased a 5,815-acre property within the Tribe’s 6.2-million-acre ancestral territory using $17 million in loans and investments. TPL will serve as an interim holder while working to help the Cow Creek Band raise funds to acquire the land without restriction. Phil Rigdon, Department of Natural Resources Superintendent for the Yakama Nation in Washington, then described the Springwood Ranch acquisition. This project involved the purchase of 3,600 acres, which will eventually be subdivided and transferred to four owners: the Yakama Nation, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Kittitas County, and Kittitas Reclamation District. The Trust for Public Land helped secure a loan to purchase the land and is working to transfer the land to partners. One component of the project involves installation of a dam to help manage streamflow for both fish and agriculture. This property is of cultural and historical significance to the Yakama Nation, and in recognition of this, the state of Washington adjusted the terms of one of their grant programs so as to be able to fund the Yakama Nation’s acquisition of a portion of the property without encumbrances that would erode tribal sovereignty.

Reggie Hall, Director of LegacyWorks Group’s Conservation Loan Collaborative, moderated a session on interim finance, or conservation lending. Melissa Campbell, Executive Director of the Washington Farmland Trust, shared how in 2018 the organization developed a 2% interest, impact investment note with a seven-year term to purchase the Reiner Farm. Seventeen investors participated (16 individuals and 1 institution), and in 2024, Washington Farmland Trust was able to sell the conserved property to a farmer and the Tulalip Tribe and use proceeds to pay back all investors. This project enabled them to engage donors in new ways, and gives Washington Farmland Trust a new tool for protecting farmland amidst rising land costs and pressures. John Rose, founder of the Washington Opportunity Fund, described how the fund works: interested borrowers (primarily land trusts) can apply for loans of up to $500,000 with a 3-year term at 1% interest and no collateral. Applicants back within 30 days of applying, making the program “fast, simple, and cheap,” as John described it. Reggie Hall then described LegacyWorks’ Impact Finance Program and Conservation Loan Collaborative, which helps organizations design revolving funds and connect with impact investors to support long-term conservation goals.

We next discussed the use of Clean Water State Revolving Funds for conservation. Shaun O’Rourke, Managing Director at Quantified Ventures, described innovative uses of State Revolving Funds (SRFs) for conservation and restoration across the country, highlighting programs in states like Washington, Rhode Island, Iowa, and Ohio. Because SRFs are loan programs that have been funded for the past thirty years, this federally funded source is more durable than ones requiring annual appropriations. Speakers Tamara Cowles (Washington Department of Ecology), Cherie Kearney (formerly Columbia Land Trust), and Brad Hunter (Craft3) described the Washington Watershed Conservation Fund, a new pilot using SRF dollars to create a revolving loan fund for forestland conservation. In this pilot, SRF funds were placed with CDFI Craft3, which is issuing a 20-year loan to Columbia Land Trust to acquire a parcel of forestland with substantial water quality benefits in the Gray’s River watershed. The loan is scheduled to close in November 2025, after which Columbia Land Trust and partners will work to identify sources to pay back the loan. Lessons from this pilot will inform development of the Washington Watershed Conservation Fund, which aims to be a program that is accessible for land trusts, tribes, and other conservation organizations.

We had two innovation round-up sessions, which touched on exciting conservation finance projects from around the region and beyond. Innovations included:

Mik McKee with Western Rivers Conservancy described the Yurok Blue Creek project. This is a $55.8 million, 47,097-acre effort by the Yurok Tribe and Western Rivers Conservancy to return forestland to the Tribe. Working in close partnership with Green Diamond Resource Company, the landowner, the project secured funding through EPA Clean Water State Revolving Funds, carbon offset sales, New Market Tax Credits, foundation grants, the State of California, and a Federal/Tribal Settlement. It is the largest single “land back” deal in California’s history

Matt Purdy from The Conservation Fund described their new Impact Investing Program, which seeks to activate different types of dollars- from philanthropy to traditional investment- through a range of forestland investment and conservation tools.

Tim Wigington with the Freshwater Trust described their development of an outcomes-based nutrient reduction program on the Snake River. They are partnering with payors interested in this issue (including federal agencies; state agencies; local utilities; private corporations; and more) to pool funds and distribute them to farmers for improved irrigation equipment with payments based on measurable nutrient reductions.

Bobby Cochran with Portland State University’s Policy Consensus Center described the Federal Energy and Environment Investment Project, which analyzed where federal funds have been awarded and deployed. The analysis found that, during the time when the Biden Administration’s Justice40 Executive Order was in effect, 35% of federal funds went to designated Justice40 counties; funding awarded to Tribes doubled; and investment in rural communities doubled. The project website is here and the team has the capacity to conduct additional analyses based on specific geographies or funding programs.

Ellen Herbert, Senior Scientist at Ducks Unlimited, described their work to develop a biodiversity credit pilot project in partnership with Green Diamond Resource Company. The project team is working with corporate advisors to understand what criteria and standards are important to potential buyers.

Grace Edinger from the Environmental Policy Innovation Center described their work with states to develop outcomes-based environmental policy, and shared a new report about outcomes-based environmental policy in the Chesapeake watershed.

Partners involved in the Oregon Land and People project described their five-year, $12 million collaboration between the Coalition of Oregon Land Trusts, the Land Trust Alliance, and the Oregon Community Foundation to strengthen land trust capacity statewide. The Oregon Community Foundation is providing philanthropic leadership and seed funding, which to date has secured $2.4 million in philanthropic gifts, $400,000 in new funding for land capital projects, and a $3 million impact investment in Craft3’s Conservation Bridge Fund.

A session focused on private investment in forestland explored the factors that private investors in forestland (especially TIMOs) must consider in their land purchases and sales, management choices and potential partnerships with conservation organizations. This session highlighted the increased interest from private investors in the Pacific Northwest, due to its high timber values, relatively high climate resilience, and relatively strong timber markets. It also illustrated differences between the ways that conservation organizations, public agencies, and private investors financially value forestland and surfaced challenges with existing appraisal processes.

We had two project workshopping sessions, which we refer to as our ‘Dolphin Tank.’ Both expert “Dolphins” and audience members provided feedback on these scenarios:

Speakers Ashley Conrad-Saydah (founder and principal of Sowing Change Strategies and Vibrant Planet), Will Martin (Executive Vice President, Business Innovation, American Forest Foundation), Bethany Mueller (Director of Philanthropy and Public Finance Lead at American Forest Foundation), and Ethan Yackulic (Forest Carbon Scientist at American Forest Foundation) described a pilot effort in Tuolumne County, California, to fund wildfire mitigation on private lands. They described the overall lack of funding for wildfire mitigation: We lose hundreds of billions annually due to wildfire; an estimated $100-$200 billion in investment is needed annually to achieve wildfire resilience goals; and we are currently spending only $5 billion annually on wildfire mitigation. Public funding is insufficient to achieve these goals, and thus this project team is focused on identifying new strategies to bring in private capital. The partnership’s proposed approach will knit together funding from state and federal grants, PG&E (the utility), and the sale of carbon credits under an in-development avoided wildfire risk methodology to do wildfire mitigation work, with a particular focus on treatment of small parcels near and surrounding utility lines.

A second Dolphin Tank session focused on the challenge of identifying funding for community forest acquisition. Presenters Jay McLaughlin, Executive Director of Mount Adams Resource Stewards, and Nils Christofferson, Executive Director of Wallowa Resources, who have each helped create community forests in the Pacific Northwest, described the value of community forestland ownership, and the challenges of identifying funding to increase the scale of community forests (currently it’s extremely challenging to develop projects larger than 2,000 acres, or with acquisition costs higher than $7 million) with the goal to be able to secure 20,000 to 30,000-acre tracts). They described existing sources of funding for community forests and then presented two scenarios which illustrated the types of financing that would better support community ownership goals: working with bridge investors, and using long-term, low interest loans (mixed with some grant capital) to acquire forestland directly. One audience member asked whether, given the long-term ownership model of community forests, we could explore new ways to create longer term financing mechanisms (i.e. with 50-100 year terms)?

We also had a conversation about the challenges of attracting private investment to nature-based solutions, a longstanding interest of CFN’s. Shaun O’Rourke from Quantified Ventures offered insights on the challenges of attracting private capital, based on reflections from a process Quantified Ventures led to solicit investable nature-based projects. He noted that many nature-based projects are not ready for investment due to barriers like: the lack of developed markets for certain products or environmental services; the need for standardized deal flows; and ineffective communication strategies for identifying investor priorities. Leigh Whelpton, the Director of Environmental Infrastructure Program at the Connecticut Green Bank, highlighted the hurdles of project predevelopment and described the creative roles Green Banks can play by leveraging and blending state funding or using a state’s long-term bonding authority.

The Conservation Finance Network would like to thank the attendees of our 14th Conservation Finance Roundtable for joining us, and we extend a special thanks to our event sponsors: the Oregon Community Foundation; the Excess Return Fund at the Maine Community Foundation; and the Walton Family Foundation. The insights and collaboration that came out of our Portland gathering help inform our work and represent efforts we look forward to continuing to track. In particular, we look forward to monitoring this event’s discussion of efforts to secure new sources of funding for community forest acquisition, the use of SRFs and other creative state-level funding programs for land conservation, and identifying new sources of funding for indigenous-led conservation. Stay tuned!