Conservation Finance Network

How does a farmer with no desire to keep growing crops become a catalyst for financial value and land preservation? The Washington Farmland Trust worked with a farmer at the end of his career to craft a financial package that would keep his land from developers, sustain ecosystem services, and...

Three new case studies from preservation advocates Wildland and Woodlands show how collaborations to preserve land in New England pay off in employment, tax revenue, and housing investment. In each process, local leaders with heft in capital, policy and community trust worked together to craft an outdoor-focused strategy that encouraged...

What makes efforts to preserve land harmonize with efforts to promote commerce? In this article, we review several examples. Entrepreneurs learn to bolster terrain for hikers (who drink beer), historically sensitive consumers, and fellow merchants. These examples show how creative approaches to promoting conservation and community-based development can yield ongoing...

Easements unlock value for landowners and preserve land for everyone else. With challenges to our ecosystem and economy coming faster and from more directions, conservation leaders need tools that apply more quickly or in quirkier situations. This toolkit looks over a range of techniques that extend conservation to situations where...

Forest carbon offset companies see a source of credit, and value, in small forest owners. These owners, in turn, see offsets as a way to sustain their assets. What does this emerging field need to normalize about valuation, verification and communication to make deeper financial and ecological impact?

In May, the

The practice of raising and managing capital to support land, water, and natural resource conservation.

Network spoke to Nathalie Woolworth, conservation finance manager of the United States Forest Service about the Innovative Finance for National Forests program. This program offers $1.8 million in grants for the development and deployment of innovative financial models to support resilience of the National Forests.