The Future of Landscape Conservation: Investments in science and networks for biodiversity, climate, & cultural conservation goals 

A VIRTUAL POLICY FORUM

Dear Network Friends,
The Network for Landscape Conservation is pleased to be partnering with the California Landscape Stewardship Network to host a virtual policy forum on Wednesday, May 19th to highlight needed investments in science and collaborative processes to meet contemporary biodiversity, climate and culture conservation goals.


Investments in science and networks for biodiversity, climate, & cultural conservation goals: Collaborative landscape conservation and stewardship is increasingly important as our country faces emerging challenges to address climate change, protect and restore biodiversity, create a more just and inclusive conservation paradigm, conserve working lands, and rebuild our economy. The purpose of this national forum is to convene leadership with diverse perspectives in a strategic conversation on the capacities and policies needed to develop and apply landscape scale science and planning. 

This conversation is timely. As the nation grapples with emerging opportunities and approaches to conserve and steward our nation’s lands and waters, it is important to understand how science and local knowledge can inform the ways we steward our nation’s lands and waters, and how to strengthen the role of networks as they foster collaborative decision-making at different scales.


Wednesday, May 19, 2021 at 11:00 am – 12:30 pm ET

Secretary Wade Crowfoot of the California Natural Resources Agency will offer a keynote address and moderate a panel discussion with the following panelists:

  • Jeff Allenby Director of Geospatial Technology for the Center for Geospatial Solutions, ‎Lincoln Institute of Land Policy 
  • Bray Beltrán Science Director, Heart of the Rockies Initiative
  • Leroy Little Bear Blackfeet researcher, Professor Emeritus at University of Lethbridge, Kainai First Nation
  • Deb Rocque Assistant Director of the Science Applications Program, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 
FORUM OBJECTIVES:
  • Provide a platform to discuss emerging science and capacity needs necessary to address contemporary conservation challenges at local, regional, and national scales.
  • Capitalize on the Biden administration’s leadership and policy priorities for science-based, inclusive, and collaborative approaches to conserving our nation’s lands and waters (such as the 30x30 initiative).
  • Translate science and network capacity needs into a near-term agenda for building and connecting networks, securing funding, and facilitating action on shared priorities at local, state, regional, and national scales. 
On behalf of the Network's Policy Forum Committee, we look forward to having you join us for this critically important conversation. Thank you.
Julie Regan
Network Co-Chair
Tahoe Regional Planning Agency
Shawn Johnson
Network Co-Chair
Center for Natural Resources & Environmental Policy at The University of Montana
REMINDER: CATALYST FUND DEADLINE
Proposals to the 2021 funding round of the Landscape Conservation Catalyst Fund are due on Friday, April 23. For more information on the Catalyst Fund and to view the RFP, please visit the Catalyst Fund page on the Network's website.
UPCOMING WEBINAR: LANDSCAPE CONSERVATION IN ACTION
WEBINAR SERIES

May 11, 2021: The Conservation Fund's Working Forest Fund: Protecting America’s Large Privately-Held ForestsRegister here
Institutional investors own roughly 40 million acres of forests in the U.S. and trade about 4 million acres of these forests annually. In this ownership environment, there is enormous pressure to maximize financial returns with each sale of forest assets. The result is that forests frequently follow a predictable pathway from large, intact and ecologically significant forests, to parcelized and fragmented forests that ultimately are converted to non-forested uses as successive owners chase greater financial returns. Join this webinar to learn about The Conservation Fund's efforts to build an effective and financially sustainable model — The Working Forest Fund® — to ensure at-risk forests are never broken apart or degraded, and how over the next 10 – 15 years we can rapidly scale this model and save 5 million acres of the most exceptional and highest conservation value forests.

STAY CONNECTED
The Network for Landscape Conservation is the community of practice for practitioners advancing collaborative, cross-boundary conservation as an essential approach to protect nature, culture, and community.


Contact Ernest Cook , Interim Network Director, for more information. 


The Network for Landscape Conservation is a fiscally sponsored project of the Center for Large Landscape Conservation.