The Landscape Conservation Bulletin
A bi-monthly service of the Network for 
Landscape Conservation
March 2021
Dear Network Friends,

What an exciting time! Yes, many of us continue to work from home, but from those home offices this community grows daily, brought together by collaborative landscape conservation. 

For example, even from home offices, we continue to convene conversations through our Virtual Policy Forum Series—the next event, Pathways to a Just and Equitable Future, is this week. We also are pleased to introduce our new "Landscape Conservation in Action" webinar series: We will host a conversation April 1 with Tony Hiss, author of “Rescuing the Planet: Protecting Half the Land to Heal the Planet”, and Valerie Courtois, Director of Canada’s Indigenous Leadership Initiative, whose work the book features. The following week, on April 7, Jodi Hilty of the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, will discuss relationships between a conservation vision and measurable conservation advances. 

And be sure to read about our newly released 2021 Catalyst Fund Request for Proposals. The first two Catalyst Fund grantee cohorts are moving forward with their work, and we are seeing powerful stories emerge of how these catalytic investments are positioning the Partnerships for long-term conservation success. We look forward to welcoming a third cohort of grantees in July.

These initiatives are just some of those that are especially important to work on together. For each, we have solid paths forward in areas like Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Science and Applications; Policy; Peer Learning; and Communications. Future Bulletins will highlight specific news, opportunities, and accomplishments. Stay tuned and, if you like, look for ways to engage.

Cheers,
In This Issue
Virtual Policy Forum on Justice, Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion
2021 Catalyst Fund RFP
"Rescuing the Planet" Conversation
Additional Landscape Conservation News
Upcoming Events
Landscape Conservation Job Board
Webinars & Additional Resources
Peter Williams
Member, NLC Executive Committee
Chair, NLC Science Working Group
Cover photo: Monument Valley Tribal Park (Tse’Bii’Ndzisgaii), Navajo Nation, Utah and Arizona. Photo by Emily Campbell on Unsplash.
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Featured News
Upcoming Virtual Policy Forum to focus on the importance of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion to landscape conservation
On Wednesday, March 31, from 1 to 2:30 pm ET, the Network for Landscape Conservation is convening a Virtual Policy Forum to focus on the fundamental importance of justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion in collaborative landscape conservation. This is the third in a series of virtual policy forums that we are hosting, and builds from the "Weaving the Strands Together: Case Studies in Inclusive and Equitable Landscape Conservation" report, which the Network released earlier this year in partnership with the Salazar Center for North American Conservation.

The 90-minute Forum will feature a keynote address from Dr. Mamie Parker, Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources Commissioner and former Head of Fisheries at the US Fish & Wildlife Service. Following her keynote, Dr. Parker will moderate a discussion that will feature the following panelists:

  • Curtis Bennett – Director of Equity & Community Engagement at National Aquarium and steering committee member of Greater Baltimore Wilderness Coalition;
  • Patrick Gonzales Rogers – Executive Director of Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition;
  • David Lamfrom – Vice President of Regional Programs at the National Parks Conservation Association;
  • Martha Williams – Principal Deputy Director of US Fish & Wildlife Service.

We hope you can join us on Wednesday, and add your voice to this important conversation. And prior to the Forum, be sure to check out this in-depth interview with panelist Patrick Gonzales Rogers that was featured just this month in Mongabay.
Featured News
New RFP released for the 2021 grant cycle of the Landscape Conservation Catalyst Fund
Earlier this month, the Network for Landscape Conservation released a new Request for Proposals for the 2021 grant cycle of the Landscape Conservation Catalyst Fund. Now entering its third year, the Catalyst Fund strives to accelerate the pace and practice of collaborative landscape conservation across the United States by investing in Landscape Conservation Partnerships. The Fund couples financial support through a competitive grant program with capacity-building support through in-depth Peer Learning for funded Partnerships. A portion of the Fund is reserved specifically to advance Indigenous landscape conservation priorities.

Visit the Catalyst Fund page for more information on the how to apply. Proposal submissions are due by Friday, April 23 and grant awards will be announced in July 2021.
Featured News
"Rescuing the Planet: Protecting Half the Land to Heal the Earth," a just-published book by author Tony Hiss, to be centerpoint of upcoming conversation
Award-winning author and veteran New Yorker contributor Tony Hiss' latest and just-published book, “Rescuing the Planet: Protecting Half the Land to Heal the Earth,” offers an optimistic vision for how this bold landscape conservation strategy can be achieved. On Thursday, April 1 the Network for Landscape Conservation will be hosting a conversation with Tony and Valerie Courtois, Director of Canada’s Indigenous Leadership Initiative, whose work is featured in the book.

In conjunction with this webinar, we are pleased to be partnering with the Country Bookshelf, an independent bookstore in Bozeman, MT to make signed copies of Tony’s book available--you may purchase a signed copy here.

This is the inaugural event in the Network's new "Landscape Conservation in Action" webinar series. The on-going series will showcase a wide-ranging set of experts in the field of landscape conservation to share practical reflections, insights, and stories on the “how to” of landscape conservation. Like landscape conservation in practice, these webinars aim to be diverse in scope and approach, and our hope is that they deepen the opportunity for exchange, learning, and dialogue across landscape conservation initiatives throughout North America. Be sure to check out upcoming webinars here.
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Additional Landscape Conservation News
The Open Space Institute launches $18 Million Appalachian Landscapes Protection Fund to accelerate land Conservation to fight climate change, with a goal to conserve 50,000 acres of land along the spine of the Appalachians.

The Salazar Center for North American Conservation is currently accepting submissions to the Thriving Cities Challenge, with proposals that advance climate resilience and racial equity through nature-based solutions in communities due by April 15. 

New York Times article highlights growing international consensus around the 30x30 goal—and the critical importance of working with Indigenous nations and communities to achieve it. 

New report from the Collaborating Well initiative highlights research findings into collaborative leadership and offers new insights into the collaborative “mindset” that is essential for effective collaboration.

Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition summarizes key takeaways and insights from a set of peer learning sessions on effective governance structures for partnerships working across large landscapes. 

The Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program’s 2021 Report to Congress has been finalized, summarizing the achievements of the program through fiscal year 2020: in its 18-year lifespan, the REPI Program has protected over 757,000 acres at 115 locations in 35 states and territories.
See here for more information on a webinar on the 2021 Report to Congress to be held on April 7.

The Conservation Finance Network offers a two-part reflection on leveraging conservation finance to advance equity and justice, drawing upon real-world examples to showcase how conservation organizations are responding to this need. 
Read part one and part two

The Conservation Measures Partnership releases new report highlighting how justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion can be integrated into conservation programming to help practitioners work with diverse communities.

Caribou Guardians: Article in Orion Magazine showcases how two First Nations are working to protect the mountain caribou that are so central to their culture and landscape.

The second-place winner of ArcGIS’s annual Storytellers of the Year competition is a stunning StoryMap that makes the case for protecting Dene Kʼéh Kusān as an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area in British Columbia.

The Open Space Institute has released a retrospective on its Resilient Landscape Initiative, summarizing the impact and insights learned of this program that operated from 2013 through 2020 and provided $11 million to 59 projects to conserve 50,000 acres within 11 states across the East. 

The US Department of Agriculture announces $218 Million investment to fund Great American Outdoors Act projects to conserve critical forest and wetland habitat, support rural economic recovery, and increase public access to national forests and grasslands

The US Department of Agriculture is seeking proposals to fund up to $75 million in new, unique projects under the Regional Conservation Partnership Program’s Alternative Funding Arrangements that take innovative and non-traditional approaches to conservation solutions at the local, regional and landscape scales.

Opportunity to inform federal policy: the US Department of Agriculture requests comments on its Climate-Smart Agriculture and Forestry Strategy.

Article from Conservation Corridor highlights new research exploring the importance of social and landscape networks when working towards climate-wise connectivity. 

Article in The Tyee highlights the efforts to build a collective conversation in "Salmon Nation"the well-watered landscape of the Pacific Northwest stretching from the redwoods of northern California to the North Slope of Alaskato realize a sustainable future for people and place.

Post from the Environmental Dispute Resolution Program at the University of Utah explores the importance of—and a framework for—cultivating dignity in building effective collaboration across differences.

A blog post from the Institute for Conservation Leadership shares reflections on key communication skills to embrace for successful collaboration. 

PARKS, the International Journal of Protected Areas and Conservation, releases Special Issue devoted to the impact and implications of COVID-19 on the world’s protected and conserved areas.

New Working Paper from the Ecosystem Workforce Program at the University of Oregon provides a guide to using social science in collaborative processes.

Opinion piece in Mountain Journal explores the myth-making of the American West, and calls for a new narrative of gratitude, humility, restraint, and reciprocity. 

Writing in a post for the Environmental Dispute Resolution Program at the University of Utah, politician and author Daniel Kemmis argues the importance of place-based collaborative practice to healing the breaks in our civic and political discourse. 
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Upcoming Conferences & Events

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The National Tribal Leadership Climate Change Summit is being held as a series of virtual events from October 2020 through May 2021. A fourth session on Traditional Knowledge is currently in development for May; see here for more information.

Virtual Event

Virtual Event

September 3-11, 2021 — IUCN World Conservation Congress
Marseille, France

Món Sant Benet, Spain

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Landscape Conservation Job Board

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Regional Programs Coordinator, Northern Forest Center

Community Engagement & Stewardship Coordinator, Northern Latitudes Partnerships and the Indigenous Sentinels Network

Communications Manager, EcoAgricultural Partners and the 1000 Landscapes for 1 Billion People Initiative

This section of the Landscape Conservation Bulletin is intended to be a space to share job postings that will be specifically relevant to landscape conservation practitioners. We welcome submissions: if your organization would like to widely distribute a posting please be in touch.
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Webinars & Additional Resources

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The Environmental Dispute Resolution Program at the University of Utah's Wallace Stegner Center is hosting na online short course on effective natural resources collaboration. Applications are due by April 19. More information and how to apply

A Virtual Policy Forum hosted by the Network for Landscape Conservation
March 31, 2021

An International land Conservation Network webinar
March 31, 2021

A Conservation Biology Institute webinar
April 1, 2021

A conversation with Tony Hiss, author of the forthcoming Rescuing the Planet book, presented by the Network for Landscape Conservation
April 1. 2021

An NPS Connected Conservation webinar
April 6, 2021

A Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Webinar presented by the Department of Defense 
April 7, 2021

An NLC Landscape Conservation in Action webinar
April 7, 2021

A FutureWest Managing Growth in the West webinar
April 14, 2021

An NPS Connected Conservation webinar
April 15, 2021

An NPS Connected Conservation webinar
April 20, 2021

An NLC Landscape Conservation in Action webinar
April 21, 2021

An NPS Connected Conservation webinar
April 29, 2021

A Northeast Wilderness Trust Spring Speakers Series webinar
May 5, 2021

An NPS Connected Conservation webinar
May 5, 2021

An NPS Connected Conservation webinar
May 19, 2021

A Western Collaborative Conservation Network peer to peer exchange session
May 20, 2021

A Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Webinar presented by the Department of Defense
June 2, 2021

Following cancellation of the 2020 Conservation Finance Boot Camp, the Conservation Finance Network compiled a 4-part video short course, which is available via the above link.

A weekly podcast that explores the challenges presented by adapting to climate change and the approaches the field's best minds believe are already working.

Recordings of past webinars of the Connected Conservation webinar series are available on the National Park Service Connected Conservation website.

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 in the 21st Century.


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

Contributions of news, upcoming events, and resources for future Bulletins are welcomed. We also welcome inquires for future "Perspectives: Landscapes Conservation in Action" stories; please be in touch if you are interested in sharing stories and insights from your work.

The Network for Landscape Conservation is a fiscally sponsored project of the Center for Large Landscape Conservation, P.O. Box 1587, Bozeman, MT 59771

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