Responding to Climate Change

Smart land conservation can increase carbon sequestration, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, build resilience to changing environmental conditions, and help communities, landscapes, and wildlife adapt to an ever-changing climate. These efforts along with good management and restoration practices are key to improving our ecosystems and strengthening America’s economy — the more resilient our lands are, the more resilient our communities and businesses are.

We envision a healthy future for our environment, our economy and for all people. We strive to build climate resiliency in communities for everyone while providing open space and wildlife habitat.

PERMANENT LAND PROTECTION

From small urban parks to hundred-thousand-acre national parks, we’ve conserved over 8.5 million acres of land across America, providing open space and wildlife habitat and playing a significant role in mitigating climate change. Conserving biological diversity in our natural ecosystems will improve ecological health and aid wildlife adaptation to changing environmental conditions. Connecting conserved land and creating wildlife migration corridors also will allow wildlife to access preferred habitat and maintain genetic diversity. Land conservation also can help offset or reduce other impacts of climate change, such as flooding, wildfire, and food and water security.

^{Photo credit: USFWS}

Large landscapes – Greater Yellowstone Area
Watersheds – Banded Peak Ranch, Colorado
Coastal wetlands – Sabine Ranch, Texas
Climate resilient ecosystems – Coastal Headwaters Forest

CLIMATE-SMART WORKING FORESTS

Protecting forests from fragmentation and conversion into non-forest uses is an immediate, actionable, proven way to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Forests in the U.S. sequester over a half-billion metric tons of CO₂e per year, 60X more carbon than any other natural land ecosystem. Protected forests are an essential tool for mitigating climate change while also benefitting wildlife habitat and sustaining jobs in rural communities.

^{Photo credit: Stacy Funderburke}

ADAPTATION AND RESTORATION

Today we are already experiencing more frequent drought, flooding, extreme temperatures and severe weather events, the pace of which is altered by changing climate conditions. To help safeguard our communities and natural areas, our projects incorporate green infrastructure, ecological restoration and adaptive management to maximize the benefits of our natural areas, from cities to rural farms, forests and wilderness areas.

^{Photo credit: Dagny Leonard}

Green Infrastructure Planning – Cook County, Illinois
Adapting to sea-level rise – Chesapeake Bay
Nature-based flood management – Greenseams^® Milwaukee, Wisconsin

COMMUNITY AND ECONOMIC RESILIENCE

Many of America’s most important landscapes also are home to our most economically distressed and socially marginalized communities — areas that are least resilient to withstanding economic shocks and displacement that result from climate change. We partner directly with these communities to build economic resilience and address climate equity by strengthening local and regional water systems, rethinking energy and creating economic opportunities.