With DDCF support, The Nature Conservancy and the Trust for Public Land protected more than 312,000 acres of forestland in western Montana in one of the largest conservation deals in history. (Photo courtesy of The Nature Conservancy)
or much of its history, the Environment Program has sought to accelerate wildlife habitat conservation in the United States by challenging the conservation field to adopt and act on shared land protection priorities. The Environment Program will continue its focus on strategic habitat conservation while placing an increased emphasis on the emerging threat of climate change and how to help wildlife adapt to its detrimental impacts (for instance, by protecting large expanses of intact habitat as well as facilitating ecosystem connectivity and wildlife movement).
Strategy
Protect important wildlife habitat and help wildlife adapt to the impacts of climate change through the following activities:
- Award capital grants for the permanent protection of terrestrial and freshwater areas identified in landscape-scale strategic habitat conservation plans. These plans consist of scientifically-rigorous, spatially-explicit planning efforts that identify high-priority wildlife habitat to be conserved across large, functional landscapes. Land and water resources to be protected through capital grants will be selected for their current strategic habitat values and capacity to enable wildlife to adapt to climate change.
- Support innovative approaches to conserving habitat and helping wildlife adapt to climate change through non-capital grants. Funding for such efforts is currently provided primarily through the Wildlife Action Opportunities Fund, a competitive re-grant program administered by the Wildlife Conservation Society that supports efforts to protect high-priority wildlife habitat identified in landscape-scale strategic habitat conservation plans.
- Support efforts to expand sources of public land conservation funding at the federal, state and local levels. Support is currently provided through the DDCF-funded Conservation Finance Initiative, a joint project of The Nature Conservancy and the Trust for Public Land that aims to increase public funding for wildlife habitat conservation in the United States.
- Support the next generation of conservation leaders. Funding is currently provided through the Doris Duke Conservation Fellows Program. Administered by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, this program supports outstanding graduate students enrolled in master's degree programs at eight of the nation's leading environmental schools: Cornell University, Duke University, Florida A&M University, Northern Arizona University, University of California at Santa Barbara, University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin and Yale University.
Future Grants
In 2010, the foundation will invite a small number of organizations to apply for grants under this strategy. Capital grants for land and water conservation are expected to resume in late 2010 or early 2011.
Additional support for efforts in keeping with this strategy may be available through the Wildlife Action Opportunities Fund or through DDCF-supported Land Protection Initiatives underway in regions across the country.
For information on the availability of grants for specific projects, review the Environment Program’s Grantmaking Process & Funding Opportunities page.