The Nature Conservancy. Protecting nature. Preserving life.™

Protect Forests © Janet Haas

Protect

We target important forested landscapes and regions with the goal of maintaining biodiversity through direct conservation measures:

• Land Protection: Through programs such as Parks in Peril, conservation transactions such as that with International Paper and supportive public policies such as the Tropical Forest Conservation Act, we collaborate with governments and private partners to expand protection of both public and privately owned forest lands. Preserving forests also has a significant impact on carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, helping to slow the pace of climate change around the world.
• Private Preserves: We own and manage the largest private system of nature preserves in the world, and our conservation work extends to millions of acres of other lands and waters. Through these preserves we help species and habitats vulnerable to climate change adapt to warming temperatures.
• Conservation Easements: We work with partners and landowners to develop and finance conservation easements — voluntary land protection agreements — to protect privately owned forests.
• Abating Critical Threats: We work with partners to halt global threats that damage and destroy working forests as well as protected forest reserves.
  - forests insects and disease 
  - climate change 
  - altered fire regimes

Restore

In forests that have been degraded, such as the Atlantic Forest in Brazil, we work with public and private landowners to restore forest ecosystems through fire management practices, silvicultural techniques and other restoration approaches that mimic natural disturbances and restore ecosystem integrity.

Manage

In forests where forestry and timber harvesting is compatible with conservation of biodiversity, we work with landowners and other partners to foster responsible forest management practices.

• Management Agreements: We develop and implement environmentally sound forest management approaches through agreements with public and private landowners. 
• Forest Certification: We support the use and development of forest certification as a market-based tool to ensure and recognize sound management practices.
• Community Forestry: We work with forest-dependent communities, such as those in Maine's Katahdin Forest and British Columbia's Great Bear Rainforest, to sustain and manage timber and non-timber resources.