We invite you to Discover with Nature
Your support has made it possible for The Nature Conservancy to protect millions of acres; restore streams, rivers, wetlands and forests; and find innovative and practical solutions that safeguard the future. We want to share these landscapes, and we invite you to discover your own connection to these special places.
At this time, TNC requires that all travelers be vaccinated against COVID-19 to participate in 2023 Discover with Nature trips, except as exempt by applicable law.
We will continue to closely monitor this issue and may modify our safety protocols if we determine it is appropriate. For the latest and most up-to-date information about our COVID-19 safety protocols, please reference this site or contact travel@tnc.org.
2023 Travel Destinations

Travel
Baja California and the Sea of Cortez: Among the Great Whales
March 4, 2023 - March 11, 2023
Rescheduled to 2023. Spend your days in the sun soaking up the beauty of this region. This voyage promises to provide an even deeper appreciation and desire to protect the waters of Baja California and the Sea of Cortez.

Travel
Belize
April 24, 2023 - April 30, 2023
The country of Belize holds a remarkable store of ecological and cultural wealth. See first-hand how TNC is collaborating with local partners to ensure that the beauty of Belize can be shared with generations to come.

Travel
Oregon
May 15, 2023 - May 20, 2023
Explore the stunning Oregon Coast by boat and foot. Learn more about the initial acquisition of the area and how TNC is maintaining this ecologically significant landscape.

Travel
Michigan's Upper Peninsula
August 6, 2023 - August 11, 2023
Surrounded by 1,700 miles of lakeshore from Lake Superior, Michigan, and Huron, the Upper Peninsula is a land unlike any other. Experience the work TNC is doing to keep this incredible landscape open and safe for years to come!

Travel
Tennessee
October 29, 2023 - November 3, 2023
With exclusive insight from TNC experts, visits to local preserves, and local highlights, you’ll experience unique places throughout Tennessee that most visitors never see.
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Respect
Traveling with TNC means showing respect for each other and respect for the world around us and acting with integrity. Learn more about our traveler expectations.
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Access
Travel with renowned TNC experts and local partners for an exclusive, behind-the-scenes experience.
Our Code of Conduct
The Nature Conservancy’s Code of Conduct, our guide to ensuring that we treat each other with respect, fairness and integrity beyond reproach. We expect our travel partners to adhere to these standards as they lead trips, and we hope that you will embrace this with us.
Sustainable Travel Tips developed in partnership with the
Minnesota Chapter’s Global Advisory Council.
The Minnesota Chapter trustees, like many of The Nature Conservancy’s advocates, are travel enthusiasts and passionate environmentalists. As they explore the globe, they find inspiration in the beautiful geographies we protect, in the innovation we bring to solving real problems in the field and in the indigenous communities with which we partner to ensure the lasting impact of critical conservation strategies.
Let’s travel together in a way that is healthy for people and nature!
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Step 1: Consider why and how your travel
- How do you lower your footprint and raise your positive impact, how do you make your trip a tool for good?
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Step 2: Take advantage of sustainable travel tips
- Buy carbon offsets, which is the best individual option for reducing your carbon footprint.
- Research properties that have sustainable approaches to the following: design, infrastructure, waste, energy, water, supply chain.
- Seek out alternative travel with organizations like The Nature Conservancy that consider these guidelines when planning trips around the globe.
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Step 3: Stay informed
There are many great resources on how to limit your impact when your travel but here are a few of our favorites!
- Green Global Travel – an ecotourism, nature / wildlife conservation & cultural preservation magazine
- Travel + Leisure – How to Really Travel Greener
- Follow Blog “eco traveler” – Green Travel Guide offering tips and inspiration to those looking for new ideas and new ways to travel
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Step 4: Be thoughtful about how you travel
About what you bring:
- Research what you will need before you go, being well informed often reduces impacts.
- Pack sustainably to leave no trace: reusable water bottle, reusable bags, washable silverware.
About how you get around:
- Use public transportation when possible.
- Rent a hybrid or electric car and offset emissions through rental company.
About what you use:
- Conserve throughout your trip with this motto: recycle, re-use, reduce, respect.
About what you do:
- Get involved in a green project during your stay (beach clean-up, scientific monitoring).
- Support local businesses: Eat local foods and buy souvenirs from local shops.
- Search for in-county guide services that specialize in eco-travel.
Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park.
COVID-19 Travel Safety
COVID-19 vaccinations are required for all travelers on Discover with Nature trips. Please reach out to travel@tnc.org if you have questions or concerns about this policy.
In addition to requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for all travelers, our travel partners are taking all precautions to provide travelers with the safest possible experience. We are regularly monitoring travel conditions and expect to safely be exploring nature on the travel dates.
Given the ever-changing conditions of the pandemic and how widely they can vary from place to place, our partners and our own safety experts are working right up until the time of each departure to ensure safe experiences, including extra precautions to keep our travelers as safe as possible (e.g. indoor mask requirements, daily self-screening, the air in vehicles, etc.). We will keep this COVID-19 Travel Safety page updated with the latest information, and we will reach out to you with the most up-to-date policies prior to your trip's departure.
Travel Highlights
These year-end highlights won’t always be about me and my TNC travel experiences, but I did want to use this space to celebrate a few things this year from both the planning and travel side of things.
We had four new Discover with Nature trips this year that showcased TNC and partner work. We would love to share all of these special trips with you again. I had the opportunity to work with so many of my colleagues across the organization with whom I’d never collaborated before. Hearing about the conservation work that energizes other staff members is one of my favorite things about working at TNC!
Additionally, our New Zealand trip that was originally planned for 2020 but was postponed due to COVID-19 finally took place in October 2022! This was Discover with Nature’s first return to travel outside of the U.S., and we look forward to offering more opportunities like it in the future.
Finally, I wanted to share about my Discover with Nature trip to Louisiana in April. The warm spring air feels like ages ago now, but many moments from the trip are still very present. Last year’s big takeaway from Montana’s trip was how important it is to think beyond state borders in conservation. This year, somewhat similarly, I learned to think upstream. Not just about the movement of animals but how the movement of water can affect entire ecosystems miles away.

We spent time on the Atchafalaya River during the trip and talked about how the oysters all the way out in the Gulf of Mexico are affected by what happens upstream in the river systems. That statement feels so oversimplified when I think about how my colleague, Dr. Bryan Piazza, director of freshwater and marine science for TNC in Louisiana, has written an entire book on the Atchafalaya River Basin!
Along with systems learning, we had quiet moments out in nature during the trip. Our group experienced two different angles of Louisiana’s Cypress Island Preserve, one from land and one from water. Both excursions revealed many species of birds, several of which I had never seen before. We crept up on a yellow-crowned night heron while hiking along a footpath, and several folks in the group even spotted a painted bunting!
Out on Lake Martin that afternoon exploring the Preserve and gliding alongside silent alligators, we only had to look up to spot all kinds of birds weaving across the sky above us: Mississippi kites, swallow-tailed kites, roseate spoonbills, and far, far above, American white ibises. It was such a peaceful moment as we watched the show playing out above us. For a while, we spoke only in whispers, not because we were trying not to startle wildlife, but simply because the majesty of the moment seemed to demand it.
Sitting in my home far away from those waters, birds, and people, I can still feel all that beauty close at hand when I think about the nature and partnerships I was lucky enough to witness. I can’t wait for others to experience these kinds of moments next year!
- Christine Kessler, Trip Manager at The Nature Conservancy
Travel with Us
For booking information or for journey questions, please contact: travel@tnc.org.