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News focused on funding & financing
nature-based solutions
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The CFN returned to the Pacific Northwest in October after a six-year hiatus, holding our 14th Conservation Finance Roundtable in Portland, Oregon. It was gratifying to see so many new faces among the 85 participants at the event, which highlighted strategies for funding forestland conservation; partnerships for Indigenous land return; and the challenges of appraisals and land valuation in the Pacific Northwest, among other issues. Read here a summary of the event.
We are also looking ahead to our 21st Conservation Finance Boot Camp June 2 – 5, 2026 at Yale University, held in partnership with the Yale Center for Business and the Environment. In a new feature this year, the Boot Camp will include two virtual sessions to prepare attendees for the week-long in-person event in New Haven, CT. Please help us spread the word! Interested applicants can submit an application by December 15th to be considered for our Early Decision round or by January 21, 2026 for our Regular Decision round. For more information and to apply, see here.
Boot Camps and Roundtables are ways you can engage with the CFN in person. But we also offer other avenues to stay apprised of key developments in the rapidly changing field of conservation finance. There’s the E-News, which now comes out bi-monthly and this month includes various items relating to private sector investment in conservation, including three case studies on wetland mitigation completed by graduate students at the Yale School of the Environment. Also, stay tuned for the announcement of our 2026 Nature’s Returns Webinar series, which will take place bi-monthly beginning in January. And we are always happy to connect; we offer 30-minute coaching sessions, which you can sign up for by emailing any member of our staff.
You may also notice our new logo. We’re also revising our website to streamline and update content, make it faster to load and easier to find what you’re looking for. We expect to unveil the new and improved site early next year.
We appreciate your support and look forward to working with you in the year ahead. In the meantime, we wish you all the best for the holidays!
The CFN Staff
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Voters Approved $1.9B in Public Funding for Conservation in 2025
While the federal government has sharply cut or eliminated funding programs for conservation, voters across the nation overwhelmingly approved local conservation finance measures for parks, open space, clean water and community resilience. (The Trust for Public Land)
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Harnessing Private Capital for Nature
If you were looking to the private sector for investment today in natural climate solutions, look again. Venture capital investment in climate solutions currently is disproportionately concentrated in transportation, solar and electricity technologies even though natural solutions, including forests and wetlands, contribute far more to mitigating climate change, according to a recent analysis. Nevertheless, projects implementing natural climate solutions are advancing (see the NICC story below) and there is, as well, growing recognition of the need for targeted public sector action - through both regulation and incentives - to unlock budding private investment in nature. One recent report stresses the need to recast nature as critical infrastructure and use public private partnerships to structure investment at scale.
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Farm Lenders Invest in Resilience
While nature may not be getting its due from investors, agricultural finance institutions appear to taking notice of the role of climate on their lending to farms. With severe drought, intense heat waves and severe rainfall wreaking havoc on agricultural operations, more and more farm lenders see climate change as a material risk and are integrating sustainability into their lending criteria, according to a first-of-its-kind global survey by the Environmental Defense Fund of such institutions.
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Whither Mitigation?
A new rule by the Environmental Protection Agency to sharply reduce federal wetland protection by excluding isolated and seasonal wetlands could shrink considerably the wetland mitigation market by reducing the number of projects requiring compensatory mitigation. Whether some states will implement their own programs or potential developers of wetlands will continue to mitigate on a voluntary basis is unclear. Nevertheless, some investors still seem committed to the space, as evidenced by the close by Ecosystem Investment Partners, a major equity firm, of its latest mitigation fund with $400 million from a mix of US and European investors. You can read case studies about three of the firm's wetland mitigation projects on our website: Charles Etok, Chesapeake Watershed, and Big Sandy.
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Pay for Success...is a Success!
One of the most prominent Pay for Success programs exists in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, in which states pay for verified reductions in pounds of nitrogen “practices” to reduce them. See the Environment Policy Innovation Center’s report on the success of the program, which offers a model for outcomes-based financing in other states.
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Largest Easement in South Carolina's History
The Open Space Institute helped to engineer the largest easement in South Carolina’s history, conserving 62,000 acres of forestland along the Black River. The $74 million project utilized a $50 million Forest Legacy grant with the remaining $24 million coming from a combination of private investments, grants and state taxpayer dollars. (South Carolina Daily Gazette)
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Spotlight on The National Indian Carbon Coalition
The National Indian Carbon Coalition (NICC), a tribally led nonprofit that partners with Tribal Nations to advance nature-based climate solutions grounded in sovereignty, cultural values, and long term ecological and economic resilience, recently completed a stewardship strategy for the Blackfeet Nation’s 69,010-acre holdings in Montana (see the video: Bringing Linnii & Nitsitapii Back to the Land). Other projects include the Akiing Azhenan Carbon Project (“Take Back the Land”) developed with the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa (Zhaagawaamikong) in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, which became the first Tribal-led project to secure carbon finance and dual certification under Verra and Climate, Community & Biodiversity (CCB); and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians’ Improved Forests Management project. Revenues from these projects support repayment of debt for acquisition, restoration and stewardship and/or tribal education and workforce development.
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| U.S. Department of Agriculture
Conservation Stewardship Program
Applications Due: Rolling basis
Environmental Quality Incentives Program
Applications Due: Rolling basis
Timber Production Expansion Guaranteed Loan Program
Applications Due: Rolling basis until funds are spent
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
Healthy American Forests Initiative 2026
Applications Due: January 13, 2026
Longleaf Landscape Stewardship Fund 2026
Applications Due: January 29, 2026
Northern Great Plains Program 2026
Applications Due: February 25, 2026
Other
Bush Foundation Community Innovation Grants & PRIs
Applications Due: Rolling Basis
Open Space Institute Delaware River Watershed Revolving Fund
Applications Due: Rolling Basis
William Penn Foundation
2025-2027 Grant Cycle
Applications Due: October 2025, January, April, July, and October 2026 Click here for RFP webinars
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education
Applications Due: Varies by Program and Region
Open Space Institute Appalachian Landscapes Project
Applications Due: December 5, 2025
NDN Collective Community Action Fund
Opening January 2026
Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife Private Forest Accord Grant Program
Applications Due: January 9, 2026
The Resilient and Connected Appalachians Grant Program
Applications Due: February 13, 2026
The New York Climate Resilience Grant Program: Water
Applications Due: February 13, 2026
The New York Climate Resilience Grant Program: Land
Applications Due: February 13, 2026
The Climate Smart Communities Initiative
Applications Due: March 12, 2026
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| | Virtual & In-Person Events
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| Trust for Public Land Communities of Practice Programming with Purpose
Webinar series
December 11, 2025
February 12, April 9, June 11, 2026
Washington Conservation Action's 2025 Carbon Friendly Forest Conference
Cedarbrook Lodge, Seattle, WA
December 8, 2025
Northeast Forest Network Conversation on Conservation & Housing: Collaborative Approaches
December 10, 2025
Conservation Finance Alliance Incubator Round 4 Call for Proposals
Proposals Due: December 20, 2025
Cohort Incubation Period: March - December 2026
Gathering Waters Wisconsin Land Trust Conference
UW-Milwaukee School of Continuing Education Downtown Conference Center Milwaukee, WI
March 11 - 13, 2026
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