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The Nature Conservancy in MN, ND, SD
December 2, 2022
Amount Requested$10,000.00
Address1101 West River Parkway, Suite 200
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55415
Flannery Delaney
Associate Director of Philanthropy
Email hidden; Javascript is required.
Website
- Carbon Reduction/Clean Energy
Proposal Information
Funds are Being Requested for:Program Support
Mission StatementThe mission of The Nature Conservancy is to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends. Our vision is a world where the diversity of life thrives, and people act to conserve nature for its own sake and its ability to fulfill our needs and enrich our lives.
Amount Requested$10,000.00
Program Budget$999,407.00
Organizational Budget$21,075,398.00
Relationship to the Olseth Family FoundationYes
Summarize Your RequestIn Minnesota and South Dakota, where climate change is becoming evident through our warming winters and more intense rainstorms, we have a golden opportunity to lead on climate change. And we can do it with technology that already exists and can be deployed right now: nature. We are working to educate the public about solutions and conducting research to help nature adapt to a changing climate.
To limit global warming to a maximum of 1.5°Celsius, greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced as quickly as possible. Clean energy is our future. But even a complete decarbonization of our economy will only get us two-thirds of the way to holding warming to no more than 1.5°Celsius. Through photosynthesis, nature can capture and store more than a third of the carbon emission reductions needed to keep rising temperatures manageable for human life. These natural climate solutions clean our air and water, underpin our economy, provide habitat for wildlife, and give us the joy of being with nature.
In order to meet the pace and scale that effectively tackling climate change requires, we need everyone to pitch in. The good news is that we already have the blueprint—Natural Climate Solutions. The Nature Conservancy is working to employ nature to reduce carbon in the atmosphere and store it where it belongs in forest, grasslands and peatlands.
Overview of the Grant Request
Population ServedGeneral
Geographic Area ServedMinnesota and South Dakota
List Three Measurable Goals That This Funding Will Help You Achieve.Natural Climate Solutions: The Minnesota Million
Development, conversion to agriculture, some industrial forestry practices and other realities have chipped away at Minnesota’s forests. Science shows that reforestation offers significant opportunity to combat climate change. That’s why we are planting millions of trees and working with a coalition of partners to reforest 1 Million acres in Minnesota by 2045.
Helping Nature Adapt: Seeds of Resilience
As climate change alters weather patterns, plants and animals are adapting by moving to areas that are advantageous to their survival. This includes the many species of grasses that blanket the remaining prairies of Minnesota and South Dakota—grasses that grow deep roots and store significant amounts of carbon. We will continue to protect native prairies and restore lands using seeds that are adapted to a changing climate so that prairie grasses will thrive and continue to store carbon in deep root systems.
Empower People for Action: Building a Climate Constituency
Effectively addressing climate change is possible—and to get there, we are working to cultivate an informed, diverse and action-oriented constituency. We are using a collaborative partnership model to bring many diverse voices to the table to help solve the climate crisis in a way that benefits people and nature.
How Will You Accomplish These Goals?As climate change accelerates, species and ecosystems across the world are disappearing. And a rapidly warming planet threatens the things we value most: the health of our iconic lands and waters, the well- being and prosperity of our communities, and our ability to provide nourishment to a growing population.
Minnesota’s vast natural and working lands have a lot of potential to utilize natural climate solutions that will help us slow the pace of climate change. In fact, natural climate solutions offer up to 26 million metric tonnes of CO2e mitigation potential in Minnesota every year, roughly equal to taking seven coal plants offline. But for natural climate solutions to reach their full potential in time to impact the climate crisis, we must choose to act now.
The Minnesota Million: Some of our biggest opportunities to make a difference in Minnesota lie in our forests. Avoided forest conversion, tree planting and improved forest management are all practices that demonstrate how trees can help us fight climate change. This effort will require roughly 781 million tree seedlings—or 43.3 million per year. That represents an 8X increase in the number of seedlings currently produced commercially in the state, so scaling up to meet that demand will create jobs. A comprehensive blueprint for reforestation will show how Minnesota can reach this ambitious goal in collaboration with partners.
Seeds of Resilience: We have mapped the locations of dozens of these prairie species across Minnesota and South Dakota into a database called the Seeds of Resilience Tool, which enables land restoration practitioners to source native seeds from multiple sites as opposed to relying on only a single nearby location. Greater diversity will help prairie plants evolve along with the changing climate, which in turn supports pollinators and other wildlife. We work to restore thousands of acreas of prairies every year.
Building a Climate Constituency: We are convening interest groups such as farmers and ranchers, corporate partners and people connected to climate justice to listen to unique challenges and to identify specific opportunities to make progress together. We are simultaneously exploring new ways to leverage communications to help secure funding for climate projects, support forward-thinking policies and help everyone be a part of the solution.
Looking Forward, How Will You Measure These Goals?The Nature Conservancy’s Natural Climate Solutions Giving Circle was created to give donors an opportunity to contribute to climate solutions, to build awareness and leadership in our community for nature as a climate solution, and to connect with other like-minded philanthropists. Giving circle members will gain greater understanding of the potential of nature to help us solve the climate crisis, learn from one another and our experts, and identify and evaluate opportunities to create collective action.
Nature can offset up to 26 million metric tons of carbon in Minnesota. That's about 15% of our emissions and equivalent to taking 5.6 million cars off the road.
Science guides all that we do at The Nature Conservancy. Here are some of the things our scientists will be measuring:
Planting trees in our forests, cities and neighborhoods could cut CO2 emissions by up to 8 million metric tons per year if implemented at scale across 3.6 million acres in Minnesota.
Minnesotans could protect up to 50,000 acres of existing forests and in doing so, store up to 50,000 metric tons of CO2 per year.
Protecting and restoring native grasslands across Minnesota’s 200,000 available acres could cut our CO2 emissions by up to 60,000 metric tons per year.
Restoring and improving the way we manage forests could help us withstand and adapt to climate change if implemented at scale across 4.39 million acres in Minnesota.
Protecting and restoring wetlands in Minnesota could cut up to 1 million metric tons of CO2 per year if implemented at scale across 1.1 million acres.
Of all the wonderful things nature does for us, the most notable benefit might also be the most intangible. Between the benefits listed above and the improved psychological outcomes of being around nature, we have plenty of reasons to invest more in nature’s potential. Put plainly, nature makes our lives better.
Implementation Plan
Start Date01/01/2023
End Date12/31/2023
Describe Most Significant Collaborations With Other Organizations And Efforts.We will focus on priority opportunity areas where work is ecologically appropriate, logistically feasible, and beneficial to communities impacted. We are working on the formation of diverse, inclusive, and just collaborations. We commit to following the leadership of Native Nations and respecting Tribal sovereignty, to be guided by Tribal interests and cultural considerations, and to support Native treaty rights. One tangible way we are already working with Native Nations is by supporting capacity growth at tribal tree seedling nurseries.
We will also prioritize collaborations with local communities. For the Minnesota Million these groups currently include Project Sweetie Pie, Midwest Farmers of Color Collective, Great River Greening, Urban Roots, Tree Trust, and Frogtown Green. Shaping the work together means that benefits—such as jobs, clean water and clean air—are meaningful to local communities. To that end, we are engaging with partners to better understand how we can support them.
The Nature Conservancy also partners with state and federal agencies to better protect, manage and steward private and public lands.
What Is The Projected Timeline For The Proposed Activities?All of this work in on-going. For the purpose of this grant the timeframe for expending funds is January 1, 2022- December 31, 2023
Supplemental Information
Board Members
Current Year Organizational Budget
Program Budget For Proposed Funding Period
Audited Financials (if applicable)
Other EntriesApproval StatusUnapproved
The Nature Conservancy in MN, ND, SD
December 2, 2022
Amount Requested$10,000.00
1101 West River Parkway, Suite 200
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55415
Flannery Delaney
Associate Director of Philanthropy
Email hidden; Javascript is required.
- Carbon Reduction/Clean Energy
Program Support
The mission of The Nature Conservancy is to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends. Our vision is a world where the diversity of life thrives, and people act to conserve nature for its own sake and its ability to fulfill our needs and enrich our lives.
$10,000.00
$999,407.00
$21,075,398.00
Yes
In Minnesota and South Dakota, where climate change is becoming evident through our warming winters and more intense rainstorms, we have a golden opportunity to lead on climate change. And we can do it with technology that already exists and can be deployed right now: nature. We are working to educate the public about solutions and conducting research to help nature adapt to a changing climate.
To limit global warming to a maximum of 1.5°Celsius, greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced as quickly as possible. Clean energy is our future. But even a complete decarbonization of our economy will only get us two-thirds of the way to holding warming to no more than 1.5°Celsius. Through photosynthesis, nature can capture and store more than a third of the carbon emission reductions needed to keep rising temperatures manageable for human life. These natural climate solutions clean our air and water, underpin our economy, provide habitat for wildlife, and give us the joy of being with nature.
In order to meet the pace and scale that effectively tackling climate change requires, we need everyone to pitch in. The good news is that we already have the blueprint—Natural Climate Solutions. The Nature Conservancy is working to employ nature to reduce carbon in the atmosphere and store it where it belongs in forest, grasslands and peatlands.
General
Minnesota and South Dakota
Natural Climate Solutions: The Minnesota Million
Development, conversion to agriculture, some industrial forestry practices and other realities have chipped away at Minnesota’s forests. Science shows that reforestation offers significant opportunity to combat climate change. That’s why we are planting millions of trees and working with a coalition of partners to reforest 1 Million acres in Minnesota by 2045.
Helping Nature Adapt: Seeds of Resilience
As climate change alters weather patterns, plants and animals are adapting by moving to areas that are advantageous to their survival. This includes the many species of grasses that blanket the remaining prairies of Minnesota and South Dakota—grasses that grow deep roots and store significant amounts of carbon. We will continue to protect native prairies and restore lands using seeds that are adapted to a changing climate so that prairie grasses will thrive and continue to store carbon in deep root systems.
Empower People for Action: Building a Climate Constituency
Effectively addressing climate change is possible—and to get there, we are working to cultivate an informed, diverse and action-oriented constituency. We are using a collaborative partnership model to bring many diverse voices to the table to help solve the climate crisis in a way that benefits people and nature.
As climate change accelerates, species and ecosystems across the world are disappearing. And a rapidly warming planet threatens the things we value most: the health of our iconic lands and waters, the well- being and prosperity of our communities, and our ability to provide nourishment to a growing population.
Minnesota’s vast natural and working lands have a lot of potential to utilize natural climate solutions that will help us slow the pace of climate change. In fact, natural climate solutions offer up to 26 million metric tonnes of CO2e mitigation potential in Minnesota every year, roughly equal to taking seven coal plants offline. But for natural climate solutions to reach their full potential in time to impact the climate crisis, we must choose to act now.
The Minnesota Million: Some of our biggest opportunities to make a difference in Minnesota lie in our forests. Avoided forest conversion, tree planting and improved forest management are all practices that demonstrate how trees can help us fight climate change. This effort will require roughly 781 million tree seedlings—or 43.3 million per year. That represents an 8X increase in the number of seedlings currently produced commercially in the state, so scaling up to meet that demand will create jobs. A comprehensive blueprint for reforestation will show how Minnesota can reach this ambitious goal in collaboration with partners.
Seeds of Resilience: We have mapped the locations of dozens of these prairie species across Minnesota and South Dakota into a database called the Seeds of Resilience Tool, which enables land restoration practitioners to source native seeds from multiple sites as opposed to relying on only a single nearby location. Greater diversity will help prairie plants evolve along with the changing climate, which in turn supports pollinators and other wildlife. We work to restore thousands of acreas of prairies every year.
Building a Climate Constituency: We are convening interest groups such as farmers and ranchers, corporate partners and people connected to climate justice to listen to unique challenges and to identify specific opportunities to make progress together. We are simultaneously exploring new ways to leverage communications to help secure funding for climate projects, support forward-thinking policies and help everyone be a part of the solution.
The Nature Conservancy’s Natural Climate Solutions Giving Circle was created to give donors an opportunity to contribute to climate solutions, to build awareness and leadership in our community for nature as a climate solution, and to connect with other like-minded philanthropists. Giving circle members will gain greater understanding of the potential of nature to help us solve the climate crisis, learn from one another and our experts, and identify and evaluate opportunities to create collective action.
Nature can offset up to 26 million metric tons of carbon in Minnesota. That's about 15% of our emissions and equivalent to taking 5.6 million cars off the road.
Science guides all that we do at The Nature Conservancy. Here are some of the things our scientists will be measuring:
Planting trees in our forests, cities and neighborhoods could cut CO2 emissions by up to 8 million metric tons per year if implemented at scale across 3.6 million acres in Minnesota.
Minnesotans could protect up to 50,000 acres of existing forests and in doing so, store up to 50,000 metric tons of CO2 per year.
Protecting and restoring native grasslands across Minnesota’s 200,000 available acres could cut our CO2 emissions by up to 60,000 metric tons per year.
Restoring and improving the way we manage forests could help us withstand and adapt to climate change if implemented at scale across 4.39 million acres in Minnesota.
Protecting and restoring wetlands in Minnesota could cut up to 1 million metric tons of CO2 per year if implemented at scale across 1.1 million acres.
Of all the wonderful things nature does for us, the most notable benefit might also be the most intangible. Between the benefits listed above and the improved psychological outcomes of being around nature, we have plenty of reasons to invest more in nature’s potential. Put plainly, nature makes our lives better.
01/01/2023
12/31/2023
We will focus on priority opportunity areas where work is ecologically appropriate, logistically feasible, and beneficial to communities impacted. We are working on the formation of diverse, inclusive, and just collaborations. We commit to following the leadership of Native Nations and respecting Tribal sovereignty, to be guided by Tribal interests and cultural considerations, and to support Native treaty rights. One tangible way we are already working with Native Nations is by supporting capacity growth at tribal tree seedling nurseries.
We will also prioritize collaborations with local communities. For the Minnesota Million these groups currently include Project Sweetie Pie, Midwest Farmers of Color Collective, Great River Greening, Urban Roots, Tree Trust, and Frogtown Green. Shaping the work together means that benefits—such as jobs, clean water and clean air—are meaningful to local communities. To that end, we are engaging with partners to better understand how we can support them.
The Nature Conservancy also partners with state and federal agencies to better protect, manage and steward private and public lands.
All of this work in on-going. For the purpose of this grant the timeframe for expending funds is January 1, 2022- December 31, 2023
Unapproved