Endowment to Host Dialogue with Conservation Thinkers

The U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities (the Endowment) is seeking to deepen engagement in its work with conservation professionals and interested parties.  To further that end, the Endowment has scheduled two webinar sessions specifically for that purpose.  The dialogue with a diverse set of conservation thinkers from across the nation is intended to bubble up ideas for a potential application to the 2010 round of NRCS (Natural Resource Conservation Service)-CIG (Conservation Innovation Grants) Grant Leveraging Category funding.

“Rather than approach the CIG program wishing to implement a specific project at the field level in one of the listed areas of National Concern, we believe our core competence is found in developing a thematic approach that tests a single idea or technology in differing geographies.  Thus, more rapidly proving the technology and vetting its use in a range of circumstances,” says Endowment President Carlton Owen.  For instance, the Endowment’s 2009 CIG grant seeks to link up-stream water producers (e.g. forest landowners) with downstream water users/consumers ultimately by monetizing the water component of ecosystem services of forests in perhaps three different watersheds.

In the spirit of CIG, the Endowment hopes to generate ideas for conservation approaches and new technologies that will provide measurable results on-the-ground to advance forest sustainability and address the needs of rural forest-reliant communities.  The Endowment invites anyone with interest to join one of two scheduled webinars:  Monday, November 30th, 2009 at 3:00 pm EST and again Wednesday, December 9th at 1:00 pm EST.  Those interested in participating should contact Michelle Christensen, michelle@usendowment.org, for more information.