July 2025

Dear Network Friends,

In managing a collaborative or network, it’s always struck me that a fundamental challenge is in striking the balance—how do you address the immediate, day-to-day tasks that need to be completed, while also attending to the longer-term, bigger picture strategic concerns? It’s a constant tension; both need to be done, and done well. But often—especially, it seems, over the last several months—it is easy to get caught up in the immediacy of the moment, leaving little if any bandwidth for the bigger-picture strategic elements. 

That’s why I am especially appreciative when folks pause to ask big questions. As part of a newly launched essay forum, our friends at the Salazar Center have been asking just such a question recently: What does conservation have to do with democracy?

That question has long resonated with me, and I was honored to have the opportunity to contribute my thoughts to the forum. In the essay, you’ll find my reflections on what the literal common ground of landscape offers in terms of building shared truth and trust, and how our ability to collectively navigate decisions justly and effectively—democracy—is just as much the work that we do as is ecological connectivity or climate resilience.  

As we continue to navigate this present moment—and the way in which anxiety and uncertainty erodes at our bandwidth—I hope the essay is a welcomed excuse to lift your eyes towards a horizon. Please do share any reactions or thoughts—or, perhaps even better, let me know: What big questions are firing in your mind in this moment? 

In the meantime, enjoy this month’s Bulletin, and wishing you all a wonderful summer full of good work, yes—but also adventure, joy, and laughter! 

Reviving the Klamath

What's Next for Nature Essay Forum

Jonathan S. Peterson

Director, Network for Landscape Conservation

Cover photo: Moraine Lake, Banff National Park. Photo by Rich Martello on Unsplash.

The Klamath River watershed in northern California and Oregon is witnessing a transformative period of restoration, with a series of groundbreaking initiatives bringing new hope for both the landscape and local communities. With the removal of the four Klamath River dams completed, recent developments highlight the continued momentum behind restoration efforts.

For instance, an article in Yale e360 explores experiments with wetland restoration within the watershed, and how such efforts are supporting agriculture and contributing to a more resilient watershed. Elsewhere, an article in Grist reports on the largest landback deal in California history, with the Yurok Tribe once again being able to steward 47,000 acres of their ancestral land along the Klamath River. Such projects carry significance for ecological resilience but also cultural resurgence, and alongside the successes in the watershed over the last few years has also come celebration: an article in the New York Times shares the story of a group of Tribal youth completing a paddle of the restored river from source-to-sea, accompanying the first generation of salmon in more than one hundred years to have spawned in the Klamath headwaters on their journey to the sea. Similarly, an article in The Revelator highlights the celebratory moment when runners in an annual relay race—and the migrating salmon that the race honor—carried past where the dam had previously marked an ending.The article underscores how, amongst this momentum, the work is only beginning, and lessons learned from the main-stem Klamath will be instrumental in advancing outcomes in it's tributaries like the Trinity River—and others throughout the country. 

This month, the Salazar Center launched a new essay forum that encourages us to consider the complexity and interconnectedness of the world. To launch the series, the Center challenging a diverse set of six voices to consider and explore the intersection of seeming distinct but actually interconnected crises: the crises facing democracy and those facing the natural world. 

The first six essays in the collection are thought-provoking and offer unique perspective on why thriving democracies are essential to a healthy planet, and vice versa. In particular, two of the essays emerge from our landscape community, approaching the question from the perspective of collaborative landscape conservation and stewardship: In an essay titled, Collaborative Conservation: Building Habits of Democracy, Lynn Scarlett, a member of NLC’s Coordinating Committee, considers how collaborative conservation at the landscape level requires a rich expression of many values and reinforces “habits of mind”—around civil discourse, accountability, inclusivity, and shared responsibility—that are conducive to thriving democracies. Similarly, in an essay titled, Landscapes and the Geography of Democracy, Jon Peterson, NLC’s director, suggests that the highest calling of our work is found in our ability to cultivate the truth and trust—across difference—that allows us to build the relationships needed to navigate the decisions we confront when we reflect on how we relate to each other and to the broader world in which we live.

In introducing the series, the Salazar Center notes that these first six essays in the collection “reject despair and embrace possibility. They show that in caring for landscapes, watersheds, and migratory corridors, we can also rebuild the relationships, norms, and institutions that make democracy meaningful. Conservation, at its core, must not only be about saving species or sequestering carbon but about learning how to live together, human and more-than-human, in ways that engender reciprocity, sustainability, and dignity.” 

The Salazar Center commissioned original artwork from Scott Nieto of Santo Domingo Pueblo for our inaugural What’s Next for Nature forum series on Nature and Democracy. Optimal Blend (captured in the image above) depicts the blending of elements to achieve ideal balance. Everything in the artwork is mirrored, though not symmetrical. It shows a world that is imperfect but balanced. © 2025 Scott Nieto. All rights reserved.

Article in The Guardian highlights a new partnership agreement between the Miccosukee Tribe and the Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation, which will see the Tribe working within the corridor to advance acquisition and stewardship of land that is significant to the Tribe and its community.

Read the article

Fire at the property line: Article in Western Confluence highlights the challenges of managing wildfire risk in landscapes where public and private lands meet—and underscores the critical role of collaborative public-private and cross-boundary management in such contexts.

Learn more

Washington state releases a habitat connectivity action plan, providing a coordinated framework for reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions that aims to reconnect wildlife, improve road safety, and help wildlife species adapt to climate change. 

Learn more

No landscape speaks with a single voice; no river flows with a single current: Orion Magazine hosts a conversation between writers Robert Macfarlane and Terry Tempest Williams on reciprocity, action, grace and how we might dream a different world into being.  

Explore the conversation

ProPublica reports on the cancellation by the federal government of a landmark agreement, less than two years old, to give Tribes leadership in advancing salmon recovery efforts in the Columbia River basin. 

Read more

The Forest Service announces the rescinding of the Roadless Rule, a 2001 landmark rule which prevents roadbuilding and logging on near protecting 58 million acres of federal forest land.

Learn more

An article in WyoFile highlights the way in which the proposed provision to sell public lands encountered unified public opposition at the grassroots level across the west.

Read more

What’s next for the Farm Bill: The Western Landowners Alliance talks with two former high-ranking staffers who served in the Senate Agriculture Committee to unpack the history, the politics, and significance and reach of the Farm Bill—and the uncertain path ahead as it comes up for renewal. 

Explore the conversation

Conservation Corridor highlights a new report outlining recommendations for protecting Michigan’s freshwater ecosystems as part of the state’s goal to conserve 30% of its lands and waters by 2030—and suggests that the report represents a prime example of how states and municipalities can shape their 30×30 protections to meet their unique context and needs. 

Read article or explore the report

Article in the current issue of From the Ground Up celebrates the launching of the Magalloway Collaborative, a landmark effort to advance an integrated approach to preserve 78,000 acres in western Maine. 

Learn more

In the Director’s Letter opening the current volume of On Land, Lesli Allison of the Western Landowners Alliance reflects on her career, and the humility and curiosity that is needed to think about forest management in this era of megafires.

Read the letter

Meetings as practice: An article from Collective Mind highlights how thinking of network meetings as a practice—rather than a discrete task or activity—can deepen the broader process of network development and leverage opportunities for member engagement, collaboration, and collective action. 

Read more

A new report highlights the impact of the first year of operation of the Land of Enchantment Legacy Fund, created in 2023 as New Mexico’s first dedicated conservation funding source. 

Learn more and explore the report

Article from Inside Climate News highlights how local communities are coming together to rally against the reduction in size of National Monuments. 

Learn more 

Upcoming Conferences & Events

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August 6, 2025 — Lake Tahoe: Balancing Sustainable Recreation and Conservation

Lake Tahoe, CA

September 3-6, 2025 — LTA Rally: The National Land Conservation Conference

Cleveland, OH

September 9-11, 2025 — Southeast Climate Adaptation Science Center Regional Science Symposium

Ashville, NC

September 17-20, 2025 — Northeastern Old Growth Conference

Ripton, VT

October 1-2, 2025 — Managing Wildlife in Large Landscapes: Reciprocal learnings for the world's most iconic ecosystems

Jackson Hole, WY

October 15-17, 2025 — National Habitat Conservation Plan Coalition Annual Meeting

Shepherdstown, WV

October 20-23, 2025 — George Wright Society ParkForum 2025: A Conservation Solutions Workshop

Missoula, MT

November 6, 2025 — 2025 Regional Conservation Partnership Network Gathering

Amherst, MA

Landscape Conservation Job Board

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Chief Executive Officer, Center for Large Landscape Conservation

Learn More

Appalachian Landscape Conservation Coordinator, Center for Large Landscape Conservation

Learn More

Senior Director, Conservation Programs, Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative

Learn More

Project Manager, Healing Our Waters—Great Lakes Coalition

Learn More

Grasslands Program Wildlife Habitat Biologist, Bird Conservancy of the Rockies

Learn More

This section of the Landscape Conservation Bulletin is intended to be a space to share job postings that will be specifically relevant to landscape conservation practitioners. We welcome submissions: if your organization would like to widely distribute a posting please be in touch.

Webinars & Additional Resources

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Legislative and Executive Threats to your Nonprofit

A webinar from the National Council of Nonprofits

July 31, 2025

Tribal Climate Resilience Success Stories

A webinar in the Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center's Tribal Climate Resilience Webinar Series

August 5, 2025

Seeds of Radical Renewal: A ten-part leadership course

A leadership training course from Emergence Magazine

September 17, 2025 - November 19, 2025

Essentials for Collective Impact

A workshop series from the Collective Impact Forum

September 18, 2025 - October 23, 2025

Federal Collaboration Certificate Course

A training course from the Wallace Stegner Center for Environmental Dispute Resolution Program at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law

September 18, 2025 - December 11, 2025

Building Blocks of Trust Training Series

A self-directed training series from the River Network and Water Now Alliance

NatureConnect 

NatureConnect is a diverse suite of services, tools, and workshops offered by the Center for Large Landscape Conservation to help partners achieve connectivity and landscape conservation goals. 

Connectivity 101

A free, online course developed by the Center for Large Landscape Conservation and partners in the Wildlife Connect Initiative with technical support from UNDP Learning for Nature. Conservation professionals and other interested parties can now register for the course to learn about conserving and restoring ecological connectivity to support a healthy planet. 

Conservation Finance Boot Camp Short Course

Following cancellation of the 2020 Conservation Finance Boot Camp, the Conservation Finance Network compiled a 4-part video short course, which is available via the above link.



America Adapts: The Climate Change Podcast

A weekly podcast that explores the challenges presented by adapting to climate change and the approaches the field's best minds believe are already working.

The Green Mind

A podcast that explores the intersection of social and environmental advocacy, and seeks to uncover the actions people are taking around the world to showcase the symbiotic, yet sometimes tumultuous, relationship between people and nature.

Recordings of past webinars of the Connected Conservation webinar series are available on the National Park Service Connected Conservation website.

Recordings of past NLC Landscape Conservation in Action webinars are available on the Network's Landscape Conservation in Action Webinar Series page.

The Network for Landscape Conservation is the community of practice for practitioners advancing collaborative, cross-boundary conservation as an essential approach to protect nature, culture, and community in the 21^st Century.

www.landscapeconservation.org

Contact Jonathan Peterson, Network Director, for more information. 

Contributions of news, upcoming events, resources, and job postings for future Bulletins are welcomed. We also welcome inquires for potential future "Perspectives: Landscapes Conservation in Action" stories; please be in touch if you are interested in sharing stories and insights from your work.