Kenzie Cherniak’s Post

One of the largest wildfires in the history of California has ravaged vast tracts of forestland designated for conservation under carbon credits initiatives backed by oil refiners and power companies. The Park Fire, which has scorched approximately 450,000 acres, has destroyed nearly 45,000 acres of trees enrolled in California’s carbon offset program, according to estimates from the non-profit research group CarbonPlan. https://bit.ly/3WV0uv6

🌲🌳 Last week, Maryland reached a major conservation milestone — after setting its “30 by 30” goal in 2023, the state announced that, as of February 2024, it had reached this goal six years ahead of schedule. This means that the state has already conserved more than 1.85 million acres out of Maryland’s 6.1 million acres of total land area.   State leaders credit partnership as key to this conservation success, including working closely with local governments, nonprofit land trusts, conservation organizations, federal agencies, and landowners. Maryland is now looking towards its next milestone — conserving 40% of land by 2040.    🔗 Learn more about Maryland’s conservation progress via the Maryland Protected Land Dashboard: https://lnkd.in/e2vxTDtc   

Yet another reason why a Richmond California transformation is so promising. Richmond is central to the obscene and aggressive maneuvering by the Fossil Fuel Industry and #BABS (bad acting billionaires). Raise enough money and we could expand scope to include both Solano and Contra Costa Counties in the pilot program for rapid transformation to planet positive, life affirming bioregional communities in service to all life. Time is not on our side. https://lnkd.in/g77Y7EzG

#NewMexico, ☎️ now! The Land of Enchantment Legacy Fund is just one big step away from being fully funded, and the state senate needs to hear from you today! The Fund established the state’s first ever funding source for land and water conservation and provides an opportunity for millions of dollars to flow to New Mexico communities through federal matching grants. The Fund can provide state funding for federal programs that require a federal match in lieu of funding from New Mexico communities that often don’t have the resources to provide the match on their own. The Fund supports projects that are shovel-ready, have a proven track record of success, are popular in communities, or have rarely been funded to their full potential. Examples of federal programs include those under the Farm Bill and the U.S. Department of Agriculture; the Pittman-Robertson and Dingell-Johnson Acts, which provide grants to New Mexico Department of Game & Fish for fish and wildlife habitat protection; the Clean Water Act, for river and watershed health restoration; and potentially the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). https://lnkd.in/e8JPjthJ

Here at Plant With Purpose, sometimes we do things the hard way... When it comes to land restoration, we could just plant trees—tons and tons of trees and then talk about it. We might be able to impress some people with our numbers ... but we want to do more than that. Instead, we choose the hard work of rigorous monitoring and evaluation, making sure we have the right trees, in the right place, planted by the right people, through Community Designed Restoration. 🌱🌍 Learn how: https://loom.ly/RvFQHQ0

WWT’s Wetland Potential Maps are live! 👏    WWT, the charity for wetlands and wildlife, is calling for the restoration and creation of 100,000 hectares of wetlands by 2050.     To help realise this ambition, we’ve developed the Wetland Potential Maps, which look at where new or restored wetlands would provide the most value to communities and nature across the UK. 🗺️    Our new evidence demonstrates that wetlands are one of the most cost-effective nature-based solutions. Restoring 100,000 carefully selected hectares of wetlands could provide £8.8bn in benefits over 60 years. 💷    Find out more at: https://lnkd.in/eG-HKXK2  

American Forests is honored and thrilled to be included among the grantees in this round of the Innovative Finance for National Forests (IFNF) grant awards. Thank you U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities and USDA Forest Service National Partnership Office for your support of our work with Green Diamond Resource Company, Collins, Oregon Department of Forestry, Bureau of Land Management, Blue Forest, and others. Together we are developing a roadmap for #SeedSecurity for all land ownerships in the landscapes of South Central Oregon where high-severity wildfire has recently hit hard, killing the vast majority of the trees across an area of forest 10x the size of Washington, DC. After all this fire, it turns out that the Fremont-Winema National Forest does not have nearly enough seed to reforest the acres in need. The good news is that this year American Forests will be taking advantage of the largest cone crop that the region has seen in decades! We will be collecting as much as we possibly can from trees all across the national forest. But, the region will see more fire in coming years, and we also need to account for a shift in seed source suitability due to climate change. That's where the seed orchard comes in. When developed, this cooperative seed orchard will produce enough climate-adapted seed to produce 10 million seedlings per year.

Los Padres ForestWatch is seeking the public's support to permanently protect Tecuya Ridge's 68 acres of forest habitat in Los Padres National Forest, which is near the convergence of California's Los Angeles, Ventura, and Kern county lines. Tecuya Ridge is a place where endangered California condors soar overhead, where black bears and mountain lions and deer roam, and where breathtaking views stretch from the snow-capped Sierra Nevada to Mt. Pinos and the Sespe backcountry. It’s also a place called Tacuy^ that is culturally and spiritually important to Chumash and Yokuts people. By purchasing this land, we can immediately remove the risk posed by logging, mining, and other development. Our long-term plan is to hold the property in a conservation easement to ensure that it will never again come under threat of development. This living, thriving forest will be used for ecological study, education, traditional indigenous gathering and ceremony, and left to do what forests do best—provide wildlife habitat, regulate our climate, replenish the soil, and serve as an inspiration for us all. Our Tecuya Forever campaign seeks to raise $300,000 to cover the property’s appraised purchase price, closing costs, and completion of a long-term management plan and conservation easement for the land. Your donation will help protect this forest in perpetuity, for generations to come. Learn more about Tecuya Forever: https://lnkd.in/g2SjQT-B #conservation #california #environment 

TSF is playing an important role in conserving, improving, and protecting our nation's cold water resources while providing angling opportunities for future generations. Take five minutes to learn more about TSF's work!

Our recent hedgerow surveying session with students from the The Woodroffe School in Dorset was full of energy and enthusiasm. There were some excellent comments from both students and staff including, "[I learnt about] different types of hedges, and the heights and width of hedges. I had a lot of fun and it was very interesting.” “[I learnt] how to start a hedgerow, good plants to use, how long they take to grow, what a good hedge looks like. Excellent session. Thank you." “[I learnt about] different micro climates of trees. It was fun to learn about hedgerows and trees.” 100% of the feedback forms reported the students had learnt something new about hedgerows, which is great, including tree leaf identification and the benefits of hedgerows to wildlife, humans, and helping to mitigate against the effects of climate change. Thanks to our project partner, Dorset Climate Action Network; our project funder, Lyme Regis Town Council; and Woodroffe School's staff lead for this project, Jim Johnson-Hills. For more information, go to https://lnkd.in/eMb_3qst #littlegreenchange #awardwinning #nonprofit #socialenterprise #environmentaleducation #primaryschools #secondaryschools #communityaction #hedgerows #ukwildlife #climatechange #treeidentification