Conservation Infrastructure

Conservation Infrastructure supports the systems that make it possible for wild landscapes to remain intact, connected, and enduring. This program area focuses on the legal, policy, institutional, and civic frameworks that protect open space at scale—ensuring that large, functioning ecosystems can persist across generations.

Rather than funding individual projects or short-term campaigns, we invest in the underlying infrastructure that allows conservation to work over time. This includes durable laws, credible institutions, effective stewardship, and shared scientific and analytic frameworks that inform land-use decisions, guide policy, and support enforcement. Together, these systems protect wildlife movement across landscapes, maintain ecological balance, and preserve the character of wild places amid competing demands.

Our approach recognizes that conservation must be resilient, grounded, and workable in the real world. By strengthening foundational frameworks—legal, institutional, and informational—we aim to protect biologically important lands while supporting long-term stability, shared responsibility, and outcomes that benefit both nature and the communities connected to it.

What We Look For

Under Conservation Infrastructure, we prioritize organizations and initiatives that reinforce the frameworks conservation depends on. In practice, this means we look for work that:

  • Strengthens foundational systems such as environmental laws, regulatory capacity, enforcement mechanisms, public accountability, and shared scientific or data frameworks

  • Addresses system-level risk or fragility by ensuring that essential legal, regulatory, and civic functions remain intact, effective, and accountable—particularly during periods of reform, reinterpretation, or political transition

  • Demonstrates leverage, where a single intervention improves outcomes across multiple landscapes, species, or organizations

  • Emphasizes durability over attribution, recognizing that infrastructure work often enables success rather than claiming it

  • Contributes to the long-term effectiveness, scalability, and resilience of conservation efforts

 We are generally less focused on place-based projects, single campaigns, or time-bound advocacy unless they clearly strengthen the broader conservation framework.