Products
We identify issues and uncertainties that pose obstacles to conservation and then—in collaboration with internal and external colleagues—develop science products that help overcome those obstacles.
2026 | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports
California’s 30 x 30 Initiative at its Midpoint: A Biodiversity Assessment Snapshot of the State’s Conservation Areas
Jeanette Howard, Carrie Schloss , Rachael Olliff Yang, Alicia Canales, Charlotte K. Stanley, Megan Webb, David Ackerly, Carl Boettiger, Cassie Buhler, Steven Monfort, Gary Bucciarelli, Rachel Meyer, Ariel Levi Simons, Jun Bando, Liz Chamberlin, Sam Veloz, Cole Dickison, Avery Hill, Rebecca Johnson, Ryan Hill, Amanda Kochanek, Dan Rademacher, Lisa Micheli, Kristeen Penrod, Giovanni Rapacciuolo, Nathaniel Roth, Dena Spatz, Daniel Gluesenkamp, and collaborators
2025 marked midpoint in the decade for achieving California’s 30×30 objectives (i.e. the commitment to conserve 30% of California’s lands and coastal waters by the year 2030)…
2026 | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports
The Pace of Solar Progress: How Preexisting Land Use Shapes Permitting Timelines for Utility-Scale Solar in California
Kelsey Johnson, Sarah Skikne, Marybeth Benton, Erica Brand, Brian Cohen, Marty Marquis, Sam Schroeder, Katharine Nester, Terry Wirkkala
California’s future hinges on its ability to rapidly and responsibly develop significant amounts of utility-scale solar. Yet the pace of deployment is increasingly…
2026 | Terrestrial | Planning | Publications & Reports
Exploring Scientific Approaches to Developing Habitat Connectivity Mitigation
Piper Wallingford, Kat Selm, Thomas Biering, Abigail Ramsden
Wildlife crossings are becoming more common, but significant barriers to implementation remain, including high costs, relative novelty, ecological complexity, and opaque regulatory environments.…
2026 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Planning | Technology | Science | Publications & Reports
The Future of Floodplains: Restoring Nature, Reducing Risk
Aryeh Cohen, Victoria Salgado, J.D. McLandrich, Nicholas Wellbrock, Deborah Glaser, Piper Wallingford, Charlotte Stanley
Across California, climate change is making floods more frequent, intense, and damaging. Powerful atmospheric rivers now deliver enormous volumes of rainfall over short periods, overwhelming rivers,…
2026 | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports
Bridging the Divide: Connecting Climate Resilient Roads and Wildlife Pathways
Cara Lacey, Trish Smith, Charlotte Stanley, Deborah Glaser, Piper Wallingford
California stands at a pivotal crossroads where climate resilience, infrastructure modernization, and habitat connectivity must be advanced together. Bridging the Divide offers a roadmap for how…
2025 | Freshwater | Planning | Technology | Microsite
Functional Flows Calculator
Kirk Klausmeyer, Bronwen Stanford, Nathan Enerson, Steven Sonvisen, Falk Schuetzenmeister, and Jam Hamidi
To protect water for nature, we first need to understand current flow conditions in our rivers, and how that flow is altered from natural conditions. Under the California Environmental Flows Framework…
2025 | Freshwater | Planning | Technology | Microsite
California North Coast Water Availability Tool
Jennifer Carah, Ben Kerr, Mia van Docto, Anders Farr, Kirk Klausmeyer, Steven Sonvisen, Siena Testa, and Jam Hamidi
Water is essential for California’s people, economy, and environment, yet water availability for people and nature is not well understood. This tool efficiently assesses water availability in…
2025 | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports
The wildlife attitude-acceptability framework’s potential to inform human dimensions of wildlife science and practice
Alexander L. Metcalf, Elizabeth Covelli Metcalf, Lara J. Brenner, Holly K. Nesbitt, Conor N. Phelan, Michael S. Lewis, Justin A. Gude
The long-term survival of large carnivores like wolves, grizzly bears and mountain lions depends not just on ecological factors like habitat, but also on social factors like human acceptance of their…
2025 | Terrestrial | Planning | Publications & Reports
Conservation planning for climate change vulnerability across the islands of the Californias
Lara J. Brenner, Piper D. Wallingford, Nick D. Holmes, John J. Knapp, John M. Randall, Scott A. Morrison
Island ecosystems are especially vulnerable to climate change, yet planning for these impacts remains challenging due to a lack of available data. This paper reports on a collaborative workshop across…
2025 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports
High streamflow enhances population growth rates for Bank Swallows
Golet G.H., Kristen E. Dybala, Joeseph G. Silvera, Adam Henderson, Jennifer Isola, David H. Wright, Ron Melcer Jr., and Danika Tsao.
Lowland alluvial rivers are rich in biodiversity, yet many are highly degraded and no longer support robust natural communities. Over the past few decades, Bank Swallows, which depend upon these…
2025 | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports
The Value of Community Science Data for Conservation Decision-making
A.D. Binley, J.O. Hanson, O.J. Robinson, G.H. Golet, J.R. Bennett
Monitoring biodiversity is critical for informing conservation but can also deplete resources available for management actions if the time and money available are limited. Freely available…
2025 | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports
Is our climate fight killing the environment? A case for smart from the start planning
Michael J Clifford, Peter Gower, Tanya Anderson, Jaina Moan, Mickey Hazelwood, Sophie S Parker, Laurel Saito
Dramatic changes to the transportation and energy sectors are required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and meet the goal of keeping global average temperatures from rising. The authors discuss how…
2025 | Marine | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports
The Business of Restoration: Assessment and recommendations for the oyster reef restoration industry in the United States
Bryan DeAngelis, Elliot Hall
We must radically increase the pace, scale, and impact of restoration to recover the abundance, resilience, and benefits of coastal ecosystems. This project explored the current size of the…
2025 | Marine | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports
The recovery of seabirds after an oil spill is limited by the presence of a non-native predator on their breeding island
Bixler, K., D. Roby, D.B. Irons, G.H. Golet
Seabirds are excellent indicators of the health of the world’s oceans. They are susceptible to marine pollution and dependent upon ecological processes that concentrate food in predictable…
2024 | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports
An approach to designing efficient implementation of 30×30 terrestrial conservation commitments
Carrie A. Schloss, D. Richard Cameron, Bradley Franklin, Christoph Nolte, Scott A. Morrison
In response to biodiversity declines worldwide, over 190 nations committed to protect 30% of their lands and waters by 2030 . As these jurisdictions move from planning to implementation, we propose a…
2024 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports
Maximizing the habitat value for shorebirds of private landowner incentive programs
Erin. E. Conlisk, Gregory H. Golet, Mark D. Reynolds, Nathan Elliot. and Matthew E. Reiter
Shorebirds are the second fastest declining group of birds in North America. To reverse this trend, The Nature Conservancy has been implementing BirdReturns, a habitat incentive program that pays…
2024 | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports
Climatically robust multiscale species distribution models to support pronghorn recovery in California
William T. Bean, H. Scott Butterfield, Jeanette K. Howard, Thomas J. Batter
In this paper, the authors used a variety of habitat suitability modeling approaches to begin to understand where pronghorn may exist in the future in California under different climate change…
2024 | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports
Quantitative methods for integrating climate adaptation strategies into spatial decision support models
Nicholas A. Povak, Patricia N. Manley, Kristen N. Wilson
This study presents a methodology to integrate spatial assessments of current and future forest conditions to understand the potential to achieve desired conditions under climate change with ongoing…
2023 | | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports
Quantifying the smoke-related public health trade-offs of forest management
Claire L. Schollaert, Jihoon Jung, Joseph Wilkins, Ernesto Alvarado, Jill Baumgartner, Julien Brun, Tania Busch Isaksen, Jamie M. Lydersen, Miriam E. Marlier, Julian D. Marshall, Yuta J. Masuda, Charles Maxwell, Christopher W. Tessum, Kristen N. Wilson, Nicholas H. Wolff, June T. Spector
By modeling six scenarios of forest management, wildfire, and health impacts from smoke from 1981-2020, we found that moderate amounts of prescribed fire can decrease harmful particulate matter…
2023 | Terrestrial | Planning | Science | Publications & Reports
Contrasting management paradigms for pronghorn in the arid Southwest and their northern range: a review
William T. Bean, H. Scott Butterfield, Craig Fiehler, David Hacker, Jeanette K. Howard, Russell Namitz, Brandon Swanson, Thomas J. Batter
TNC launched a Water for Wildlife project motivated by understanding the importance of standing free water across the season for wildlife in general, but most importantly for those species sensitive…