Why aren’t you doing anything about the bush honeysuckle and porcelainberry around your office in Bethesda?

Weeds are just about everywhere. As an organization with a distinct mission and finite resources, we must focus our efforts on protecting the rarest and highest-quality natural areas, like those protected by our preserves. We don’t battle weeds just because they’re there; we battle them when and where they pose a threat to the survival of our conservation targets—rare species and natural communities.

Some of our management activities on the ground may seem surprising. Yet what we do—and what we don’t do—is the culmination of careful planning and decision-making about where most effectively to apply our resources so that biological diversity is preserved far into the future. Buying land is the technique that made the Conservancy famous, but taking conservation action means much more than doing land deals. For many staff and volunteers of The Nature Conservancy, ecological management and restoration are the most satisfying and tangible of our conservation strategies. They offer us a way of connecting with and giving to a very special place that needs our continuing care.