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The Nature Conservancy's Resilient and Connected Appalachians Grant Program

November 25, 2024

Dawn overlooking mountains with yellow, green and orange foliage with a pink and purple sky in the distance.
RESILIENT & CONNECTED The Nature Conservancy's (TNC) Resilient and Connected Appalachians Grant Program offers funding opportunities for non-profit organizations, municipalities, and other partners © Kent Mason

To make the highest possible impact on the climate and biodiversity crises, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is committed to advancing solutions and supporting partners throughout the Appalachians to connect and conserve vital wildlife habitat, build resilience to the impacts of climate change, and generate new job and recreation opportunities for communities. 

Approximately one-third of the U.S. population lives in or within 100 miles of the Appalachians, including an estimated 36 million people that rely on the region for sources of drinking water. The landscape contains the world's largest remaining expanses of temperate broadleaf mixed forest and provides habitat to a wide diversity of plants of animals, many of which are listed as rare, threatened, or endangered. Conserving this landscape is critical for nature and for the people that live and work there.

However as climate change drives ecosystem instability, plants and animals are shifting their ranges northward, and people are having to find ways to adapt to complex and intertwined challenges. TNC and many others have been working to conserve vital Appalachian habitats for decades. Now we must ramp up our efforts and coordinate with partners across the Appalachians for maximum impact.

Map of most of the Eastern U.S. with the Appalachian area colored in green.
THE APPALACHIANS Spanning from northern Alabama to the Canadian Maritimes, the Appalachians are a high priority for conservation by TNC. © David Fox/The Nature Conservancy

To succeed in these efforts, TNC’s Connectivity, Climate, Communities Fund offers two grant programs for conservation and community organizations, municipalities, Federally Recognized Tribal Nations, and local and state agencies in the Appalachians who are working to protect and conserve this region:

The Resilient and Connected Appalachians Grant Program

The Resilient and Connected Appalachians Grant Program provides grants of up to $100,000 for fee and easement acquisition projects throughout the Appalachians. Eligible states include Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama.

The New York Climate Resilience Grant Program

Specific for New York organizations, the Climate Resilience Grant Program offers up to $50,000 for fee and easement acquisitions and for projects that strengthen organizational capacity for protecting resilient lands, secure vital floodplains and shorelines and help communities adapt to climate change. Projects with exceptional conservation and community-focused attributes may be eligible for additional funding.

Which grant program is right for you?

  • If your project is located in one or more of the 18 eligible states listed for the Resilient and Connected Appalachians Grant Program,  view program details on this page, below. Fee and easement land acquisition projects in New York are eligible for this program if they protect resilient and connected lands within the mapped focal areas.
  • If your project is located in New York, and grant funds will be used to strengthen organizational capacity for protecting resilient lands, secure vital floodplains and shorelines, and help communities adapt to climate change, visit the Climate Resilient Grant Program webpage for additional details.
  • If unsure, email CCCFund@tnc.org for additional guidance on which program is right for your project. 
A red trillium flower.
RESILIENT NETWORK TNC has mapped a connected network of climate resilient sites across the United States, referred to as the Resilient and Connected Network (RCN). © Jerry and Marcy Monkman / EcoPhotography

Resilient and Connected Appalachians Grant Program

Program Information

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is pleased to offer funding opportunities across the Appalachians landscape  through its Resilient and Connected Appalachians (RCA) Grant Program.

Applicants may request up to $100,000 to support projects that result in the permanent protection of resilient and connected lands within TNC’s Appalachians Program area.  The program area includes all or portions of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama. 

TNC identified and mapped a connected network of climate resilient sites across the United States, which we call the Resilient and Connected Network (RCN). If conserved, the RCN will help sustain biodiversity, as well as protect the drinking water sources, carbon stocks, and recreational and economic resources that people depend on. 

The Appalachians Program area includes over 25 million unprotected acres of the RCN. To help focus conservation efforts on the places most important for landscape-scale connectivity, this program is supporting fee and easement land acquisition projects that fall within focal areas that represent the most concentrated and connected occurrences of the RCN.

While the program is prioritizing projects in the focal areas, we recognize that there are places outside of the focal areas in need of protection.  The program will accept applications for projects that secure resilient and connected lands outside of the focal areas so long as the community benefits are prominent and well-integrated (see below). The TNC Appalachians Program boundary, the RCN and the focal areas can be explored in the Resilient and Connected Appalachians Map Viewer. 

Map of Appalachians.

Resilient Land Mapping Tool

TNC’s interactive Resilient Land Mapping Tool identifies the climate-resilient sites needed to sustain biodiversity and ecological functions into the future. This road map of “core forests and connectors” shows where plant and animal species have the best chance to move away from growing climate threats. Protecting and sustaining these lands collaboratively is critical for a climate-resilient future.  Use of this mapping resource is not a requirement of this program—it is provided here for informational purposes and we encourage you to use it as a tool anytime for evaluating the conservation value of any current or future projects.

Equitable Conservation and Community Benefits

Conservation organizations are increasingly acknowledging the importance of incorporating social equity in their missions, partnerships, and projects and evolving how they work to have better outcomes for people and nature.

TNC defines community benefits as the positive outcomes that directly result from or are included within conservation projects as experienced by local communities and people. This is particularly important for historically marginalized communities, communities with limited access to nature, communities experiencing heightened impacts of climate change due to systemic underinvestment and poor infrastructure, and Indigenous communities.  

RCA program funding will support projects that demonstrate meaningful community engagement, work with those historically excluded from conservation, and lead to a fairer distribution of benefits for people and communities.

Some examples of community benefits include improved and greater access to nature, protection of drinking water sources, recreational and resource-based economic opportunities, flood mitigation, engagement in cross-cultural initiatives, or protection of lands that will meet community-defined conservation needs. We encourage projects with meaningful community benefits that are integrated with the land protection goals. 

See additional context and examples of community benefits described in successful applications from previous years.

Drone view of the Israel River and Lancaster, New Hampshire.
PEOPLE & COMMUNITIES Conserving resilient and connected lands provides benefits to local people and communities. © Jerry and Marcy Monkman/EcoPhotography

Guidelines

The program is open to all non-profit 501(c)(3) conservation and community organizations, municipalities, Federally Recognized Tribal Nations, and local and state agencies. Applicants must be based in one of the 18 states included in TNC’s  Appalachians Program boundary.

Conservation organizations that are not accredited by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission will need to provide additional documentation with their application—see FAQs for more information.

Other entities may also be asked for information related to their capacity for owning and managing conservation lands.

Applicants may only submit one project per year. An applicant may collaborate on or be party to another project that has a different lead applicant.

Project Eligibility

  • Projects must be located in TNC’s Appalachians Program boundary which includes portions of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia or Alabama.
  • Projects must include lands that are mapped as part of the Resilient and Connected Network. 
  • Preference will be given to projects that are within focal areas.
  • Projects that cross state lines are eligible.
  • Projects may include multiple parcels, but the parcels should be adjoining.
  • Projects with multiple, non-adjoining parcels may be considered—please reach out to discuss before applying.

Project Evaluation

Projects will be evaluated  according to their capacity to deliver land protection outcomes aligned with the program goals, including:

  • Location: the project is located within TNC’s Appalachians Program boundary and is in or near a mapped focal area.  Projects outside of focal areas will also be considered. See map here.

  • Resilience: the percentage of the total project area that is part of the Resilient and Connected Network.

  • Connectivity: adjacency to protected lands or other attributes that will lead to landscape connectivity over time (e.g., the project is a necessary acquisition for advancing a local or regional plan that aims to protect a critical conservation corridor).

  • Collaboration: evidence of engagement with other organizations, community groups, or local governments (including, but not limited to, shared funding).

  • Community: project elements that directly engage and or benefit people, especially vulnerable or marginalized communities.

  • Timeline: the project will close within 12 months from the start of the grant agreement term, approximately June, 2026.

  • Feasibility: likelihood that the project will close and the costs seem reasonable.

Eligible Grant Expenses

Applicants may request up to $100,000.  Grant awards may be less than the amount requested. Eligible project costs include the following:

  • Project capital (purchase price)
  • Project development (surveys, appraisals, title work, environmental assessments, etc.)
  • Stewardship and legal defense
  • Community engagement costs related to project (meeting venue, supplies, travel, facilitation, etc.)
  • Match for other private or public funding sources
  • Legal support
  • Operational costs (e.g., staff salaries and travel expenses directly associated with the project)
  • Indirect costs (not to exceed 20% of the total grant amount)

Funds will be provided to grantees at the start of the grant agreement term, except for grants (or portions of grants) that are requested for stewardship and legal defense funds, which will be paid after the project closes.

Ineligible Expenses

·       Lobbying fees and costs

Application Process

Things to Know

Aerial view of a river and forest.