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The Massachusetts State House in Boston with its gold dome against a bright blue sky; view from across the street.
Influencing Climate and Conservation Policy Policy is an essential tool to protect the lands, waters and people of Massachusetts, and forward-thinking policies have made the Commonwealth shine as a national leader in addressing climate change. © Loren Dowd / TNC
Stories in Massachusetts

Policy Priorities in Massachusetts

On Beacon Hill, The Nature Conservancy advocates for and advances policy to address the climate and biodiversity crises.

Explore our latest priorities in the Commonwealth

At The Nature Conservancy (TNC), we have set ambitious 2030 goals to slow the interconnected crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. Policy is an essential tool to protect the lands, waters and people of Massachusetts, and forward-thinking policies have made the Commonwealth shine as a national leader in addressing climate change. 

Our policy and partnerships team advances policy goals that are equitable, nonpartisan, ambitious and grounded in science. We pride ourselves on a collaborative, solutions-based approach that drives toward transformational change. 

We work to influence policy, planning and implementation at the federal, regional and state levels by building trusting relationships and partnerships with decision makers, state agencies, community-based organizations, nonprofit partners and other key stakeholders. Our goal is to balance intersectional priorities and foster opportunities to get to “yes.”

Nature and Climate

Nature-based solutions use nature or natural systems to address both the causes and impacts of climate change. Natural-climate solutions, a type of nature-based solution, include protecting, restoring and better managing the region's forests, farms and wetlands to help reduce and remove carbon from our air and retain stored carbon. Restoring the functions of these ecosystems also helps strengthen communities in the face of increasingly extreme and expensive natural events like flooding, drought and heat.

A stream runs through a thickly forested area with downed tree branches lying across it.
Conserving Forests and Wetlands Protected areas like this one in Westhampton, Massachusetts, are critical for not only capturing and storing carbon from the atmosphere, but for clean air and water, wildlife habitat and more. © Jerry and Marcy Monkman/EcoPhotography

The Nature Conservancy in Massachusetts prioritizes policy actions that position nature-based solutions as the new normal for equitably addressing climate change. By helping the state set ambitious goals, planning for a climate-smart future, advancing significant funding and key legislation and focusing on solutions for under-resourced communities, we aim to help ensure a more resilient future for people and nature in Massachusetts. Some examples include:

WIN: Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness Program

Communities across Massachusetts are taking charge of their future through the Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) program—an initiative by the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs and local governments, launched in collaboration with TNC in 2017. Since then, 349 of 351 municipalities across the Commonwealth have taken action to address climate change impacts using the MVP program. MVP provides planning grants to towns and cities so they can host community workshops to prioritize and plan their response to climate change impacts. Then, action grants are available for implementing their highest priority projects.

Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Solar panels in a grassy field with trees surrounding it.
Clean Energy Renewable energy like large scale solar arrays are an important part of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to slow climate change. © Christel Hiltibran

TNC influences and informs policy that helps reduce harmful emissions at three levels:

  • Reducing energy use
  • Changing the energy we use from fossil fuels to environmentally preferable sources
  • Transitioning buildings and transportation from fossil fuels to electricity

Supporting both large-scale renewable energy deployment, like offshore wind, and small-scale projects, like heat pumps, in individual homes also results in climate resilience, better consumer protection and workforce development opportunities.

Aerial view of a white wind turbine in the ocean with Block Island in the distance.
Renewable Energy A turbine that's part of the Block Island wind farm, which powers 17,000 homes with just five turbines. © Ayla Fox

Conservation and Biodiversity

The policy team advances federal and state efforts to protect, manage, restore and connect our lands, waters and coasts, and advocates for the funding needed to do so. These actions support healthy ecosystems that sequester carbon, support diverse species and habitats, improve water and air quality and uplift local communities.

Close up of a barred owl, showing the detail on its brown streaked cream feathers and dark black eyes against a blurred green background.
Species Biodiversity A barred owl in Massachusetts. Regeneration of forests across the state have helped support increased habitat for the steady population. © Simmie Issenberg/TNC Photo Contest 2019

We are deeply engaged in helping to develop policy recommendations as part of several key conservation and biodiversity initiatives spearheaded by the Healey-Driscoll Administration, including the Forests as Climate Solutions initiative, the Biodiversity Executive Order, and the effort to streamline permitting for salt marsh restoration projects, aquaculture and dam removals.

View of a reflective lake surrounded by trees in the early light of the day.
Freshwater Conservation Conserving lands and waters like these in Massachusetts are critical for sustaining biodiversity that is essential to all life on Earth. © James Carey/TNC Photo Contest 2022

WIN: The Public Lands Preservation Act

After over 20 years of advocacy, An Act Preserving Open Space in the Commonwealth, also known as the Public Lands Preservation Act, was enacted in 2022, strengthening and codifying the Commonwealth’s longstanding No Net Loss policy. This policy states that any public open space (Article 97 land) converted to a different use must be replaced with land of equivalent financial and natural resource value and defines a process for doing so. The final law provides clarity and transparency to ensure no net loss of conservation land across the Commonwealth.

Equity, Capacity and Funding

Mill Creek in Chelsea at low tide, with some muddy banks exposed. Buildings and a road run alongside it in the background.
Community-Led Conservation Mill Creek in Chelsea, Massachusetts, where TNC is supporting the city and partner organizations' efforts to restore the polluted waterway for the benefit of all. © Emma Gildesgame/TNC

TNC supports an equitable and just future for Massachusetts and has made a commitment to incorporate diversity, equity, inclusion and justice into all aspects of our policy work. Through consciously making space, listening, learning and co-creating solutions with community-based and environmental justice organizations, we are advocating for equitable solutions for under-resourced communities. 

We also recognize the importance of ensuring that the state and municipalities have the resources they need to develop and implement on-the-ground projects. We advocate for funding and capacity building through the state budget and bonds, federal funding opportunities and assistance for local organizations and municipalities.

WIN: American Rescue Plan Act Funding

TNC co-led a coalition seeking to allocate a portion of the $5.3 billion in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding Massachusetts received from Congress toward conservation, outdoor recreation, restoration and climate resilience. Between two rounds of ARPA funding, the coalition succeeded in getting $315 million invested in nature-based solutions, climate resiliency, land conservation, ecological restoration, tree planting and park creation, particularly in Environmental Justice communities.

From Massachusetts to Washington, D.C. 

The Massachusetts team also works with TNC’s federal policy team to advance policies that align with the organization’s land, water and climate priorities. Through robust partnerships with the Massachusetts congressional offices, we advocate for legislation that supports strong funding for conservation programs and creative climate solutions. In addition to priorities of national significance, we also work with our delegation on regional issues like land and water connectivity in the Appalachians, renewable energy deployment—including offshore wind—and funding for coastal and ocean programs, like the TNC-led Supporting Oyster Aquaculture and Restoration (SOAR) program.

A group of TNC in Massachusetts staff and trustees standing on a balcony with the U.S. Capitol in the background at sunset.
Advocacy Day TNC in Massachusetts staff and Trustees in Washington, D.C. in fall 2023 to meet with policymakers and advocate for conservation and climate action. © TNC

WIN: Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge

Policy and conservation staff from TNC in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire, along with the organization Friends of Conte, regularly identify projects and advocate for receiving federal Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) funding for the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge that spans the Connecticut River in all four states. In FY22, the Refuge received $17.2 million in LWCF funding for land acquisition, the most that has ever been allocated to the Refuge at one time. This funding will allow the Refuge to carry out larger projects in the future and take advantage of significant, timely opportunities.

WIN: High Street Dam Removal

In July 2023, after more than 15 years of partnership and planning, construction crews removed the High Street dam and bridge on the Town River in Bridgewater. It was one of the oldest bridges in the state still in use and had numerous structural problems. Removing the dam improves habitat and fish passage from Narragansett Bay to the headwaters at Lake Nippenicket, all part of the larger Taunton River Watershed. The removal also reduces flood risk for nearby communities, as a new bridge designed to accommodate high river flows was constructed. This project was funded in part by a $1.55 million U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Fish Passage Program grant from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which was leveraged along with $6.7 million in other public funds from the state and NOAA.