New The FY 2009 budget includes $321.7 million, a $10.4 million increase over enacted 2008 levels, for programs to build on successful partnerships across the country and expand opportunities for conservation that will leverage federal investments to protect endangered and at-risk species. These programs engage local communities in conservation and resource management, restore wetlands and uplands, foster innovation and achieve conservation goals while maintaining working landscapes. The Cooperative Conservation budget has received a 43 percent increase since 2001 resulting in improvements to 5 million acres of lands and 5,000 stream miles. more more

Aldo Leopold, the visionary 20th century conservationist, eloquently imagined a Nation of citizen stewards. Environmental progress ultimately resides in the efforts of all of us to apply a caring hand to the landscape. It resides in our actions in our own backyards, at our places of work, on our farms and ranches, and in our communities.

To foster a Nation of citizen stewards and cooperative conservation, the Department has developed a cooperative conservation through partnerships website to highlight its work to support and encourage locally led, on-the-ground conservation efforts. The website provides information about successful cooperative conservation projects, links to legal authorities, volunteer opportunities, cooperative conservation documents, and the tools for private land owners, community groups, and federal land mangers to enhance and achieve conservation. These tools include millions of dollars in conservation grants, including the Cooperative Conservation Initiative (CCI), which includes funds for the highly successful Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program, the Coastal Program, and cooperative conservation challenge cost-share grants. The Private Stewardship Grant program and Landowner Incentive Program provide assistance to private land owners in their voluntary efforts to protect threatened, imperiled and endangered species.

The Department of the Interior, along with the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, and the Environmental Protection Agency worked with the Council on Environmental Quality to organize and hold the landmark, 2005 White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation, where former Secretary Gale Norton gave the keynote address describing the faces and places citizen-based conservation efforts in an address entitled: "Voices of Cooperative Conservation." The Department is working in close collaboration with the other agencies to advance the Federal government’s capacity to work effectively with others and to communicate cooperative conservation tools and information effectively. The Federal government’s cooperative conservation website is part of the effort.

For examples of cooperative conservation at work, visit a database of hundreds of case studies and see Faces and Places of Cooperative Conservation on the Cooperative Conservation America website. These case studies show the expanding use of many cooperative conservation tools such as conservation banking, stewardship contracting, enhanced use of Safe Harbor agreements under the Endangered Species Act, and use of consensus-based management for public lands.

Through cooperative conservation, we can achieve healthy lands, thriving communities and dynamic economies.

Additional Information:

News Releases for Cooperative Conservation Initiative:

Speeches for Cooperative Conservation Initiative