Mass Audubon and Partners Receive $25M Federal Grant to Protect 10,000 acres in Connecticut River Watershed

Mass Audubon, the largest nature-based organization in New England, has received $25 million—the largest federal grant in its 128-year history—from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for the organization and its land trust partners to protect 10,000 acres of forests and wetlands in the Connecticut River Watershed.

“Public-private partnerships generated by this historic grant represent the future of land conservation and the level of collaboration that’s required to protect nature and mitigate the negative impacts of climate change,” said Mass Audubon President & CEO David O’Neill. “These funds will allow us to work with partners, including Secretary Tepper and the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) and private landowners to purchase conservation easements that simultaneously support landowner needs, protect wildlife habitat, and address climate change.”

In addition to this funding for land conservation projects led by Mass Audubon and its partners, the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs has received a complementary $20.8 million grant from the USDA to ramp up the pace of land conservation across the Commonwealth and advance our shared goal of protecting 30 percent of the land in the state by 2030.

“Mass Audubon has been an incredible partner in our shared conservation mission. Their expertise is vital as we confront new challenges and expand the statewide capacity to conserve land and protect natural resources,” said Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper. “Congratulations to David O'Neill and his team for securing this essential funding. Together, we are excited to elevate our partnership through the Massachusetts Resilient Lands Conservation Coalition.”

Mass Audubon’s grant is part of an historic $1.5 billion commitment to 92 conservation projects around the country through the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), a partner-driven approach to conservation that funds solutions to natural resource challenges on working lands, including our farms and forests.

In addition to protecting 10,000 acres of carbon-rich and biodiverse forests and wetlands via this funding, Mass Audubon and its partners will work with landowners to restore forest habitat by removing dams, restoring floodplain forests, and engaging in other restorative land management practices.

The Center for Geospatial Solutions (CGS) at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, a nonprofit that recommends creative approaches to land as a solution to economic, social, and environmental challenges, will develop an innovative measurement and monitoring approach to support private landowners in evaluating the conservation outcomes of the project. CGS and its partner, CTrees, a science nonprofit, will use field measurements, LiDar, satellite imaging, and AI machine learning to measure and monitor carbon, biodiversity, flood resilience, and other project benefits generated from protecting and restoring land. This approach will ensure precise, long-term tracking of conservation efforts to support data-driven decision-making and demonstrate the full impact of land restoration activities.

Mass Audubon is thrilled to implement this grant with conservation partners including the Kestrel Land Trust, Mt. Grace Land Conservation Trust, Hilltown Land Trust, and the East Quabbin Land Trust. In addition, the Connecticut River Conservancy and Trout Unlimited will work alongside Mass Audubon to achieve the grants aquatic restoration goals.  Mass Audubon also collaborates broadly with the Connecticut River Watershed Partnership to support the health of the multi-state Connecticut River Watershed.

The projects that these federal funds will support are helping us realize the goals of the Commonwealth’s 30x30 strategy and Mass Audubon’s Action Agenda. The grant announcement follows the launch of Mass Audubon’s $75 million 30x30 Catalyst Fund—a fund to accelerate the pace of land protection across the Commonwealth that was seeded by a $25 million gift from MathWorks, a Natick-based developer of mathematical computing software.

“Our 30x30 Catalyst Fund is fueled by generous support from the private sector, which has helped us leverage public commitments for these important conservation projects, on the path to meet the goal of protecting 30 percent of Massachusetts’ natural lands by 2030,” O’Neill said. “We take this responsibility seriously, and we’re grateful that, with our partners, we can gain speed in implementing nature-based measures that protect wildlife and their habitats, cleanse our air and water, capture and store carbon, and make the region more resilient to the worst impacts of climate change.”

The USDA press release with information on projects throughout the country can be read here.