The ABCs of NCS at TNC

For my project placement, I will be working at The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) Portland, Oregon office, where I will help develop a strategy for implementing Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) in Oregon. NCS focus on developing partnerships between governing agencies, landowners, business and other stakeholders to increase the carbon sequestration potential of land.  This can take many forms: better forestry and agricultural practices, tree plantings on marginal land, improved wetland management and better fire management and prevention, to name a few.  I will be assisting with stakeholder research, policy research and a literature review of the efficacy of past NCS incentive programs in support of the project team.  I may also assist in an effort to develop pro-NCS messaging in support the Natural & Working Lands Challenge, a project of the U.S. Climate Alliance focused on developing carbon sinks on natural and working lands. 

My Supervisors & Adviser

Dr. Adena Rissman, a professor of forest and wildlife ecology at UW-Madison, is serving as my project adviser.  Dr. Rissman has expertise in natural resource policy, conservation planning and evaluation.  I had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Rissman last fall, when she offered feedback on a water quality policy brief I wrote for Dr. Lisa Naughton’s class, and very much appreciated the time and effort she took to review my paper.  Dr. Rissman has already provided extremely useful advice to help me lay the groundwork for a successful project.

Why I Am Interested In This Project

There are several reasons why I believe this placement is a good fit.  First, TNC is highly invested in developing collaborative approaches to conservation problem-solving.  The organization recognizes that securing cooperation from, and incentivizing action by, private landowners and business can significantly bolster efforts to mitigate climate change.  I’ve spent much of my career working in more adversarial contexts where corporations have been largely viewed as bad actors, and I am very interested in seeing a more collaborative model in action. Second, I believe that NCS-based approaches to carbon mitigation simply do not get the same level of attention and support as other carbon-reduction strategies, like the development of renewable energy.  Developing effective messaging and practical policy tools for implementing NCS programs Is a key part of addressing this challenge.  Finally, on a practical level, I’m interested in beginning a career in conservation, and hope that the experience I gain and the contacts I make during this placement can help pave the way to a fulfilling long-term career.

My Goals

I have several goals I would like to achieve during this placement.  First, I’d like to gain a working knowledge of NCS strategies as an exemplar of a collaborative model to addressing conservation challenges. Second, I’d like to further diversify my skill set.  I’ve spent most of my career working as a political pollster, and I chose to pursue a Master’s degree in conservation because I realized that I had been type-cast in this role. In the same way Jonah Hill’s role in “Moneyball” helped break through his typecasting as “the vulgar best friend,” I’m hoping this placement will help me break the pollster mold that has limited my career options.  Third, I would like to continue refining the personal conservation ethic I developed last summer.  My ethic focuses on working across stakeholder groups to develop a shared conservation vision that unites, rather than divides society.  I’ve spent most of my career in an industry that is all about defeating opponents, and there is still a part of me that thinks that taking on and defeating climate change deniers should be our top priority. I’m hoping this placement will help me continue sorting through my conflicting emotions on this topic.

My final deliverable for my sponsor organization is still a bit up in the air, but should come into focus the next few days during my orientation at TNC.

How I Feel: Nervous Anticipation

I feel both excitement and nervousness toward this placement.  After a year of reading, reflecting and virtual discussions, it will be exciting to watch many of the concepts we’ve discussed utilized in practice.  Several of the topics we explored last semester – such as stakeholder outreach, cooperative decision-making and the efficacy of environmental incentive programs – are highly relevant to my project. 

I am nervous about this placement because I’ve spent most of the last 14 years working remotely from home – it has been a very long time since I’ve spent 40 hours a week in an office (not counting a brief sojourn in the helter-skelter political campaign world).  Working in a more structured environment (and having to change out of my pajamas in the morning) will be challenging.  I also anticipate that the culture of TNC will be significantly different than I’ve experienced in the political campaign world.  Since one of the reasons I left politics was my frustration with its 120-decibel craziness, I’m looking forward to this change, but also understand that making the transition may be difficult.

You’ve Got To Prep Before You Can Cook

Before beginning my placement, I’ve taken the last week or so to prepare for the next eight weeks. First, I re-read TNC’s NSC strategy document, called Lands of Opportunity. I had a call with Dr. Rissman, to familiarize her with my project.  During this call, my adviser suggested several readings to help familiarize myself with the conservation landscape in Oregon, especially in relation to land use policy.

One of her recommendations — a book called Planning in Paradise:  Politics and Visioning of Land Use in Oregon, by Peter Walker and Patrick Hurley (2011) has been extremely useful. The book provides an in-depth exploration of Oregon’s unique state-level land use planning system, and the political influences shaping its creation, evolution and near-demise over the past 40 years.  Given that NCS incorporates a significant land-use component, developing an understanding of the context in which decision are made is helpful. 

A paper called “Behavioral Assumptions of Conservation Policy: Conserving Oak Habitat on Family-Forest Land in the Willamette Valley, Oregon” by Paige Fischer and John Bliss (2007) focuses on the cross-pressures facing land-owners when deciding whether to engage in efforts to conserve white oak trees on private land.  The paper summarizes the balance between often conflicting values (stewardship, utilitarianism, self-determination) that shape these decisions, and recommends strategies that combine an emphasis on moral duty with incentives to make conservation practical for landowners by off-setting potential costs.  This paper helped me better understand the prism through which landowners make decisions about participating in conservation efforts, which is relevant because NCS programs also rely heavily on landowner incentives, .

Another paper I read, “Stakeholder Engagement and Environmental Strategy – the Case of Climate Change,” by David C. Sprengel and Timo Busch (2010) focuses on corporate responses to stakeholder pressure on climate change. This is important, because developing partnerships with corporations can play an important role in efforts to implement viable large-scale NCS strategies. The authors conducted a survey of key corporate decision-makers in several industries and grouped their response to stakeholder pressure into four categories – minimalists, regulation shapers, pressure-managers and emissions avoiders.  The paper suggested that “pressure managers” are especially responsive to strategies focusing on offsetting emissions, which would likely make them more receptive to an NCS strategy focused on sequestering carbon. 

In addition to this background reading, I’ve also started researching the organizations taking part in stakeholder meetings I will attend next week.  While my role will be mostly to observe and take notes, I felt it was important to have some understanding of the agendas and backgrounds of the people in the room before walking into the meeting.

Finally, I have begun participating in weekly lab discussions with Dr. Rissman and some of her students.  These discussions provide a forum for providing my adviser with regular updates on my placement.  They also afford an opportunity to solicit advice on the challenges I am facing in my placement.

I am very excited to get to work!