The Regional Conservation Partnerships (RCP) Network Gathering is an inclusive forum for people from the Northeast and beyond to meet and share stories about collaborative landscape conservation. Together we are building reciprocal relationships with new people and sectors and scaling our work to conserve land as we create healthier, more just, climate-resilient communities.  

This year’s theme is Collaborating for Healthier Communities. Come explore the diverse elements of a healthy community and learn how, through collaboration, we can create a future where all people thrive. Sessions will focus on the environment’s direct impact on the health of communities and how climate change is putting pressure on all levels of society. 

JOIN US on November 14 from 8 AM – 4 PM at UMass Amherst to share how you, your collaborations, and your networks are advancing health, justice, and climate resilience. 

Why has climate change been so difficult for us to address? This talk will explore the problem from the point of view of how the brain works to make decisions. While climate change presents an enormous challenge, it is possible for us to call on what we know about the brain’s reward system to help us change our behaviors and to provide hope for a better future. 

Ann-Christine Duhaime, MD, is a senior pediatric neurosurgeon at the Massachusetts General Hospital and the Nicholas T. Zervas Distinguished Professor of Neurosurgery at Harvard Medical School. She is the author of Minding the Climate: How Neuroscience Can Help Solve Our Environmental Crisis. Learn more about Dr. Duhaime’s work here. 

The 2024 RCP Network Gathering features two dozen sessions led by nearly 60 speakers along five integrated health themes: Physical and Mental Well-being, Listening and Connecting, Resilient Ecosystems, Integrated Land Use, and Diverse Partnerships. Session topics range from how RCPs are supporting the development of healthy, thriving communities to how climate change is impacting the work of healthcare professionals and why it should be a concern for conservationists. Several sessions will center themes of justice and belonging and elevate identities and perspectives historically underrepresented in the conservation movement. Join the discussion, learn from your peers, and share how your work is helping to create healthier communities! 

Read about the sessions here.

Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) individuals are invited to attend a free, special session and dinner on Wednesday, November 13, from 5:30 – 8 PM at the Campus Center, 10th Floor, UMass Amherst.  

This event is intended to help strengthen relationships and facilitate conversations on how the conservation community can be more welcoming, safe, and inclusive. Kolu Zigbi Consultants, Inc. will facilitate the evening’s program. Registration is required for this exclusive event. 

Learn More about Pre- and Post-Conference Events and Register here. 

DID YOU KNOW that 40% of attendees at the RCP Network Gathering are not connected with a Regional Conservation Partnership? With over 50 RCPs across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, chances are there is an active group near you. Conference attendees will have the chance to meet RCP leaders and learn more about RCPs in their region. Find your local RCP here! 

Take a break during the conference to slow down, awaken your senses, and connect with the natural world on a walk around the UMass campus green spaces. Regan Stacey, a mindfulness meditation teacher and forest therapy guide, will lead a mindful experience outdoors. All are welcome! Meet at the Registration Desk at 12:30 PM. Inclement weather cancels.

Gathering attendees are eligible to earn Continuing Education Credits from the following organizations: the Society of American Foresters will offer 4.5 Category 1 Continuing Forestry Education credits; and the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Nursing, 244 CMR 5.00, will provide 4 contact hours for attending the Keynote, and A1, B1, and C1 sessions. Remember to complete the appropriate sign-in sheets at the Registration desk to receive your credits!

Sign up for the RCP Network E-News! Receive updates about the 2024 Gathering, read inspiring stories about RCPs, learn about funding opportunities, and more! 

QUESTIONS? Please contact Highstead Regional Conservationist Katie Blake at kblake@highstead.net 

The 14th annual Regional Conservation Partnership (RCP) Network Gathering explored how landscape conservation efforts protect and enhance values beyond biodiversity – including land justice and community resilience.

In our last three virtual RCP Network Gatherings, we discussed equity and conservation organizations’ roles in advancing land justice, exploring the “why” and the “how.”

While the climate crisis grows, we hoped to inspire and energize participants. Conservation leaders’ presentations focused on building relationships with new people and groups working toward common goals of enhancing biodiversity and addressing justice through land use practices. Workshops explored how to design landscape conservation to help partners and communities solve multiple challenges at scale for nature and all people. 

Visionary leaders in philanthropy and community-centered conservation: Forrest King-Cortes, Director of Community-centered Conservation, Land Trust Alliance; Onika Abraham Lee, Executive Director of the Blue Sky Funders Forum; Sacha Spector, Program Director for the Environment, Doris Duke Foundation, discussed how we can advance equity, community resilience, and other objectives through conservation. Panelists shared their perspectives on what just and integrated land use looks like and what capacities regional conservation partnerships need to embody to pursue this work.

Maps Session

Did you know that on average, 50% of attendees to the RCP Network Gathering aren’t (yet) connected with a local Regional Conservation Partnership (RCP)? With over 50 RCPs across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, chances are there is an active group where you live or work. This year, attendees had the chance to chat with RCP leaders and learn more about regional conservation conversations happening in their region. Find your local RCPs here. Maps were on display all day in the conference hall atrium for perusal.

Continuing Forestry Education Credits

This year, the Society of American Foresters offered 4.5 Continuing Forestry Education Credits to all interested RCP Network Gathering attendees.

Check this page and sign up for the RCP Network E-News for updates on the program, registration, and more details as the November 9 Gathering approaches.

Please contact Highstead Conservationist Katie Blake with any questions about this year’s RCP Network Gathering.

As a follow-up to H2H’s 2018 rural and suburban strategic conservation mapping efforts, we decided to dig deeper into one of our region’s cities to better understand how we can identify and prioritize conservation projects in an urban setting. In our 2021 project, we present Norwalk, Connecticut as a case study for strategic mapping modified for an urban landscape. The project consists of an interactive online map which highlights Norwalk’s priority conservation sites by taking into account a variety of social, health, or environmental variables, and a PDF conservation mapping guide that outlines the methods, data sources, and stakeholder engagement that H2H used to create the online map. 

Thanks to the great support from Lisa Shanahan of the Norwalk Land Trust, and nearly two dozen City stakeholders and partners, we were able to create a working example of the different ways people connect to and value natural spaces in an urban setting. One of our key takeaways is the importance of evaluating the needs of people and natural spaces side by side, especially in an urban setting, given the population density and the integration of natural spaces into the community. We also saw how these natural spaces provide important co-benefits to the residents of Norwalk, from flood mitigation to air and water filtration and to management of the urban heat island effect.

We encourage you to take some time to explore the tool and see how it might apply to cities and towns in your region. Please reach out to kblake@highstead.net if you have any questions or feedback, or if you are interested in adopting this tool and process for your city.