Breakthroughs

For more than 20 years the Institute has been involved in developing, testing, and establishing permanent authorization of this innovative federal legislation. Stewardship Contracting increases the pace and scale of needed forest restoration work, provides line officers additional tools and flexibility to accomplish their goals, and increases stakeholder engagement in restoration projects.

 Forests in the Upper Delaware River watershed are essential to maintaining the extraordinary water quality of the Delaware River. Common Waters brings together stakeholders in the watershed to conserve clean water, natural places, and working lands through cooperation, scientific research, education, and technical assistance.

Established in 2002, EcoMadera addresses both chronic rural poverty and deforestation by promoting sustainable development in forest-dependent rural communities. These  communities can create strong pressure on local forests, with impacts on  biological diversity and other important natural values, yet still realize only marginal economic income — which leads to even greater  harvesting pressure on local forests.  

45% of America's family forests are owned by individuals over 65 years of age. During the next two decades, the U.S. will witness the largest intergenerational transfer of private forest lands in its history. What will this mean for forest conservation? Given the economic pressures for development and land conversion, what policy changes are needed to help landowners keep forest as forest? 

There has been increasing landowner interest in independent, third-party certification as a means to ensure and demonstrate conservation-minded forest management. Along the way the Pinchot Institute has helped public agencies, First Nations,  corporations, and universities test certification on their lands. We specialize in assessing certification systems and in helping landowners understand how they can be applied on their forestlands.