Products

We identify issues and uncertainties that pose obstacles to conservation and then—in collaboration with internal and external colleagues—develop science products that help overcome those obstacles.

2024 | Marine | Economics | Science | Publications & Reports

Advancing fisheries sustainability and access through community fisheries trusts

Kate Kauer, Lyall Bellquist, Jenn Humberstone, Vienna Saccomanno, Dwayne Oberhoff, Sherry Flumerfelt, Mary Gleason

This 2024 paper by TNC staff and partners represents the first U.S.-wide synthesis of fisheries trusts – which are community-based entities that acquire and manage fishery privileges with the…

2023 | Terrestrial | Economics | Publications & Reports

Wildfire Resilience Insurance: Quantifying the Risk Reduction of Ecological Forestry with Insurance

The Nature Conservancy with Willis Towers Watson, Sarah Heard

California has the highest wildfire risk in the US, and climate change will continue to exacerbate the risk, at least in the foreseeable future. As a result, California is facing an insurance crisis,…

2023 | Marine | Economics | Science | Publications & Reports

Static management presents a simple solution to a dynamic fishery and conservation challenge

Christopher M. Free, Lyall F. Bellquist, Karin A. Forney, Jenn Humberstone, Kate Kauer, Qui Lee, Owen R. Liu, Jameal F. Samhouri, Jono R. Wilson, Darcy Bradley

Dynamic ocean management frameworks can be a useful approach to fisheries management under climate change. In the oceans, marine heatwaves are increasingly common symptoms of climate change that can…

2023 | Marine | Economics | Science | Publications & Reports

Impact of the 2014–2016 marine heatwave on US and Canada West Coast fisheries: Surprises and lessons from key case studies

Christopher M. Free, Sean C. Anderson, Elizabeth A. Hellmers, Barbara A. Muhling, Michael O. Navarro, Kate Richerson, Lauren A. Rogers, William H. Satterthwaite, Andrew R. Thompson, Jenn M. Burt, Steven D. Gaines, Kristin N. Marshall, J. Wilson White, Lyall F. Bellquist

As symptoms of climate change, extreme environmental events (e.g., marine heatwaves) now represent the greatest global threat to the oceans, causing profound ecosystem and socioeconomic impacts. The…

2023 | Marine | Economics | Science | Publications & Reports

Characterization of a developing recreational deep-drop fishery for swordfish off southern California

Scott A. Aalbers, Michael Wang, Lyall Bellquist, Kate Kauer, Alexis Jackson, Chugey A. Sepulveda

An emerging recreational fishery for swordfish has recently developed in California, outpacing existing fisheries monitoring programs, which prevents accurate estimation of swordfish catch and effort…

2023 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Marine | Planning | Economics | Publications & Reports

Valuing the Flood Reduction Benefits of Marsh Restoration

Taylor-Burns, R., Heard, S., Beck, M. W.

There is growing evidence for the beneficial role that wetlands can play in reducing flood risk, but in many urban estuaries, coastal development has resulted in dramatic habitat loss and…

2023 | Terrestrial | Economics | Publications & Reports

Building California’s Forest Resilience Workforce

Sarah Heard, Bradley Franklin

Wildfires in California, and across the western U.S., are increasing in frequency and severity, threatening both ecosystems and communities. Restoration—a combination of ecological thinning and…

2022 | Marine | Planning | Economics | Science | Publications & Reports

The Business of Restoration: Examining the oyster reef restoration industry in the U.S. with recommendations for how conservation organizations can increase efficiencies and decrease costs to scale restoration efforts

Elliot Hall, Bryan DeAngelis

Oyster reefs are one of the most imperiled habitats on earth. However, current rates of restoration are too slow. We must radically increase the pace, scale, and impact of restoration to recover the…

2022 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Technology | Economics | Science | Publications & Reports

Developing an adaptive management approach to cowbird control on the Santa Clara River, California

Sophie S. Parker, Linnea S. Hall, Mary J. Whitfield, Laura Riege, Kathryn R. Selm, René Corado

This paper presents results from a field-based study that can be used to benefit songbirds in riverside habitats like those found along the Santa Clara River in Ventura County, California. Songbirds…

2022 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Marine | Economics | Science | Publications & Reports

Unlocking FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Funding for Coral Reef Restoration: A Feasibility Study in Maui, Hawaii

UC Santa Cruz (Austen E. Stovall, Michael W. Beck), The Nature Conservancy (Alyssa Mann, Tamaki Bieri), Radbridge/formerly Earth Economics (Johnny Mojica, Rowan Schmidt)

Climate change poses severe threats to coastal communities and the ecosystems on which they depend. Warming ocean temperatures increase the magnitude and frequency of storm and coral bleaching events,…

2021 | Marine | Economics | Science | Publications & Reports

The rise in climate change-induced federal fishery disasters in the United States

Lyall Bellquist, Vienna Saccomanno, Brice X. Semmens, Mary Gleason, Jono Wilson

The health of ocean ecosystems is critical to maintaining natural biodiversity and sustainable fisheries, but federally-declared fishery disasters are reflecting devastating impacts to ecosystems,…

2021 | Terrestrial | Technology | Economics | Science | Publications & Reports

Tahoe-Central Sierra Initiative Phase 1 Restoration Wood Supply Assessment

Tom Baribault, Daniel Porter, Jessica Burton Desrocher, Douglas Larmour, Mark Rasmussen, Roy Anderson

The Tahoe-Central Sierra Initiative (TCSI) area has seen recent megafires and is highly developed, making the risk new of human-caused wildfire ignitions high. In this report, experts from Mason Bruce…

2021 | Terrestrial | Technology | Economics | Science | Publications & Reports

Accelerating Forest Restoration: Stimulating a Forest-Restoration Economy and Rebuilding Resilience in California’s Fire-Adapted Forests

Daniel Porter, Robert Longcor

Forests of the Sierra Nevada and across the western U.S. are under unprecedented threat from catastrophic wildfire, insect outbreaks, and drought. In this briefing paper, which was developed as a…

2020 | Freshwater | Planning | Technology | Economics | Science | Publications & Reports

Base of fresh water, groundwater salinity and well distribution across California

Mary Kang, Debra Perrone, Ziming Wang, Scott Jasechko, Melissa M. Rohde

To ensure that California’s groundwater is sustainably managed in the future and over the long-term, current state definitions of what constitutes groundwater may need to be revised, according…

2019 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Planning | Economics | Science | Publications & Reports

Evidence Synthesis as the Basis for Decision Analysis: A Method of Selecting the Best Agricultural Practices for Multiple Ecosystem Services

Gorm E. Shackelford, Rodd Kelsey, William J. Sutherland, Christina M. Kennedy, Stephen A. Wood, Sasha Gennet, Daniel S. Karp, Claire Kremen, Nathaniel E. Seavy, Julie A. Jedlicka, Kelly Gravuer, Sara M. Kross, Deborah A. Bossio, Andrés Muñoz-Sáez, Deirdre G. LaHue, Kelly Garbach, Lawrence D. Ford, Mark Felice, Mark D. Reynolds, Devii R. Rao, Kathleen Boomer, Gretchen LeBuhn, Lynn V. Dicks

Agricultural management practices impacts not only on crops and livestock, but also soil health, water quality, wildlife, and ecosystem services. There is abundant, but disconnected,…

2019 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Marine | Planning | Economics | Science | Publications & Reports

Aligning evidence generation and use across health, development, and environment

Heather Tallis, Katharine Kreis, Lydia Olander, Claudia Ringler, David Ameyaw, Mark E Borsuk, Diana Fletschner, Edward Game,, Daniel O Gilligan, Marc Jeuland, Gina Kennedy, Yuta J Masuda, Sumi Mehta, Nicholas Miller, Megan Parker, Carmel Pollino, Julie Rajaratnam, David Wilkie, Wei Zhang, Selena Ahmed, Oluyede C Ajayi, Harold Alderman, George Arhonditsis, Ines Azevedo, Ruchi Badola, Rob Bailis, Patricia Balvanera, Emily Barbour, Mark Bardini, David N Barton, Jill Baumgartner, Tim G Benton, Emily Bobrow, Deborah Bossio, Ann Bostrom, Ademola Braimoh, Eduardo Brondizio, Joe Brown, Benjamin P Bryant, Ryan SD Calder, Becky Chaplin-Kramer, Alison Cullen, Nicole DeMello, Katherine L Dickinson, Kristie L Ebi, Heather E Eves, Jessica Fanzo, Paul J Ferraro, Brendan Fisher, Edward A Frongillo, Gillian Galford, Dennis Garrity, Lydiah Gatere, Andrew P Grieshop, Nicola J Grigg, Craig Groves, Mary Kay Gugerty, Michael Hamm, Xiaoyue Hou, Cindy Huang, Marc Imhoff, Darby Jack, Andrew D Jones, Rodd Kelsey, Monica Kothari, Ritesh Kumar, Carl Lachat, Ashley Larsen, Mark Lawrence, Fabrice DeClerck, Phillip S Levin, Edward Mabaya, Jacqueline MacDonald Gibson, Robert I McDonald, Georgina Mace, Ricardo Maertens, Dorothy I Mangale, Robin Martino, Sara Mason, Lyla Mehta, Ruth Meinzen-Dick, Barbara Merz, Siwa Msangi, Grant Murray, Kris A Murray, Celeste E Naude, Nathaniel K Newlands, Ephraim Nkonya, Amber Peterman, Tricia Petruney, Hugh Possingham, Jyotsna Puri, Roseline Remans, Lisa Remlinger, Taylor H Ricketts, Bedilu Reta, Brian E Robinson, Dilys Roe, Joshua Rosenthal, Guofeng Shen, Drew Shindell, Ben Stewart-Koster, Terry Sunderland, William J Sutherland, Josh Tewksbury, Heather Wasser, Stephanie Wear, Chris Webb, Dale Whittington, Marit Wilkerson, Heidi Wittmer, Benjamin DK Wood, Stephen Wood,, Joyce Wu, Gautam Yadama and Stephanie Zobrist

Although environmental conservation, human health, and sustainable development challenges are interconnected, approaches to these challenges and the evidence used remain disconnected. Creating…

2019 | Freshwater | Terrestrial | Marine | Economics | Publications & Reports

MarketLab: Where Economics and Finance Meet Conservation

Sarah Heard

We have an opportunity to apply the principles of economics and finance to demonstrate the value of conservation and create systems that incentivize the protection of nature at scale. In a changing…