From Walden to Wall Street: Frontiers of Conservation Finance.
James N. Levitt, editor. 2005. Island Press and Lincoln Institute.

From Walden to Wall Street brings together the experience of more than a dozen pioneering conservation finance practitioners to present groundbreaking ideas for dramatically expanding the availability of capital for land and biodiversity conservation in the United States. The authors explore a wide array of promising opportunities, including: mainstreaming environmental markets; enhancing government ballot measures for land conservation; using new forms of tax-advantaged financing; and leveraging the power of private debt and equity markets.

In the absence of such innovations in the field of conservation finance, a daunting funding gap faces conservationists aiming to protect America's system of landscapes that provide sustainable resources, water, wildlife habitat, and recreational amenities. Experts estimate that the average annual funding gap will be between $1.9 billion and $7.7 billion over the next forty years. The creativity and insight of From Walden to Wall Street offers considerable hope that, even in this era of widespread financial constraints, the American conservation community's financial resources may potentially grow dramatically in both quantity and quality coming decades.

James N. Levitt directs the Program on Conservation Innovation at the Harvard Forest and is a research fellow at the Ash Institute for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

The Report on Conservation Innovation

- Third Quarter 2007
- Second Quarter 2007
- First Quarter 2007
- Fall Followup 2006
- Fall 2006
- Summer 2006
- Spring 2006
- Fall 2005
- Fall 2004
- Spring 2004
- Fall 2003
- Winter / Spring 2003
- Spring / Summer 2002
- Fall / Winter 2001-2002
- Spring 2001

• With this publication (the RCI), we aim to provide updates into the life of the Program on Conservation Innovation at the Harvard Forest, Harvard University.  In addition, through interviews and profiles, we highlight the work of policymakers, researchers, and conservation professionals who are striving to be effective stewards of natural resources and amenities in the twenty-first century.  The RCI pays particular regard to two groups: notable innovators who, with the use of connective networks that were only imagined a decade ago, are helping to constructively "change the game" in the fields of land and biodiversity conservation; and researchers who are documenting the rapidly changing and potentially disruptive demographic and land use patterns in the Internet Age.
• To be added to the distribution list for these PDF reports, please sent a request via e-mail to Jim Levitt at james_levitt@harvard.edu.

Landscape-Scale Conservation: Grappling with the Green Matrix
James N. Levitt, January 2004.

• In June of 2003, with support from the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy at Harvard University, the U.S. National Park Service Conservation Study Institute (NPS CSI), the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy (GGNPC), and the Quebec-Labrador Foundation (QLF), more than two dozen senior executives of private, non-profit, academic, and public sector organizations convened at the Presidio of San Francisco for a two-day conference to advance the understanding of landscape-scale conservation efforts.  This article appeared in Land Lines, the quarterly newsletter of the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy, and summarizes the discussions and findings of the conference participants.

Introduction to the Next Level: The Pingree Forest Partnership as a Private Lands Conservation Innovation
James N. Levitt, September 2003.

• The Pingree Forest Partnership, a multi-year effort spear-headed by the New England Forestry Foundation to acquire a permanent conservation easement on 762,192 acres of privately-owned forestland in the state of Maine, stands out as an important conservation innovation.  Conservationists are striving to transfer several of the innovative aspects of the Pingree project to new initiatives in North America and around the world.

Conservation in the Internet Age: Threats and Opportunities
Edited by James N. Levitt, with an introduction by Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack, October 2002.

• Conservation in the Internet Age, published by Island Press, offers a cross-disciplinary analysis of critical changes on the land and in the field of conservation.  Contributors include leading scholars and practitioners in the fields of land and biodiversity conservation.  The book examines the links among land use, technology, and conservation from multiple perspectives and suggests areas and initiatives that merit further investigation.  The associated web site offers links to additional information and resources.

Land and Biodiversity Conservation: A Leadership Dialogue
James N. Levitt, July 2002

• This article appeared in Land Lines, the quarterly newsletter of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.  It summarizes the discussions and findings of a group of two dozen eminent conservationists who met at the Lincoln Institute in March, 2002, to consider the grand challenges facing the North American land and biodiversity conservation community in the twenty-first century.

Conservation Innovation in America: Past Present, and Future
James N. Levitt, December 2002

• This paper analyzes the distinct subset of American conservation innovations based on the criteria of novelty, significance, effectiveness, transferability, and ability to endure.  It also recognizes the challenges twenty-first century conservationists are facing in order to bring forth a new generation of landmark innovations commensurate with the considerable threats to open space and biodiversity we now face.