We use policy and financial tools to make conservation work.
For decades, The Freshwater Trust (TFT) has worked with lawmakers, agencies, farmers, cities, utilities, and local businesses to design, fund, and implement data-driven conservation solutions that deliver the biggest impact for the least cost.
We have tested this innovative approach across multiple watersheds, unlocking more than $1 billion in conservation funding. We are proud of this progress, but we have also seen firsthand the structural barriers to replicating and accelerating this approach.
Given the urgency of our water challenges, we are focused on structural reforms that add new tools, cut through red tape, save time, and result in better outcomes.
To solve this complicated multi-sided problem, TFT works with legislators and advocates for reform to major federal and state natural resource funding programs. We propose approaches that quickly and efficiently connect all types of funding to the best projects across a region. We are piloting the “watershed outcomes bank” model that makes it easier to do the business of conservation.