Conservation program evaluation


There is growing interest in understanding the impacts of investments made in conservation and natural resource management. Our project team has a broad range of experience advising and evaluating corporate, foundation, NGO, and government agency projects and programs. Recent evaluations include:

  • U.S. Department of Defense via the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities – evaluation of the Sentinel Landscapes Program and its effort to catalyze conservation in buffer zones around seven U.S. military bases. (2022)
  • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Agriculture via the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities – evaluation of the Healthy Watersheds Consortium and its support for improved local stewardship of natural watersheds. (2017-2022)
  • Walton Family Foundation – five-year summative evaluation of its Environment Program, including initiatives to conserve the Colorado River, Mississippi River, coastal Gulf of Mexico, and ocean fisheries. (2019)
  • US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) – development of a tool to evaluate the management effectiveness of international protected areas. The tool has been applied at sites supported by USFWS in Asia and Africa. (2017)
  • Worldwide Fund for Nature – in partnership with Conservation Data Solutions, evaluation of the first ten years of WWF’s Fuller Science Symposia.  (2016)
  • Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation's Andes Amazon Initiative – summative evaluation (2003 - 2015) of the foundation's flagship forest conservation program (US$ 350 million grant portfolio), covering projects in seven countries, spanning protected areas establishment and management, applied science, policy, and capacity building. (2015)
  • U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities – final evaluation of the five-year, US$ 6 million, Forest Investment Zones Initiative that sought to re-invigorate the forest economies of three geographic regions of the U.S. (Northeast, Central Appalachia, and Dry Forests of the Pacific Northwest). (2013-2014)
  • Worldwide Fund for Nature – evaluation of Russell E Train Environmental Fellowships for Nature program. The evaluation covered approximately 1300 graduate fellowships, professional development grants, and conservation workshop grants. (2011 and 2014)
  • Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation's Andes Amazon Initiative – periodic evaluation (2007-2010) of the foundation's flagship forest conservation program, covering projects in seven countries, spanning protected areas establishment and management, applied science, policy, and capacity building. (2010)
  • National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's grant-making partnerships with Southern Company, Power of Flight (US$ 2.6 million) and Longleaf Legacy (US$ 2.7 million) conservation portfolios in the southeastern United States. (2008)
  • United States Agency for International Development's (USAID) Global Conservation Program, a central funding mechanism for USAID support to conservation in Africa, Asia, and Latin America ($72 million portfolio) – evaluation conducted in collaboration with ARD, Inc. (2001-08)
  • Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation's Marine Microbiology Initiative – an approximately US$ 83 million portfolio of grants that seek to rapidly accelerate the development of the field of marine microbial ecology. (2007)
  • Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation's Andes Amazon Initiative and a single US$ 40 million multi-faceted grant to Conservation International. (2006-07)
  • National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's US$ 10 million grant-making partnership with Bonneville Power Authority, the Columbia Basin Water Transactions Program, to test private water transactions to improve native salmon habitat. (2007)
  • National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's grant-making partnership with United States Bureau of Land Management, a US$ 27.5 million dollar portfolio of 179 projects in the western United States. (2004-05)
  • BP, American Electric Power, and PacifiCorp's environmental venture capital investments to support a carbon offset project in Bolivia's Noel Kempff National Park. (2004)
  • National Fish and Wildlife Foundation's Shell Marine Habitat Program, a US$ 5 million grant-making partnership with Shell Oil Company, including a portfolio of 150 coastal conservation projects throughout the Gulf of Mexico. (2003)