Locally Led Conservation and Restoration

Apply GIS to conservation initiatives using federal funding

Restore ecosystems while strengthening communities

Conservation funding programs such as America the Beautiful call for voluntary, locally led approaches to accelerate land, water, and wildlife conservation to achieve 30 by 30 goals. Using GIS, organizations can analyze data with location-based context to pursue conservation initiatives that safeguard ecosystems, create jobs, benefit the underserved, and more.

Areas that GIS supports

GIS for inclusive conservation planning

ArcGIS provides a comprehensive framework for geodesign, the discipline of advising conservation actions through iterative design informed by suitability modeling and endorsed through stakeholder engagement. Quickly visualize and quantitatively compare alternative design scenarios to support optimal outcomes.

A toolset for managing protected areas

Maintaining ecological stability for populations or habitats requires understanding the landscape, prescribing management plans, and measuring outcomes. ArcGIS allows organizations to identify threats, prioritize management activities, and quantify their success and achieve restoration funded efforts.

Managing protected areas

Communicate proposed actions

ArcGIS provides a collaborative framework for exploring conservation scenarios and communicating the impacts of restoration funding for key stakeholders. Powerful geographic visualizations and multimedia context inform stakeholders without overwhelming them, while simple, location-based survey tools streamline the understanding of stakeholder feedback.

Read blog about collaboration
Two casually dressed people sitting back-to-back in a grassy field, each with a laptop in their laps, the one on the right peering over her shoulder to speak to the other

Products for your conservation GIS initiative

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Available conservation funding programs

Take advantage of conservation and restoration funding opportunities through federal grant programs such as the America the Beautiful Challenge. For Challenge grantees, Esri is making an in-kind donation offering. Applicants must submit the in-kind letter within their proposal to be considered.

Download in-kind letter

America the Beautiful Challenge

Funding for conservation and restoration projects around the US has been consolidated to streamline the application of grant opportunities.

Learn more about the program

Conservation.gov programs

Find information on available federal financial and technical assistance for you and your community.

Explore featured programs

Articles / Blogs

  • Book

    Community-led conservation at the Jane Goodall Institute

    Local Voices, Local Choices: The Tacare Approach to Community-Led Conservation is an immersive journey into the efforts of Dr. Jane Goodall and her colleagues to genuinely understand communities' needs. They collaboratively developed local and sustainable strategies to improve the well-being of both communities and the natural world around them.

  • User story

    Montana plans for resilient forests through collaboration

    The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation uses ArcGIS Hub to combine forest condition and wildfire risk data, building collaboration among stakeholders.

  • Blog

    San Francisco Bay atlas helps plan for sea level rise

    The San Francisco Estuary Institute's longtime use of GIS has resulted in a knowledge base that guides daily operations and long-term resilience strategies.

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