The Salazar Center for North American Conservation

The breadth of urgent, complex land, water and wildlife conservation issues impacting land and water resources in the mountain west and across North America requires that biologists, sociologists and economists collaborate more effectively than ever on research, policy and implementations. 

Housed in Colorado State University’s School of Global Environmental Sustainability, The Salazar Center for North American Conservation was established under the vision of former U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar in to bolster cross-disciplinary application of conservation efforts that address environmental, societal and economic needs, and competing priorities for use of land, water, the atmosphere, and energy resources. The Salazar Center (TSC) will serve as an external-facing, impact oriented hub for research, policy and practice to realize impact at scale in conservation through the promotion cross-sector, solutions-based partnerships.

Through symposia and an incentive prize, in partnership with Trinchera Blanca Foundation and others, TSC is now convening leading scientists, policy makers and practitioners on identifying tangible goals to advance best practices and realize impact at scale for the most urgent conservation challenges. Themes include landscape connectivity and conservation at scale across ecological regions; community-based conservation strategies; public-private conservation partnerships; and cross-boundary conservation. 

Impact:

A $100,000 incentive prize is being offered to nonprofits and other conservation-centric groups throughout North America to come up with the best ideas for creating meaningful change. The cash incentive was announced Sept. 24 during the first Salazar Center International Symposium on Conservation Impact in Denver by CSU President Joyce McConnell.