Maine Innovation Benefits the World

In both Europe and the US, dams pose one of the greatest threats to healthy, resilient rivers and the ecosystem services they provide. Using expertise gained from the Penobscot River Restoration Project and other Maine freshwater projects, TNC Maine’s Senior Conservation Scientist Joshua Royte works with TNC’s Balkans team to advise staff and partners in dam removal science, policy and practice.

Through the As Maine Giving Fund, TNC Maine has committed a three-year grant to support Indigenous-led conservation in Canada. Nature United (as TNC is known in Canada) has been building deep partnerships with First Nations for over a decade in recognition of the critical role of Indigenous leadership in solving today’s conservation challenges. Funds from Maine are being used to protect and improve management of lands and waters, to scale resources and technical support for youth environmental leadership programs and to accelerate the uptake of Indigenous-led natural climate solutions projects in British Columbia and Saskatchewan.

One of TNC’s superpowers is connecting conservationists around the globe to exchange techniques and approaches that lead to better conservation outcomes. In 2023, TNC Maine’s Marine Scientist Dr. Jocelyn Runnebaum worked with colleagues and partners in Tanzania to advise on—and learn from—efforts there to set policies that support economic development while protecting biodiversity on Lake Tanganikya.

TNC Maine staff and trustees created the As Maine Giving Fund in 2017 to expand our support of and learning about TNC’s conservation and climate work outside of the US. The Giving Fund is a direct allocation of Maine’s unrestricted operating budget to several regional programs outside of the United States. Early grants were dedicated to specific global projects, but starting in 2023, we began applying learning from the trust-based philanthropy movement to make our grantmaking more equitable and impactful. We made a three-year, unrestricted funding commitment to the Asia Pacific Region to empower our colleagues with the flexibility to allocate grant dollars where they are most needed and allow for innovation and program stability. In their first grant year, our colleagues used Maine funds to advance gender equity in conservation initiatives.