OPEN SPACE INSTITUTE INC
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Mission Statement
The Open Space Institute (OSI) protects land for clean drinking water, public recreation, healthy communities, wildlife habitat, and climate protection, since the intact forests and floodplains we protect capture carbon and protect against extreme weather events. Over the past 50 years, OSI has partnered in the protection of 2.5 million acres through land acquisition, funding, and research and advocacy, providing better and more equitable access to nature for all. OSI works to: -- Create and improve public access to natural lands through the expansion of parks and making meaningful improvements to enhance the park visitor experience. In New York State alone, OSI has added more than 10 percent to the total acreage of state parks. -- Protect clean drinking water through land conservation. -- Save resilient lands that can provide habitat in a changing climate. -- Lead the use of data and scientific research to strategically protect land with a high capacity to absorb and sequester atmospheric carbon. -- Provide fiscal sponsorship, grants, and technical assistance to grassroots groups working to protect the environment. -- Strengthen communities by protecting land with historical and cultural significance, and bringing people together to celebrate and enjoy the positive impact of land protection. -- Support the next generation of environmental leaders through our fellowship programs and grantmaking, such as the Conservation Diversity Fellowship and the Barnabas McHenry Hudson River Valley Awards. -- Advocate for public policies that promote innovative and effective land protection, including our successful campaign to secure full and permanent funding for the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund.
About This Cause
Since its founding in 1974, OSI has evolved from a locally focused land trust into one of the most influential and respected environmental organizations in the nation. OSI has partnered in the protection of more than 2.5 million acres of land for clean water, wildlife habitat, healthy communities, and recreational access, as well as to mitigate climate change and its impacts. Over the decades, OSI has expanded its scope to include a full spectrum of programs to make the outdoors more welcoming, support emerging environmental leaders, and advance critical climate science for the benefit of the entire planet, including: Land Conservation: OSI protects critical open space to safeguard sources of clean water, provide habitat for wildlife, expand recreational opportunities, preserve cultural heritage, prevent landscape fragmentation, and fight climate change and its effects. Through direct land acquisitions, conservation easements, and financial support for partners, OSI is at the forefront of strategic conservation efforts throughout the eastern United States. Guiding OSI’s work is a conservation strategy that emphasizes permanent protection on a landscape-level scale. From connecting protected lands and safeguarding wildlife habitat and expanding recreational opportunities in New York’s Hudson Valley, to helping local groups conserve 100,000 acres in Maine, each project is part of a larger effort to align the pieces of the conservation puzzle. Conservation Innovation: OSI’s Conservation Innovation program accelerates the rate and effectiveness of conservation by working closely with foundations to design and administer capital programs that support the protection of habitat, open space, water quality, and lands that can safeguard wildlife in a changing climate. OSI provides grants and short-term, low-cost bridge loans to land trusts for land transactions in selected landscapes in the eastern United States. OSI is also an industry leader in synthesizing and integrating science into conservation work, so that land protection efforts can be targeted toward regions and landscapes with the greatest ability to absorb and sequester atmospheric carbon. Through its loans and grants, the program has distributed over $136 million to partner land trusts for land research and planning in 13 states and three Canadian provinces. Parks and Policy: OSI has a robust record of creating, expanding, and protecting parks in New York, New Jersey, South Carolina, and throughout the eastern United States. Building on this experience, OSI leverages private funding to make protected lands more welcoming and accessible for all– with an emphasis on creating accessible facilities, trails, trailheads, and improved signage and interpretation. OSI also advocates for state parks and public land, including our successful campaign to secure full and permanent funding for the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. Research and Publications: Incorporating land-based research, OSI works to inform policymakers, local land trusts, and the public about the vital role land protection can play in responding to the climate crisis, strengthening communities, managing precious natural resources such as drinking water, and so much more. OSI’s research informs widescale strategic land protection and land management and is distilled into practical guides that can build support for land protection. OSI recently led an effort to upgrade the National Forest Carbon Monitoring System, helping the land conservation community identify priority landscapes and evaluate projects for protection. In addition to updating the data with the most recent forest carbon estimates, this data update projects future sequestration through 2070. Access to land and the outdoors has not always been equitable, so OSI works to embrace, celebrate, and uplift diversity and inclusion in the creation of safe, accessible, and welcoming open spaces for everyone. OSI endeavors to foster belonging in the outdoors, protect historically and culturally significant lands, and empower nonprofits and young leaders through partnerships in local communities. OSI is a leader in improving access to nature and outdoor recreation, strengthening communities, protecting water resources, safeguarding wildlife habitat, and leading efforts to harness the power of land to mitigate and adapt to climate change. None of this would be possible without a dedicated and passionate community of donors. Their support ensures that OSI can continue to protect the land people and wildlife need to survive and thrive, for generations to come.