The Nature Conservancy history

The Nature Conservancy officially forms and is launched into land protection on Christmas Eve 1954 when neighbors of a 60-acre forest in New York were given an ultimatum: bid on the wooded ravine or see it developed.

TNC bought its first 60-acre property, Mianus Gorge, in 1955, sparing it from the development that surely would have spread from nearby New York City.

Pough was elected the Nature Conservancy's first president and served until 1956.

The Nature Conservancy Records (CONS245) were collected in order to complement other conservation-related holdings (both manuscript collections and publications) that are part of the Conservation Collection, which was established in 1960 by author and conservationist, Arthur H. Carhart.

In 1965, TNC received the first of three Ford Foundation Grants.

The Virginia Coast Reserve was first begun in 1969 to protect nesting shore birds in particular from a developer who wanted to continue the development in overcrowded Virginia Beach to the barrier islands.

In 1970 the organization hired its first staff scientist, Robert E. Jenkins, Jr., who helped the organization refocus its mission to conserving natural diversity.

After graduating from Harvard, Paulson went to work at the Pentagon, where he served as staff assistant to the assistant secretary of defense until 1972.

The Nature Conservancy employed a novel strategy in acquiring 35,000 acres of Mississippi swampland in 1973.

Pat Noonan became president of TNC in 1974.

In 1976 TNC sold the land to the state of Mississippi for use as a state park.

In 1978 TNC spent $2.8 million on its largest purchase at the time, buying nine-tenths of Santa Cruz, an isolated island off California whose rare native plant species had been severely threatened by feral pigs and 30,000 sheep, which TNC would have to eradicate.

1979 Future natural heritage program botanist Milo Pyne rediscovers an unusual plant restricted to the limestone cedar glades of central Tennessee.

Pat Noonan stepped down as president in 1980 but continued to serve as a consultant, as TNC required all the creativity it could muster.

In 1981, he received the Audubon Medal in recognition of his achievement in the field of conservation and environmental protection.

Negotiations for the acquisition had begun in 1982.

1983 The network expands to Latin America with the launch of conservation data centers in Peru and Puerto Rico.

The year 1984 also marked the establishment of Coachella Valley Preserve, which helped keep 13,000 acres of expensive Palm Springs real estate habitable for creatures like the fringe-toed lizard.

TNC began a unique program, surveying 25 million acres of Department of Defense property, in 1988.

In 1989 The Nature Company, a Berkeley, California catalog merchandiser, entered a partnership with TNC whereby it processed new memberships and donated a portion of its product sales.

Income at the time was $168 million and in 1990 membership reached 600,000 as the last of 50 state chapters was added.

Corporate giving accounted for $2 million, or 16 percent, of TNC income in 1991.

In 1992 TNC helped broker a compromise between the Walt Disney Company, which wanted to expand its Orlando theme park, and the state of Florida, which wanted to protect adjacent wetlands.

Membership reached 766,000 in 1993, revenues were $280 million, and nearly eight million acres had been protected.

1994 The network of natural heritage programs forms a membership association to work together on projects of common interest: the Association for Biodiversity Information (ABI). At this point, the network includes 590 staff and responds to 65,000 data requests annually.

1995 The National Park Service and United States Geological Survey begin using NatureServe’s ecological classification to map ecosystems at national parks.

1996 Publication of America’s Least Wanted highlights the threat to biodiversity posed by invasive species.

1997 The United States government adopts NatureServe’s ecological classification system as the national standard for use by federal agencies.

1998 Publication of Rivers of Life documents the importance and imperilment of freshwater biodiversity and leads to intensified conservation action.

He became chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs in 1999, succeeding Jon Corzine (who was later elected governor of New Jersey).

2000 Publication of Precious Heritage: The Status of Biodiversity in the United States by Oxford University Press.

By 2001, the organization had grown and evolved into its present form.

2002 Biotics 4 software released—the eighth generation of NatureServe’s powerful biodiversity data management system.

2003 In a report to the United Nations Environment Programme, conservation data centers in Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay identify five as-yet unprotected areas of global importance in the Andes.

2004 NatureServe joins with partners IUCN and Conservation International to produce the Global Amphibian Assessment, the first comprehensive assessment of the distribution and conservation status of the world’s nearly 6,000 amphibian.

2005 Publication of the report Our Home and Native Land, providing the first-ever comprehensive analysis of Canadian species in a global context.

In May 2006 Paulson was nominated by United States Pres.

In 2008 Paulson became the designated leader of the Bush administration’s attempt to stem a credit crisis resulting from widespread losses on faulty or subprime mortgage loans made by financial institutions.

The Nature Conservancy pulled in $547.2 million in revenue in 2009, Tercek’s first full year atop the organization.

Paulson later discussed the government’s handling of the economic crisis in his book On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System (2010).

In 2011 he founded the Paulson Institute, a think tank.

2013 NatureServe creates a new class of membership and welcomes Bat Conservational International into the network.

2014 Instituto Biotrópicos becomes the first Brazilian member of the NatureServe network.

2016 NatureServe launches the Biodiversity Indicators Dashboard at the IUCN World Conservation Congress 2016.

The incident occurred during a tense moment just before a May 2018 news conference, Gutiérrez told POLITICO, which verified her account by reviewing documents and email exchanges about the episode.

After service as The Nature Conservancy's president for one year, Brian McPeek, resigned on May 31, 2019, after a report on an internal investigation of sexual harassment was revealed by Politico and two other senior executives were ultimately dismissed based on its findings.