Capacity Building and Partnerships
“Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” – Henry Ford
We at the Trust for Tomorrow take pride in the connections we create on the job, from something as small as introducing ourselves to a newly enrolled landowner, to a long-term partnerships developed with organizations when the Trust was founded. In our line of work, everyone shares the ultimate goal of restoring habitat and promoting environmental stewardship. By working together and building partnerships with other organizations that share the same mindset, more feet can be put on the ground – quite literally! – to achieve our shared restoration goals.
Providing Staff Assistance
One example of capacity building that the Trust assists with is providing staff positions for the Natrual Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Brittany Edwards, a TFT Wetland Restoration Specialist, is currently working in such a position.
Through her shared position with LA NRCS and the Trust, Brittany’s duties include meeting with landowners on-site and in field offices to discuss and implement NRCS easement programs and restoration practices, assisting landowners with existing easement management and maintenance needs, and assisting the ACEP-WRE easement restoration team to spot-check, certify, and perform compliance checks on restoration activities. Brittany assists the Trust with easement restoration, including project planning, installation of conservation practices, practice certifications, and project as-builts.
Similar positions have been filled by the Trust in FL and MS to assist NRCS in achieving their conservation goals.
Partners and Contacts
Identifying, surveying, permitting, restoring, monitoring…the list goes on! There is a long line of tasks to be completed throughout the various services we provide, and the more minds that can meet and come together to achieve these goals, the better. The Trust has a long list of reputable contacts and developed partnerships across the Eastern United States that can ensure that projects and restoration goals are not only completed and met, but done so in an effective and minimally destructive manner.
Having the right people on the job is important to us, and surely important to you. The Trust is proud to work with experienced local contractors through a competitive bid process to benefit small business owners within the local communities and ensure wise use of federal funding. The Trust has a strong commitment to ensuring that our restoration goals equate into tangible on-the-ground results. In our last fiscal year, over 94% of all funding received was spent on our restoration program efforts which, with the help of our partners, restored thousands of acres across the east coast.
