About WCCN
healthy landscapes, vibrant communities, thriving economies
The WCCN successfully held its inaugural Confluence 2020, on March 10-12. The Confluence report, program and bios can be found below.
We are proud to present the first WCCN video!
A huge thank you to the WCCN Awareness and Engagement Working Group, Cole Pearson, a CSU Junior in Journalism and Communication, and CCC director John Sanderson for their hard work on this video.
Who We Are
- Network of Community-based collaborative conservation efforts
- Starting with 9 states: AZ, CO ID, NM, NV, MT, TX, UT, WY & expanding across the West.
- Working in forests, rangelands, & watersheds
- Private landowners, rural & agricultural communities, tribes
- Business and Industry
- Community-Based Collaborative Conservation leaders and practitioners
- State, sub-regional, and national conservation organizations
- Local, state, & federal land management agencies
- Academic institutions
- Conservation non-profits
Why We Exist
The West’s natural resources, communities & economies are under threat:
- increasing population demands on limited resources,
- declining land management capacity,
- uncertain climate patterns, &
- unpredictable natural events.
In response, diverse citizen-led groups are coming together, from the ground up, using inclusive approaches to address increasing complexity and conflict around conservation issues. This is Community-Based Collaborative Conservation (CBCC).
The WCCN works at the regional scale to remove barriers and fill critical gaps so CBCC efforts can implement durable and lasting conservation solutions for people and place.
What We Do
Advance the practice of collaborative conservation and build the collaborative capacity of CBCC efforts by:
- Increasing awareness of and support for CBCC approach
- Supporting state-level & sub-regional networks
- Engaging & preparing current & future collaborative leaders with collaboration skills & tools
- Promoting public policy to enable and sustain CBCC
- Building funding capacity for CBCCs
How We Work
WCCNs 3 C’s Approach
- Share knowledge and experiences
- Co-learn
- Pool & leverage resources
- Problem solve with peers
- Tell impactful stories
to create a stronger community and collective voice for collaborative efforts.
- Sharpen collaboration skills,
- Practice & develop collaboration tools,
- Identify barriers and community needs,
to build collaborative capacity for community-based collaborative conservation efforts.
- Solve and reduce barriers to collaboration issues,
- Fill critical gaps in collaborative capacity
- Transfer actions & best practices
to create more durable and lasting conservation solutions.
GET INVOLVED & BECOME A WCCN SUPPORTER !
- Confluence, a regular gathering of collaboratives and support organizations from across the West for learning and networking
- Searchable databases of collaborators, mentors, internships, coaches, and other resources and learning opportunities
- A website, newsletter, and social media to share success stories, events, best practices, and funding opportunities
- A regional collaborative conservation map that enables collaboratives to tell their story and connect to others
- High quality and affordable collaboration trainings to strengthen skills, practice tools and build capacity
- Working Groups that take action on public policy, sustainable funding, capacity building and awareness
- As a WCCN Supporter you are part of a growing network that is enabling conservation impact for diverse communities and landscapes across the West !
We Believe
The Western Collaborative Conservation Network believes that increased collaboration builds stronger communities and creates enduring conservation actions.
Contact: Heather Knight, Associate Director of Practice, Center for Collaborative Conservation,
heather.knight@colostate.edu www.collaborativeconservation.org/program/practice/