Land and Climate Catalyst Planning Grant Program

Land and Climate Catalyst Planning Grant Program is sponsored by Open Space Institute and Land Trust Alliance. Awards grants to support the development of climate-informed plans for land conservation, stewardship, communications, and renewable energy siting.

Catalyst Program - Open Space Institute Image Credit: Greg Miller Across the country, communities and ecosystems are grappling with the causes and impacts of extreme weather such as flooding, drought, or heat waves. Despite this uncertainty, scientists agree: land protection is, and will remain, a key strategy for ensuring that natural systems — and the plants, animals, and people that depend upon them — can continue to thrive.

Since 2012, OSI has been helping land trusts and other groups that protect and steward land develop effective approaches to conserving land that can mitigate the impact of severe weather.

Working alongside our capital grants program that funds the acquisition of land that is resilient and stores and sequesters carbon, OSI has supported the development of more than 100 climate-aligned conservation plans and offered workshops, webinars, and trainings to more than 8,000 participants.

OSI’s Catalyst Program currently focuses on addressing the following issues: habitat resilience, forest carbon storage and sequestration, and community resilience to climate impacts such as flooding and extreme heat. We support conservation groups and communities by offering planning grants and technical assistance, authoring guidance documents, and hosting workshops.

OSI’s Catalyst program provides grants and technical assistance to support the development of climate-informed plans to accelerate land protection and stewardship, strengthen local capacity, and foster the conditions for successful conservation outcomes. Appalachian Landscapes Project Catalyst Grants OSI is currently accepting proposals to the Fall 2025 Round of the Appalachian Landscapes Project (ALP) through Friday, December 5, 2025.

ALP Catalyst Grants support broad-scale, climate-informed planning to accelerate land protection and stewardship across the Appalachians for people and wildlife. Applicants will receive notice of award decisions in February of 2026.

The ALP Catalyst grant program is supported by the Appalachian Landscapes Mapping Resource Center , which provides data and resources to target and track land protection across the Appalachian region and amplify the impact of the hundreds of conservation organizations and others working across this critical landscape. Read the full request for proposals and apply for ALP Catalyst grants here .

Learn more about the Appalachian Landscapes Project here . The Appalachian Landscapes Project and the Mapping Resource Center are made possible with support from The Great Island Foundation, Jane’s Trust Foundation, J. M.

Kaplan Fund, Lookout Foundation, Anonymous Foundations, as well as other foundations and individuals. Explore the Land and Climate Catalyst Planning Grants Database to learn more about the work of past grantees and technical assistance recipients. 2023 grant and technical assistance awards 2022 grant and technical assistance awards Learn about five of the projects supported in the 2022 grant round here .

2021 grant and technical assistance awards Learn about three of the projects supported in the 2021 grant round here . OSI works with partners to distill research and best practices into practical guides to inform strategic land protection and land management. See several examples of this work below.

The Role of Land Protection in Mitigating Freshwater Flooding Hazard : This report summarizes five land protection and conservation planning strategies that harness land protection to curb flood impacts and outlines the critical role that land trusts can play in supporting community resilience to the impacts of extreme weather.

Conserving Nature in a Changing Climate provides a user-friendly workbook for land trusts and other conservation organizations to gain the knowledge and tools to fulfill their critical missions, even in the face of uncertainty.

With a basic knowledge of relevant science and the tools described in this guide, conservation leaders can revisit and revise their land protection goals, and confidently explain to funders, board members, and landowners why their efforts matter now more than ever.

The workbook, developed in partnership with the North Atlantic Landscape Conservation Collaborative and a team of land trust advisors, includes a free online mapping platform to help land trusts identify significant sites for protection. This tool, built for the Northeast, complements The Nature Conservancy’s Resilient Land Mapping Tool .

Tools to Quantify the Carbon Value of Forest Protection: This collection of resources developed by OSI and members of the Forest Carbon Data Partnership includes guidance on the use and access to a national forest carbon dataset containing forest carbon stocks and projections of carbon sequestration for 2050 and 2070.

Meeting the Challenge of Climate Change: How Land Trusts, Policymakers, and Public Agencies Can Achieve Carbon Goals Through Strategic Forest Protection: Developed in consultation with scientists and experts at American Forests, The Nature Conservancy, and the Land Trust Alliance, this guide provides criteria for the selection, completion, and successful management of land protection projects for the capture and storage of forest carbon.

Sorting through the vast amount data and scientific concepts related to climate change can be overwhelming. OSI offers webinars, in-person trainings, and conference presentations with guidance and approaches to help land trusts address climate impacts in their communities.

To date, in OSI’s workshops and presentations we have covered topics of terrestrial resilience, carbon mitigation, sea-level rise, wildlife corridors, and flood hazard mitigation. Catalyst planning grants can be used to identify or prepare projects to become eligible for OSI Capital grants or other funding sources. Learn more about OSI’s Capital grants here .

Proposals for Appalachian Landscapes Project Catalyst grants will be accepted through December 5, 2025. Read the full request for proposals and submit an application here . Donate to support OSI’s work Become a part of our mission to safeguard at-risk places through your tax-deductible gift.

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