Open Space Institute
Encyclopedia
Open Space Institute is a conservation organization and think tank with an extensive mission statement. It seeks to preserve scenic, natural and historic landscape
s for public enjoyment, conserve habitat
s while sustaining community character, and help protect the environment. OSI uses policy initiatives and ground-level activism to help accomplish its goals.
easement
s and by making loans to, and creative partnerships with, other organizations. It is active across the country, including the states of New York
, Vermont
, New Hampshire
, Maine
and New Jersey
.
According to its website it has protected more than 90000 acres (364.2 km²) in New York
State and has assisted in protecting over 1000000 acres (4,046.9 km²) of forest in New England
through its Northern Forest
Protection Fund.
Through the Conservation Finance Program, OSI seeks to accelerate the rate and effectiveness of conservation by providing grants and low-cost bridge loans for land transactions in selected landscapes in the eastern United States. The program works primarily with small to mid-sized land trusts to protect diverse landscapes that include parks and preserves as well as working farms and forests. Currently the CFP is focused on the Northern Forest, the Hudson River Valley of New York State, New Jersey, western Massachusetts, and the Southern Appalachians. Since its inception in 2000, the CFP has made 51 loans and grants totaling more than $41 million, protecting 1700000 acres (6,879.7 km²).
The Conservation Institute, launched in 2006, produces and distributes information addressing pressing land conservation issues, conducting original research as well as synthesizing studies by other groups. The Conservation Institute also serves as OSI's internal research and development center, guiding strategic planning in its land acquisition and loan programs. Externally, the Conservation Institute informs conservation practitioners and the general public, and shapes public policies at the state, county and local levels.
Landscape
Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical elements of landforms such as mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of...
s for public enjoyment, conserve habitat
Habitat
* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...
s while sustaining community character, and help protect the environment. OSI uses policy initiatives and ground-level activism to help accomplish its goals.
Background
Open Space Institute, established in 1964, achieves its goals through land acquisition, conservation easements, regional loan programs, creative partnerships, fiscal sponsorship, and analytical research. It seeks to do this by making land acquisition, establishing conservationConservation movement
The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental and a social movement that seeks to protect natural resources including animal, fungus and plant species as well as their habitat for the future....
easement
Easement
An easement is a certain right to use the real property of another without possessing it.Easements are helpful for providing pathways across two or more pieces of property or allowing an individual to fish in a privately owned pond...
s and by making loans to, and creative partnerships with, other organizations. It is active across the country, including the states of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
, New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
, Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
and New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
.
According to its website it has protected more than 90000 acres (364.2 km²) in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
State and has assisted in protecting over 1000000 acres (4,046.9 km²) of forest in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
through its Northern Forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
Protection Fund.
Activities
OSI’s New York Land Protection Program purchases land and easements in New York State, OSI's home and historic base of operations, where it has protected 100000 acres (404.7 km²) of land. OSI focuses on protecting scenic, historic, recreational and agricultural landscapes in the greater Hudson River Valley region, from the Palisades to the Adirondacks High Peaks. Working with state and local governments, land trusts of all sizes, and individual landowners, OSI has created and expanded more than 40 parks and preserves, protected family farms, helped develop appropriate land use policies, and increased public funding for conservation.Through the Conservation Finance Program, OSI seeks to accelerate the rate and effectiveness of conservation by providing grants and low-cost bridge loans for land transactions in selected landscapes in the eastern United States. The program works primarily with small to mid-sized land trusts to protect diverse landscapes that include parks and preserves as well as working farms and forests. Currently the CFP is focused on the Northern Forest, the Hudson River Valley of New York State, New Jersey, western Massachusetts, and the Southern Appalachians. Since its inception in 2000, the CFP has made 51 loans and grants totaling more than $41 million, protecting 1700000 acres (6,879.7 km²).
The Conservation Institute, launched in 2006, produces and distributes information addressing pressing land conservation issues, conducting original research as well as synthesizing studies by other groups. The Conservation Institute also serves as OSI's internal research and development center, guiding strategic planning in its land acquisition and loan programs. Externally, the Conservation Institute informs conservation practitioners and the general public, and shapes public policies at the state, county and local levels.
See also
- Conservation biologyConservation biologyConservation biology is the scientific study of the nature and status of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction...
- Conservation ethicConservation ethicConservation is an ethic of resource use, allocation, and protection. Its primary focus is upon maintaining the health of the natural world: its, fisheries, habitats, and biological diversity. Secondary focus is on materials conservation and energy conservation, which are seen as important to...
- Conservation movementConservation movementThe conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental and a social movement that seeks to protect natural resources including animal, fungus and plant species as well as their habitat for the future....
- EcologyEcologyEcology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
- Ecology movementEcology movementThe global ecology movement is based upon environmental protection, and is one of several new social movements that emerged at the end of the 1960s. As a values-driven social movement, it should be distinguished from the pre-existing science of ecology....
- EnvironmentalismEnvironmentalismEnvironmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
- Environmental movementEnvironmental movementThe environmental movement, a term that includes the conservation and green politics, is a diverse scientific, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues....
- Environmental protectionEnvironmental protectionEnvironmental protection is a practice of protecting the environment, on individual, organizational or governmental level, for the benefit of the natural environment and humans. Due to the pressures of population and our technology the biophysical environment is being degraded, sometimes permanently...
- Habitat conservationHabitat conservationHabitat conservation is a land management practice that seeks to conserve, protect and restore, habitat areas for wild plants and animals, especially conservation reliant species, and prevent their extinction, fragmentation or reduction in range...
- List of environmental organizations
- Natural environmentNatural environmentThe natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
- Natural capitalNatural capitalNatural capital is the extension of the economic notion of capital to goods and services relating to the natural environment. Natural capital is thus the stock of natural ecosystems that yields a flow of valuable ecosystem goods or services into the future...
- Natural resourceNatural resourceNatural resources occur naturally within environments that exist relatively undisturbed by mankind, in a natural form. A natural resource is often characterized by amounts of biodiversity and geodiversity existent in various ecosystems....
- Renewable resourceRenewable resourceA renewable resource is a natural resource with the ability of being replaced through biological or other natural processes and replenished with the passage of time...
- Sustainable developmentSustainable developmentSustainable development is a pattern of resource use, that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come...
- SustainabilitySustainabilitySustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...