CNLM and collaborators selected for REPI Challenge funding in Washington

CNLM, in collaboration with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), Washington Department of Natural Resources (WDNR), Thurston Conservation District, Sustainability in Prisons Project, Ecostudies Institute, and others, was selected for the Department of Defense’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Challenge funding in 2023.

The REPI Program facilitates long-term, collaborative partnerships that improve resilience to climate change, preserve essential habitats and natural resources, and promote sustainable land uses near installations and ranges.  For the 12th consecutive year, the REPI Program hosted the annual REPI Challenge, a competition with dedicated funding to advance REPI project outcomes through large-scale innovation and conservation.

 The REPI Challenge distributes funds annually to one or more projects that provide innovative approaches to protecting the military mission.  This annual initiative seeks to cultivate projects that conserve land at a greater scale, thereby helping the Department of Defense and the REPI Program achieve its goals.  Since the initiation of the REPI Challenge in 2012, more than $144 million in REPI Program funds have been leveraged with over $417 million in partner contributions to protect over 51 locations with projects promoting compatible land use, restoring important habitats, and promoting species recovery, and enhancing climate adaptation efforts.

CNLM—as the only land trust entity among the partners, and with restoration expertise and a native plant nursery—provides an essential role in the successful project proposal entitled “Advancing Sentinel Landscape Priorities to Build Prairie and Working Landscape Resilience” at the Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington. REPI funding will assist across all aspects of CNLM’s work, from restoration of conservation sites to seed production for all restoration sites. Commented Sanders Freed, CNLM’s Pacific Northwest Preserve/Restoration Manager: “This collaborative effort should result in a huge ecological lift across the South Sound Prairies, while supporting the recovery, and ultimately delisting of, endangered species in the region.”

To learn more about this year’s REPI Challenge funding recipients, visit www.repi.mil/Buffer-Projects/REPI-Challenge.