Mission, Margin, Mandate: Multiple Paths to Scale

Abstract

by an act of the U.S. Congress. Its 2.2 million acres have been protected ever since, stewarded by the U.S. National Park Service for the collective benefit of America’s citizens and visitors from around the world. In 2010, more than 3.6 million people visited Yellowstone. In 1961, the Gallup Salt Marsh, a six-acre parcel of private land in Connecticut, was granted to The Nature Conservancy as the organization’s first conservation easement. The parcel, worth just $300 at the time, has since been protected from development for the benefit of the public and the larger ecosystem of which the Gallup Marsh is a part. Since 1961, more than two million acres of land have been protected by The Nature Conservancy through similar easements. The National Park Service and The Nature Conservancy are both scaled organizations and they boast similar values. Each exists to protect and preserve the natural environment for its intrinsic social benefits, and for the enjoyment of current and future generations. One is a government agency, the other a nonprofit supported by grants and donations. Starting with Yellowstone, the National Park Service has grown to encompass more than 84 million acres of protected land; its 2009 federal budget allocation was more than $2.9 billion. The Nature Conservancy, meanwhile, has also grown tremendously over the last 50 years; through purchases and easements, the organization now manages more than 17 million acres of land, using $547 million in revenues to finance its activities in 2009. Together, the National Park Service (with 4 percent of the nation’s 2.4 bil-