The Nature Conservancy is America's fourth-largest environmental organization, with 1 million members and a budget of over $300 million. It owns or helps manage over 1,400 nature preserves worldwide, covering more than 12 million acres (4.8 million ha) (2 million acres [809,000 ha] of which is owned outright by the organization) in the United States alone. It is the largest private system of nature sanctuaries in the world, helping like-minded partner organizations to preserve more than 80 million acres (3.2 million ha) (7 million acres [2.8 million ha] of which The Nature Conservancy manages directly) in the Asia Pacific, Canada, the Caribbean and Latin America.

The organization is dedicated to protecting nature and its animal inhabitants by preserving their habitats. This is accomplished with a strategic, science-based planning process, called Conservation by Design. Conservation by Design helps The Nature Conservancy identify the highest-priority places (landscapes and seascapes) that, if conserved, promise to ensure biodiversity (the...