Last week, the 2025 cohort of our Peregrine Accelerator for Conservation Impact came together in Montreal to wrap up what has been an incredible six months of learning, connecting, and creating durable impact for the North Atlantic Transboundary Landscape. I always get a bit sad at the end of a program that is so inspiring to work on, but to see the tangible growth of each of the projects led by the eight teams participating in this year’s Accelerator brings a joy that is unmatched.
The Accelerator is a flagship program of the Salazar Center that acts as a searchlight for place-based conservation solutions with breakthrough potential in North America. Over a six-month period, the Center invests time, money, and resources into annual cohorts of project teams that are working to protect biodiversity, increase climate resilience, and advance community wellbeing in a designated transboundary region. The 2025 cohort comprised eight project teams from across North Atlantic Canada and the U.S., collectively representing thirty NGOs, universities, and Tribal and First Nations.
Their projects are widely varied—representing conservation challenges including but not limited to landscape connectivity, coastal resilience, forest health, Indigenous leadership and access, policy levers, community engagement, and innovative financing—yet complement each other in their long-term thinking and interdisciplinary approach. Each project addresses a serious challenge for the ecosystems and communities of the region, and each tea recognizes that the work they are doing cannot be siloed, but instead requires partnerships, integration of non-dominant ways of knowing, and envisioning impact at scales beyond our normal conservation planning.
Following six-months of workshops, mentorship, and peer learning, the cohort recently came back together in Montreal to conclude the program with a final presentation event. Over our three days together we heard from each team about not only their progress, but where their projects are headed and what resources they need to be successful. In between our more serious conversations, there was ample time to celebrate the community that has been built within the Accelerator and space to envision what this group can continue to accomplish within their projects, as well as at a regional scale by working together.
Though I could talk about the cohort for a long time, there were a few throughlines that were obvious throughout our time in Montreal:
- Firstly, these groups are thinking at scale. We know that conservation challenges don’t just happen in isolation, and instead require whole-of-systems and landscape approaches that account for the scale and complexity of the threats nature is facing today. The Peregrine cohort is incorporating this recognition into their work and implementing solutions at scales beyond just where they live and work. Eels Back, led by the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation, is working through a transboundary, cross-sector coalition to restore and protect Atlantic eels across their migratory habitats that span multiple watersheds all the to the Sargassos Sea. Eels have become a sort of emblem for the 2025 cohort, as the species travels through the scope of almost every project, unbeknownst to most groups before being a part of the program. In New Brunswick, Nature NB is expanding its flagship Healthy Coasts program to the Bay of Fundy, recognizing that coastal health for the province must be led by communities at a scale greater than they have been working at previously.
- Another thing this cohort is great at? Imagining new and innovative solutions and making them a reality. Community Forests International, in partnership with the Wolastoqey Nation, Mi’gmawe’l tplu’taqnn, Fort Folly First Nation, and the Passamaquoddy Recognition Group in New Brunswick, is developing a first-of-its-kind stewardship fund that will be collaboratively managed across the coalition, and provide long-term, durable funding to support the stewardship of the nation’s traditional lands. The Housatonic Valley Association is reimagining how to reduce vehicle-wildlife collisions. Building on their Follow the Forests program, their new approach will target driver behavior as the main threat to species that are crossing roads.
- The cohort presentations also emphasized the need for elevating the leadership and buy-in of communities across the region in order to be successful. The Ecology Action Center in Nova Scotia is empowering coastal communities to collect data and drive decision-making for coastal habitats through the Coast Check program. Cold Hollow to Canada in Vermont is a key hub for forest owners and community leaders to access funding, knowledge, and resources for long term forest protection and stewardship. At the center of these projects is the long-held knowledge, values, and heritage that communities bring to the table that make conservation projects stronger and more successful.
- Finally, each group demonstrated that to be successful in this work, we need authentic and intentional collaboration. The partnerships that have formed within and outside of the cohort demonstrate that none of this work can be done in isolation, and to scale innovative solutions, garner financing, and achieve meaningful impact that reflect the needs and skills of all stakeholders, collaboration must be at the core. The coalition formed between Wabanaki leaders, the Schoodic Institute, and the Maine Coast Tidal Restoration Network is a critical partnership to ensure Wabanaki sweetgrass harvesters have safe access to their traditional harvesting grounds, which will in turn lead to healthier and more resilient coasts in Maine. The Conseil régional de l’environnement Chaudière-Appalaches (Regional Council of the Environment Chaudière-Appalaches) is bringing together three regional councils in Quebec to create a connectivity plan for one of the most important terrestrial corridors in North America that will enhance livelihoods, wildlife mobility, and landscape restoration across the region. These partnerships demonstrate the power of coming together across boundaries – political, cultural, and sectoral—to create inclusive solutions for nature.
Though the final presentation event signals the end of the 2025 program, we know that the community and relationships that have been formed are far from over. The Salazar Center will continue to convene this group and provide resources where needed, and the many partnerships that have developed between different project teams indicate that their work together is just getting started.
I am leaving Montreal feeling proud and grateful for the opportunity to have gotten to work not only with the teams in the cohort, but to have gotten to know each of the individuals behind the amazing work. At the end of the day, conservation is a human endeavor, and behind every great idea, project, and partnership is a collection of individuals who are passionate about building resilient landscapes, supporting the longevity of their communities, and being in relation with all living beings around them. I hope that the individuals whom we got to know over the past six months will walk away from the program feeling inspired and empowered to take their work to the next level following their Accelerator experience.
Interested in learning more about the 2025 Peregrine Accelerator cohort? Read about their projects and see the full scope of their work.
The Accelerator is headed to the Baja-Sonora Transboundary Landscape in 2026. Interested in supporting the program? Learn more here or reach out to Catie Boehmer.