Conservation Transaction Specialists

We help conservation organizations and public agencies acquire and protect land - managing transactions from funding strategy through closing.

Grant applications, ballot measure campaigns, landowner relationships, agency coordination, appraisals, title work, and everything in between. We handle the deal so your team can focus on the mission.

65,000+ Acres Conserved
90+ Projects Completed
60+ State & Local FundingMeasures Created
30+ Years of Experience
Experience that moves projects forward

NACP combines the flexibility of a small firm with decades of conservation experience. Founded in 2018, we build on relationships and expertise developed through years of work with public agencies, non-profits, foundations and private land owners. We believe successful conservation projects are built on trust, persistence and practical problem solving. That's the approach we bring to every partnership.

When possible, we structure our fees into the grant budgets and funding packages we help secure - so in many cases, working with us adds capacity without adding to your operating costs.

Mike Lange

Principal

Mike spent 30 years with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as the lead biologist for the Texas Mid-Coast NWR Complex, personally directing the acquisition of more than 48,000 acres through the Columbia Bottomlands program. He helped establish two Coastal Management Areas, acquiring over a dozen tracts for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Mike brings deep relationships across USFWS, state agencies, and the broader conservation community. Based in Vancouver, WA and Lake Jackson, TX.

Joe Lange

Strategy & Operations

Joe manages research, GIS mapping, grant strategy development, communications, and operational coordination across NACP's portfolio. His background in data analytics and real estate drives the analytical infrastructure behind NACP's deal development and partner engagement. Based in Portland, OR.

Ernest Cook

Public Funding Strategy Partner

Ernest is a former senior executive at The Trust for Public Land with three decades of conservation transaction and conservation finance experience. He served as Executive Director of the Knobloch Family Foundation for six years. He leads NACP's RCPP, NAWCA, GOMESA, RESTORE, REPI, Forest Legacy, ORLP and Coastal Wetlands grant strategies and has secured tens of millions in conservation funding over his career through state and local legislation, ballot measures and foundation grants. Based in Brookline, MA.

What we bring to your projects

Multi-Source Funding Strategy

We design funding approaches that layer a full range of federal park and conservation funding, state programs, private foundations, and landowner contributions into integrated packages - sequencing applications so each source reinforces the next.

Federal Grants

Competitive federal grant proposals from concept through award: Joint Venture coordination, biological justification, partner coalitions, match documentation, budget architecture. We know what separates funded applications from the rest.

Agency Coordination

We work closely with USFWS, state wildlife agencies, NRCS and private funders to keep acquisitions moving - preparing the documentation, biological summaries, and compliance materials that support each stage of the approval process.

Deal Structuring

Bargain sales, phased closings, bridge acquisitions, intermediary buy-and-transfer arrangements. We manage the choreography across landowners, title companies, appraisers, and agency offices so no single party becomes the bottleneck.

A sampling of the work
Every project has its own combination of willing sellers, funding sources, agency approvals, and timelines. Here's a look at what that work actually involves.
Landscape Program

Columbia Bottomlands

Brazoria, Matagorda, Fort Bend & Wharton Counties, TX

A decades-long partnership to conserve bottomland hardwood forest and coastal wetland habitat - critical neotropical migratory bird stopover habitat - through multiple individual transactions with NFWF, USFWS, and multiple nonprofit partners.

48,000+ acres70+ transactions20+ years
Species Conservation

Georgia Gopher Tortoise Conservation Initiative

Georgia Coastal Plain

Collaborated with federal and state agencies and private foundations to launch and manage a $150 million initiative to acquire enough gopher tortoise habitat to successfully avoid federal listing. Funding awarded included $9 million in NRCS Regional Conservation Partnership Program funds.

$150M initiative$9M RCPP
Coastal Assemblage

Follett's Island

Brazoria County, TX

An ongoing multi-tract coastal barrier island assemblage involving RESTORE Act, NRDA settlement funds, GOMESA revenue, state programs and over a dozen private funders. NACP manages willing-seller negotiations, survey coordination, and multi-agency closing across the full pipeline.

16+ tracts acquired8+ years active
Intermediary Structure

Moody Tract

Chambers County, TX

A two-closing transaction: Ducks Unlimited acquires from a private foundation, then holds the property until federal funding arrives for eventual transfer to USFWS. NACP manages the deal architecture and timeline across all parties.

~3,700 acresDU & USFWS
Refuge Expansion

Aransas NWR

Aransas & Calhoun Counties, TX

Land protection planning and acquisition support for the expansion of Aransas National Wildlife Refuge - critical habitat for the endangered Whooping Crane. Built a parcel prioritization framework for USFWS integrating biological value, seller status, and funding eligibility.

Prioritization toolUSFWS partnership
Bridge Acquisition

Brenda Smith Estate

Brazoria County, TX

A 390-acre tract acquired through a bridge acquisition structure with The Nature Conservancy as interim buyer. NACP coordinated gap-fill funding from Friends of Brazoria, Houston Audubon, Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation, Cradle of Texas Conservancy, Gulf Coast Bird Observatory, and individual donors to reach closing.

390 acresTNC bridge buyer
State Parks

Texas Sporting Goods Sales Tax Fund

Statewide, TX

Guided state constitutional amendment to create a dedicated fund for the state parks system. Led public education campaign to explain the amendment's benefits to state voters, resulting in 88% "yes" vote.

Constitutional amendment88% voter approval
NAWCA Grant

East Matagorda Peninsula

Matagorda County, TX

NAWCA grant development and inholding consolidation for a complex coastal landscape. NACP identifies privately-owned parcels, finds and connects with landowners, and assembles the funding to bring parcels into conservation ownership.

Ongoing consolidationNAWCA-funded
Prairie Conservation

Flo Hannah Prairie

Brazoria County, TX

A 124-acre remnant of pristine native coastal prairie - one of the most endangered ecosystems in North America. Less than 1% of original Texas coastal prairie remains, making each intact fragment irreplaceable for biodiversity.

124 acresNative prairie
Coastal Wetlands

Colorado River Delta

Matagorda County, TX

Marshes and mud flats at the mouth of the Colorado River - critical habitat for whooping cranes, wintering waterfowl, shorebirds, and colonial waterbirds. Grant development and acquisition support for key parcels within the delta system.

Coastal habitatMulti-partner
Pacific Northwest

PNW Landscape Assessment

Oregon & Washington

Conducting outreach and landscape-level assessment across Oregon and Washington to better understand conservation priorities, funding programs, and partnership opportunities. Efforts focus on floodplains, river corridors, working lands, and habitat connectivity projects.

Ongoing assessmentPartnership development
Nationwide reach

With team members based in Texas, Oregon, and Massachusetts, we work wherever complex conservation transactions need an experienced hand. Our deepest roots are in the Texas Gulf Coast, Florida and Georgia, and we're actively building partnerships across the Pacific Northwest - but conservation opportunities don't stop at regional boundaries, and neither do we.

Texas Gulf Coast

Established - 30+ Years

Our home geography. Mike led land acquisition for the Texas Mid-Coast NWR Complex over a 30-year USFWS career, conserving more than 48,000 acres through the Columbia Bottomlands program. Today we manage an active portfolio of coastal acquisitions in partnership with USFWS, Ducks Unlimited, TPWF, Galveston Bay Foundation, and others.

Columbia BottomlandsFollett's IslandAransas NWREast Matagorda PeninsulaChambers CountyCoastal Bend

Pacific Northwest

Oregon, Washington & Idaho

We're building partnerships with PNW land trusts, Joint Ventures, and state agencies. The federal programs that anchor conservation funding - NAWCA, NRCS ACEP, LWCF, Coastal Wetlands grants - are programs we've worked with for three decades, and the working-lands relationships at the heart of conservation across the region are second nature to us from decades of ranch-country partnerships.

Klamath BasinColumbia EstuaryWillamette ValleyWillapa BayChanneled ScablandsSouthern Idaho
Agencies, land trusts, and foundations
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Ducks Unlimited Texas Parks & Wildlife Foundation Galveston Bay Foundation The Nature Conservancy Knobloch Family Foundation Brown Foundation Friends of Brazoria Wildlife Refuges Cradle of Texas Conservancy NRCS Texas GLO Brazoria County National Wildlife Refuge Association Coastal Prairie Conservancy

Let's talk about your project

Whether you have a specific acquisition in mind or want to explore how NACP could help, we'd welcome the conversation.

Phone
979-299-9967
Offices
Portland, OR • Vancouver, WA • Lake Jackson, TX • Brookline, MA