Applied research connects on-the-ground practice to the science that validates it. Policy work connects that science to the decisions that shape landscapes. Community activism connects people to the policy conversations that affect the places they love.
Practice without research produces good intentions. Research without policy produces publications. Policy without community produces plans that no one implements. The Lab is where all three come together.Just Conservation Solutions · Vermont
21st century conservation has the goals — states have set them through Wildlife Action Plans, conservation priority frameworks, and biodiversity targets. What it lacks is the applied practice, the research, and the community engagement that turn those goals into outcomes. The challenge is not just fragmented landscapes. It is fragmented systems: policy without projects to advance it, projects without research to validate them, and people without the knowledge and voice to connect their land to something larger.
State wildlife action plans, conservation priority frameworks, and biodiversity targets set the direction — but they depend on on-the-ground projects to become real. The gap between policy ambition and landscape-level outcomes is where conservation most often stalls.
Most on-the-ground conservation design happens without systematic study. Which approaches work, for which species, in which landscape contexts? Applied research gaps are significant — and filling them requires practitioners who study their own work.
Isolated patches, however well-designed, cannot sustain species persistence on their own. Ecological function at scale requires connectivity — corridors, riparian linkages, and habitat relationships that allow individual properties to function as part of the larger landscape.
Private landowners hold significant conservation potential but rarely have the ecological knowledge, the documentation, or the organized community to act on it — or to advocate for the policy that shapes their landscape.
The work is at the intersection of all three: designing projects that advance conservation priorities, generating research that validates and improves practice, and building the community voice that connects people to policy.
The Lab's work is organized around three interconnected tracks that reflect how ecological knowledge moves from practice to policy — and how community voice moves from the land to the institutions that govern it.
Most on-the-ground conservation design happens without systematic study of what works. Just Conservation Solutions's Gradients projects generate field data on species, habitat conditions, and landscape connectivity that get analyzed, documented, and contributed to the larger body of conservation knowledge.
Research questions focus on: which ecosystem design approaches produce measurable habitat quality improvements; how individual properties contribute to landscape-scale connectivity; and what conditions support species persistence across fragmented landscapes in the Vermont context.
State wildlife action plans, biodiversity targets, and conservation priority frameworks set the direction for conservation — but they depend on on-the-ground practice to become real, and on practitioners who can speak to their application.
The Lab produces policy briefs, stewardship frameworks, and analysis that connect what we're seeing in the field to the policy questions that determine what conservation looks like at regional and state scale. The goal is not to replace policy expertise but to contribute the practitioner perspective that policy too often lacks.
Private landowners, community members, and local organizations hold enormous conservation potential — and rarely have the ecological knowledge, the documentation, or the organized community to act on it, or to advocate for the policy that shapes their landscape.
The Lab's community activism work builds the structures that make that voice possible: ecological literacy for landowners, advocacy frameworks for conservation coalitions, and the research-backed documentation that gives communities standing in policy conversations.
Applied Research Notes — Field observations, habitat assessment data, and ecological findings from active Gradients projects, written to be useful to practitioners, land trusts, and state agencies.
Policy Briefs — Analysis connecting on-the-ground conservation practice to state and regional policy frameworks. Accessible to non-specialists, grounded in field evidence.
Stewardship Frameworks — Practical guides for landowners, conservation commissions, and land trusts: how to assess habitat quality, document conservation contribution, and connect a single property to regional conservation priorities.
Community Advocacy Resources — Tools that help landowners and community organizations understand and participate in the policy decisions that affect their landscapes — from state wildlife action plan comment processes to local conservation commission engagement.
Essays & Commentary — Longer-form writing on landscape ecology, conservation policy, environmental justice, and the practice of conservation design — drawing on the research and the work.
Everything The Lab publishes starts with the same question that animates the design work: what are the conditions that allow a system to function the way it was meant to?
For ecological systems, those conditions are defined by landscape connectivity, species-habitat relationships, and the integrity of the processes that maintain them. For policy systems, they're defined by the quality of evidence, the strength of advocacy, and the participation of the communities most affected. For conservation communities, they're defined by ecological knowledge, shared identity, and a voice in the institutions that govern the landscape.
The Lab exists at the place where all three intersect.
Just Conservation Solutions launched in 2025. The Lab's research, policy, and advocacy work is building as projects develop and findings accumulate. Expect to see published work in the areas below as the practice matures.
Observations and data from active ecosystem design projects in Vermont — species documentation, habitat assessments, and connectivity analysis from the Gradients portfolio.
Practitioner-grounded analysis of Vermont's Wildlife Action Plan, biodiversity targets, and conservation priority frameworks — written for landowners, advocates, and decision-makers.
Long-form writing on the practice of landscape-scale ecological design: what it requires, what it produces, and what it reveals about the relationship between science, community, and conservation policy.
We welcome research partnerships, policy collaborations, and conversations with practitioners, academics, advocates, and agencies working in the same space.
Get in TouchHeather Davis Miller · Founder & Executive Director
heather@justconservationsolutions.com