ROI | Restore the ozarks initiative

Introducing ROI: Restore the Ozarks Initiative
Watershed's Vision to Buy, Restore, and Protect to ensure
Clean Water for Life.

What is R.O.I.?

Your land is vital to the Ozarks region and our water supply. Because of this, we launched a program called the Restore the Ozarks Initiative, or “ROI,” to bring a proven, national model that blends modern, sustainable land ownership with watershed protection here. We launched this initiative as we noticed that land ownership in our community is changing rapidly. Property is being sold to people from outside the region, and the costs of maintaining land for locals are increasing. We want to see the Ozarks thrive for all residents to work and play for many generations. 

The Restore the Ozarks Initiative is the solution to multi-generational, sustainable land ownership. Please contact us to learn more about the initiative, why we brought it to the Ozarks, and how your neighbors have already bought into land conservation and watershed protection. 

The Ozarks region is renowned for its beautiful landscape filled with streams, rivers, and lakes. In this initiative, we aim to help Buy, Restore, and Protect these resources into the future. ROI acquires land suffering from degradation and disasters to rehabilitate it to desirable economic and community value. Damaged properties create big shortfalls in our local economy and are also dangerous. Land rejuvenation leverages the power of the marketplace for the 3 P’s: profit, people, and planet.

How it works

Watershed and our partners seek land and water health for future generations using a three-part approach –

  1. Buying property using market solutions as there is sufficient capital to address the problem’s scale.
  2. Restoring the land adds value – forestry, farming, hunting, solar, and more.
  3. Protecting ensures long-term health & community support, including local ownership for employees. Ranching Farming Solar Forestry Hunting/ Recreation Carbon Farming

This is a proven strategy on a national scale. In 2021 alone, $338+MM was disbursed by the United States Department of Agriculture to 86 projects for Buy, Restore & Protect. Organizations such as the Impact Finance Center and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources have years of successful examples.