The Restoring Land Project (RLP) is a philanthropic conservation initiative established by Nick Niesen with the support of Kelly Niesen and others to explore, document and support the restoration and responsible management of land for wildlife, ecological diversity and productive human use. RLP focuses on improving previously agricultural, managed, degraded or otherwise altered land while also exploring ways that human activity and healthy natural ecosystems can coexist.
RLP projects combine direct involvement with outside expertise and services when appropriate. Contractors, specialists and other contributors may be engaged for specific aspects of a project when their equipment, knowledge or experience can improve the likelihood of a successful outcome. This allows individual restoration efforts to draw upon specialized resources while the experience and results can be incorporated into RLP's broader body of practical knowledge.
The initiative approaches land restoration as an ongoing process rather than a single intervention. Individual RLP projects may involve establishing native and beneficial vegetation, restoring prairie and grassland, planting trees, improving pollinator habitat, creating wildlife cover, modifying land-management practices or exploring more efficient ways to use productive land while maintaining or improving its ecological value.
Mission
The mission of the Restoring Land Project is to improve the ecological value of land while encouraging and helping others to undertake restoration and responsible land-management projects of their own.
RLP explores opportunities to improve land where habitat has been reduced, fragmented or altered by human activity. However, restoration does not necessarily require removing people, agriculture or other productive uses from the landscape. In some situations, the objective may instead be to identify better ways for human activity and natural systems to function together.
RLP recognizes that restored land does not need to recreate an exact historical landscape to provide meaningful ecological value. Projects can instead work toward increasing plant diversity, improving habitat, supporting wildlife, maintaining productive uses and developing landscapes that become progressively more resilient and biologically active.
Land Restoration
Restoring land can require different approaches depending on the history, geography, current use and existing conditions of an individual site. Agricultural fields, managed grasslands, disturbed areas and other landscapes may each require different combinations of planting, seeding, mowing, vegetation management and time.
RLP projects are therefore developed individually rather than according to a single prescribed restoration plan. Management strategies can change as vegetation becomes established, wildlife responds and practical experience provides a better understanding of the land.
Human Activity and Productive Land
The Restoring Land Project does not view conservation and human land use as inherently incompatible. Agriculture and other forms of land management will remain important uses of the landscape, creating opportunities to explore methods that provide ecological benefits without necessarily eliminating productive activity.
Depending on the application, this may involve integrating beneficial vegetation, pollinator resources, habitat corridors, trees, cover crops or other ecological features into working landscapes. It may also involve reconsidering how individual areas are planted, maintained or allocated so that productive land can serve more than one purpose.
RLP is particularly interested in approaches where ecological improvements and productive land use can reinforce one another. Improved soil conditions, greater biological diversity, increased pollinator activity, reduced erosion and more efficient use of available land may provide benefits beyond wildlife habitat. In agricultural settings, some of these practices may also contribute to maintaining or increasing crop productivity.
The objective is not to assume that every ecological intervention will improve agricultural production. Instead, RLP seeks to explore, document and share situations where conservation and productive land management can provide complementary benefits.
Habitat Development
A primary objective of RLP is the development of habitat capable of supporting increasingly diverse wildlife populations. Depending on the site, this can include prairie, grassland, woodland, pollinator habitat, transitional areas and other forms of vegetation that provide food, shelter, nesting opportunities and seasonal resources.
Habitat development is viewed as a long-term process. Trees may require decades to mature, prairie communities can require several growing seasons to become established and wildlife populations may respond differently as the structure of the landscape changes.
Practical and Accessible Restoration
An important objective of the Restoring Land Project is to make land restoration and ecologically responsible land management more approachable. These projects can appear expensive, complicated or inaccessible to landowners who have limited experience with habitat development. RLP seeks to identify practical methods that can reduce unnecessary up-front expenses while still producing meaningful ecological improvements.
Experience gained through RLP projects can be used to identify useful shortcuts, determine where resources have the greatest impact and document approaches that perform well under real-world conditions. Unsuccessful plantings and management decisions are also valuable when they help others avoid unnecessary expense or effort.
RLP does not seek to present land restoration as a process requiring perfect conditions or unlimited resources. Instead, the initiative encourages incremental improvements that can accumulate over multiple years.
Adaptive Management
The Restoring Land Project uses an adaptive approach in which the results of previous work help guide future decisions. Successful plantings can be expanded, unsuccessful approaches can be modified and naturally occurring vegetation can be incorporated when it contributes positively to habitat or land-management objectives.
This approach recognizes that ecological restoration cannot always be predicted in advance. Weather, soil conditions, existing vegetation, wildlife activity, productive land use and competition among plant species can influence how an individual site develops.
Observation and Documentation
Documentation is a central component of the Restoring Land Project. Changes in vegetation, wildlife activity, seasonal conditions, expenses, productivity and management practices can provide useful information about how a landscape responds to restoration efforts.
RLP seeks to document not only successful outcomes but also mistakes, unsuccessful plantings, unexpected results and changes in strategy. Sharing these experiences can provide future restoration projects with practical information that might otherwise require years of experimentation to acquire independently.
RLP-001
RLP-001 is the first restoration site established under the Restoring Land Project. Located in Wisconsin, the project involves the rehabilitation of previously agricultural and managed land into increasingly diverse wildlife habitat.
RLP-001 remains under active rehabilitation. Restoration work has included prairie and grassland establishment, flowering vegetation, tree planting, pollinator habitat and changes to land-management practices. Early results have included a substantial increase in wildlife activity while many of the site's newly established plant communities remain years from maturity.
RLP-001 has been extensively documented throughout its development, including restoration methods, planting decisions, expenses, land-management practices, successes, failures, wildlife observations and changes in strategy. This documentation provides a detailed record of the site's rehabilitation and establishes the initial practical foundation for the Restoring Land Project.
The experience and information collected through RLP-001 can be used to help inform future RLP projects while providing other landowners with practical examples of the decisions, costs, challenges and results involved in restoring land.
Future Projects
RLP may support additional restoration sites when appropriate opportunities arise. Future involvement could include direct restoration projects, partnerships, supported conservation efforts, agricultural experiments or assistance provided to other landowners.
However, the impact of the Restoring Land Project is not intended to be measured solely by the number of properties directly managed or supported by RLP. Knowledge gained from individual projects can have broader value when it helps other people successfully restore or improve land of their own.
Long-Term Vision
The long-term vision of the Restoring Land Project is to document and share practical experience that makes ecological land improvement easier for others to undertake. By openly documenting methods, expenses, mistakes, successful strategies and useful shortcuts, RLP seeks to reduce the uncertainty and initial barriers that can prevent landowners from beginning restoration projects.
RLP aims to demonstrate that meaningful ecological improvement does not necessarily need to begin with a large budget, specialized expertise, the removal of productive land from use or a perfectly designed plan. Restoration can begin with achievable improvements, observation and a willingness to adapt as the land responds.
Most importantly, the Restoring Land Project seeks to inspire others to improve and restore land. The rehabilitation of an individual property can provide meaningful habitat, but the knowledge and experience gained from that work can have a much greater impact when it encourages ecological improvements across many independently managed properties, farms and landscapes.
Contributors
Last Modified: September 19, 2026