America has always had its share of people working together to achieve the impossible. It’s what we do – unite to accomplish the seemingly un-accomplishable act. To shine a light on solutions that will make a difference.

In the environmental movement, we learned long ago that working together will also be what protects nature and our environment from serious threats to its existence. One town cannot clean the air; one state cannot restore a river; one nation cannot preserve the oceans.  It takes community and collaboration to meaningfully address our problems in lasting, effective ways.  And more than anything it takes partnerships – among citizens, government and industry.

For The Nature Conservancy, this means bringing companies that use resources into the circle of preservation and helping them find ways to protect and promote the broader environment.

We celebrate our partnership with Boeing, for example, which has nearly 4,000 employees in our state.  Boeing executives were quick to see the value in helping The Nature Conservancy to preserve the deserts and forests that give our state its rich character and make it a desirable destination for its workforce.  And they were quick to embrace a sustainable ethos and joining forces with the conservancy on water preservation programs that would keep our state fertile for all.

For a company celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, Boeing’s leaders have been incredibly quick to reject the old industry model of using up resources and treating pollution and waste as a free “externality” for someone else to absorb.  And to see the value in bringing the company’s unique resources and expertise to bear on local conservation.

The results have been extraordinary.  Starting in 2010, Boeing supported The Nature Conservancy in its forest management program of tree thinning and controlled burns. In 2011, these initial management measures helped to save the town of Alpine from the Wallow fire.

Tablet technology, with the financial help of Boeing, was implemented in 2012 to accelerate forest thinning operations and provide better monitoring of the thinning prescriptions. This method has greatly outpaced the traditional forest management practices of manually marking trees to be harvested, increasing the scale and pace by seven-fold – up to more than 40 acres a day.  Continued thinning and forestry management made possible by this technology also saved the town of Vernon in the massive fires of 2014.  Overall, almost 400,000 acres have been managed and thinned to reduce fire risk and funnel it away from sensitive areas.  And the work has also spun off ancillary benefits like preserving owl and bald eagle habitats.

Boeing has also worked to secure Arizona’s water supply – supporting Conservancy efforts to strengthen and stabilize the Verde River, a workhorse providing recreation, habitat, drinking water and agriculture irrigation. Implementing an integrated water management system and converting from flood irrigation to drip systems is decreasing the amount of water being diverted from the river.  This improves flows in the Verde Valley and benefits downstream users, including kayakers, farmers, wildlife preservationists and others.

In addition to supporting a sustainable water supply, Boeing and its employees donate more than $2 million a year to state charitable causes and volunteer more than 17,000 hours a year of their time.

It’s a cliché, but this is how progress is made – with win-win solutions that leverage all our resources, public, civic, and private.  Rather than standing in opposing corners, environmental advocates and industry leaders have an opportunity to forge meaningful partnerships that effect real progress on the path to a sustainable future.  The Nature Conservancy cannot work alone and now more than ever needs these effective, resource-leveraging partnerships with conscience leaders in corporate America. Because we know that when nature thrives – people prosper.

Patrick J. Graham is the State Director of The Nature Conservancy in Arizona