Applied Conservation was established in 2011 by retired Nature Conservancy veterans Greg Low and Henry Little.  Applied Conservation provides consulting and facilitation services to public agencies, nonprofit conservation organizations, private landowners and other partners in conservation action planning, landscape conservation forecasting, conservation strategy implementation, environmental dashboards, and organizational development.

Applied Conservation also analyzes priority areas for conserving natural diversity in the United States, and provides the results and supporting information to decision-makers and the public at no cost through an interactive website Last Great Places.