Artist Boat obtains land conservation, with input from scientific and engineering knowledge, often using economic values associated with human resilience to justify land acquisition on a barrier island with high land values and extreme development pressures. It might seem that land conservation is not achievable in many barrier island and peninsula coastal communities. However, this may not be true provided the value of improving resiliency and ecosystem services outweigh arguments of the cost of the land. This session will explore ways Artist Boat has utilized economic valuations of resiliency to compete for funds nationally for land conservation.  By translating the ability of land conservation to increase property taxes in cities, increase scores in the Community Rating System to reduce flood insurance for tax payers, address and mitigate for sea level rise and extreme flooding events, address increased demands by citizens for greenspace and viewshed protection, protect barrier islands from geohazards and keep the barrier islands functional,  support and enhance critical ecotourism industries, and support sustainable recreational and commercial fisheries Artist Boat has “won” over $36 Million dollars in federal and state conservation grants to conserve 1,039 acres with 204 acres underway on west Galveston Island. Barrier islands and peninsulas are unique in their resiliency functions in the coastal environment making them extremely value for conservation purposes. And typically, they are under dense and high-value development pressures making them exceptionally expensive places to conduct conservation. While land conservation requires extreme passion to pursue anywhere on earth there is no place like lands facing the Gulf where conservation requires “smart resiliency” calculations that benefit human communities more than increased taxes, tourism, and jobs from development of land.  Artist Boat changed this conservation conversation on Galveston Island.