Conservation efforts to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness received a big boost from The Conservation Alliance, which awarded $75,000 in funding for each in 2021 and 2022.
In all the Alliance awarded $1.11 million for conservation efforts, including funding for Indigenous-led conservation projects in Utah, Minnesota, and British Columbia.
Organizations that received funding for the first time were:
Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition for its effort to complete the Tribally Led Land Management Plan for 1.9 million acres in Southeastern Utah.
Outdoor Afro, which is working to secure protections for California’s public lands.
Honor the Earth and its work to protect wild rice manoomin watersheds in the Great Lakes region by halting pipelines.
Open Space Institute, which is addressing a lack of public access to waterways by acquiring 930 acres and designating the Black River State Park and Water Trail in South Carolina.
The Continental Divide Trail Coalition and its work to secure permanent public access to the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail through state lands in New Mexico.
Yellowstone to Yukon received funding for its effort to permanently protect 1.2 million acres through an Indigenous-led conservation initiative in British Columbia’s Upper Columbia region.
The Conservation Alliance is composed of more than 250 businesses that contribute to a grant fund that goes to Indigenous groups, organizations with a history of collaborating with diverse partners, and grassroots groups working to protect wild places.
The following projects were funded by The Conservation Alliance in the winter 2021 cycle.
Alaska Wilderness League: Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Campaign, $75,000
American Rivers: Protecting Western Montana’s Last Best Wild Rivers, $50,000
American Whitewater: Western Rivers Conservation, $50,000
Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition: Tribally Led Land Management Planning Activities, $50,000
California Wilderness Coalition: Northwest California Mountains and Rivers and Central Coast Wild Heritage Campaigns, $50,000
Central Oregon Landwatch: Skyline Forest Protection Project, $30,000
Columbia Land Trust: Wildboy Forest and Kwoneesum Dam Removal, $50,000
Conservation Colorado: Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act (CORE) Campaign, $50,000
Conservation Lands Foundation: Campaign for the Gila River, Wild and Scenic, $27,000
Continental Divide Trail Coalition: CDT New Mexico State Land Acquisition Easement Project, $45,000
High Country Conservation Advocates: Coal-Free Sunset, $10,000
Honor the Earth: Akiing: The Land to which the People Belong, $10,000
Northeast Wilderness Trust: Grafton Forest Wilderness Preserve, $45,000
Northeastern Minnesotans for Wilderness: Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters, $75,000
Open Space Institute: Black River Conservation: Conserving a Linchpin Property to Establish a New State Park, $50,000
Oregon Wild: An Historic Opportunity to Protect Oregon’s Rivers and Public Lands, $50,000
Outdoor Afro: Support for Outdoor Afro Policy Platform, $10,000
Outdoor Alliance: Protecting North Carolina’s Mountain Treasures, $50,000
Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership: Protecting the Oregon Owyhee Canyonlands: Sportsmen for the Owyhee, $38,000
The Wilderness Society Colorado: Gunnison Public Lands Initiative, $45,000
The Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County: Santa Rita Ranch Conservation Project, $45,000
Trout Unlimited Alaska: Durable Protections for Bristol Bay, $50,000
Virginia Wilderness Committee: Shenandoah Mountain National Scenic Area Campaign, $23,000
Washington Wild: North Cascades Puget Sound Headwaters Campaign, $40,000
Wild Salmon Center: Tillamook Legacy Campaign $50,000
Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative: Protecting British Columbia’s Upper Columbia Region, $50,000
Featured photo courtesy of Ken Takata / @kentakataphoto
