In all, the Conservation Alliance sent grants totaling $500,000 to 17 organizations working to protect wild places throughout North America. Topping the list for paddling recipients are American Rivers ($20,000), American Whitewatwer ($30,000), California’s Friends of the River ($30,000), and Utah’s Save Our Canyons ($25,000). Since the organization’s founding in 1989, the Alliance has contributed more than $8.8 million.
“Our members have once again chosen a terrific group of organizations to support,” said John Sterling, Executive Director of The Conservation Alliance. “From Alaska to West Virginia, these projects seek to protect some of North America’s most special – and threatened – wild places.”
By a vote of the group’s member companies, The Conservation Alliance made donations to 17 grassroots conservation organizations as follows:
Organization/ Location/Amount
Alaska Wilderness League/ Washington , DC/ $35,000
American Rivers/ Portland, OR / $20,000
American Whitewater/ Cullowhee, NC/ $ 30,000
Colorado Environmental Coalition/ Denver, CO/ $ 32,000
Colorado Mountain Club/ Golden, CO/ $20,000
Forest Ethics/ Vancouver, BC/ $ 30,000
Friends of the River / Sacramento, CA/ $30,000
Los Padres ForestWatch/ Santa Barbara, CA/ $30,000
Oregon Natural Desert Association/ Bend, OR/ $30,000
Oregon Wild/ Portland, OR/ $30,000
Save Our Canyons/ Salt Lake City, UT/ $ 25,000
Sierra Club of BC/ Victoria, BC/ $35,000
Trout Unlimited Alaska / Arlington, VA/ $ 35,000
Trust for Public Land/ Montpelier, VT/ $30,000
West Virginia Wilderness Coalition/ Frankford, WV/ $28,000
Wild Salmon Center / Portland, OR/ $30,000
Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative/ Canmore, Alberta/ $ 30,000
Total $500,000
This round of grant recipients reflects the geographic distribution of Conservation Alliance members. Conservation Alliance funds will support efforts to: secure new wilderness designations in West Virginia, Colorado, Oregon, California, Utah, and Washington; protect wild rivers in British Columbia, California, Oregon, Alaska, and Washington; acquire wildlands in New England; preserve forests in Canada and Oregon; and secure quiet winter recreation opportunities in Colorado.
Each project was first nominated for funding by a Conservation Alliance member company. “Our members care deeply about the wildlands in their backyards,” says Sterling. “We’re proud that our funding program gives them the ability to contribute real dollars to protecting those places.”
Click Here for a complete overview of each grant.
About the Conservation Alliance:
The Conservation Alliance is an organization of outdoor businesses whose collective contributions support grassroots environmental organizations and their efforts to protect wild places where outdoor enthusiasts recreate. Alliance funds have played a key role in protecting rivers, trails, wildlands and climbing areas.
Membership in the Alliance is open to companies representing all aspects of the outdoor industry, including manufacturers, retailers, publishers, mills and sales representatives. The result is a diverse group of businesses whose livelihood depends on protecting our natural environment.
Since its inception in 1989, the Alliance has contributed more than $8.8 million to grassroots environmental groups. Alliance funding has helped save over 49 million acres of wildlands; 28 dams have either been stopped or removed; and the group helped preserve access to more than 17,000 miles of waterways and several climbing areas.
For complete information on the Conservation Alliance, visit www.conservationalliance.com.
