Conservation Alliance Contributes $500,000 in Grants to 17 Organizations

April 7, 2011 - PRLog -- Bend, Ore. – The Conservation Alliance sent grants totaling $500,000 to 17 organizations working to protect wild places throughout North America. The donations marked the Alliance’s first funding disbursal for 2011. Since the organization’s founding in 1989, the Alliance has contributed more than $9.3 million.

By a vote of the group’s member companies, The Conservation Alliance made donations to 17 grassroots conservation organizations as follows:

Access Fund – Boulder, CO - $25,000
Adirondack Mountain Club – Lake George, NY - $30,000
American River Conservancy – Coloma, CA - $30,000
California Wilderness Coalition – Oakland, CA - $35,000
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society – Ottawa, Ontario - $30,000
Conservation Resource Alliance – Traverse City, MI - $30,000
Deschutes Land Trust – Bend, OR - $30,000
Dogwood Initiative – Victoria, British Columbia - $30,000
Grand Canyon Wildlands Council – Flagstaff, AZ - $30,000
Greater Yellowstone Coalition – Bozeman, MT - $30,000
New Mexico Wilderness Alliance – Albuquerque, NM - $30,000
Out Ocean – Portland, OR - $30,000
Pacific Rivers Council – Portland, OR - $30,000
Rivers Without Borders – Juneau, AK - $25,000
Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests – Concord, NH - $25,000
The Wilderness Society (Idaho) – Boise, ID - $30,000
Western Rivers Conservancy – Portland, OR - $30,000
Total - $500,000

“Our members continue to make important contributions to conservation in North America,” said John Sterling, Executive Director of The Conservation Alliance. “From Alaska to New Hampshire, these projects seek to protect some of North America’s most special – and threatened – wild places.”

This round of grant recipients reflects the geographic distribution of Conservation Alliance members. Conservation Alliance funds will support efforts to: secure access to a climbing area in California; remove dams in Michigan; secure new wilderness designations in California and Idaho; protect wild rivers in Canada, Montana, Oregon, and California; acquire wildlands in New Hampshire and Oregon; and secure new National Monuments in New Mexico, Arizona, and California.

Each project was first nominated for funding by a Conservation Alliance member company.

“Our members care deeply about the wildlands in their backyards,” said Sterling. “We’re proud that our funding program gives them the ability to contribute real dollars to protecting those places.”

For the first time, The Conservation Alliance plans to contribute at least $1 million in grants in a single year. This first disbursement accounts for one half of that goal. The organization has budgeted to contribute another $500,000 in October.

See http://www.conservationalliance.com/UserFiles/File/W11%20... 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 $9.3 million to grassroots environmental groups. Alliance funding has helped save over 50 million acres of wildlands; 29 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, see http://www.conservationalliance.com/