The Conservation Alliance Contributes $800,000 in Grants to 23 Organizations

BEND, Ore. - Oct. 7, 2014 - PRLog -- The Conservation Alliance sent grants totaling $800,000 to 23 organizations working to protect wild places throughout North America. The donations marked the Alliance’s second funding disbursal for 2014, and comprise the largest funding cycle in the group’s 25-year history. The Alliance contributed a record $1.55 million in 2014.

By a vote of the group’s member companies, The Conservation Alliance made donations to 23 grassroots conservation organizations as follows:

Organization, Location, Grant Amount

Access Fund, Boulder, CO $25,000
Adirondack Mountain Club, Albany, NY $30,000
Alaska Wilderness League, Washington, DC $42,812
American Rivers, Seattle, WA $35,000
American Whitewater, Cullowhee, NC $50,000
California Wilderness Coalition, Oakland, CA $50,000
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Ottawa, ON $30,000
Conservation Lands Foundation, Durango, CO $50,000
Earthjustice, San Francisco, CA $50,000
Earthworks, Washington, DC $30,000
Grand Canyon Trust, Flagstaff, AZ $35,000
Greater Yellowstone Coalition, Bozeman, MT $30,000
Kittery Land Trust, Kittery, ME $30,000
Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center, Ashland, OR $25,000
Northern Alaska Environmental Center, Fairbanks, AK $30,000
Oregon Natural Desert Association, Bend, OR $42,188
Save the Waves Coalition, Davenport, CA $35,000
Thompson Divide Coalition, Carbondale, CO $25,000
Trust for Public Land, Montpelier, VT $35,000
Tuleyome, Woodland, CA $25,000
WaterWatch of Oregon, Portland, OR $25,000
WildSouth, Asheville, NC $30,000
Winter Wildlands Alliance, Boise, ID $40,000

Total: $800,000

“We have added 12 new member companies so far this year, and 100-percent of the membership dues are allocated to our central grant fund. Due to the Outdoor Industry’s deep commitment to conservation, we were able to support 23 organizations with grants ranging from $25,000-$50,000.” said John Sterling, Executive Director of The Conservation Alliance. “This list of grants supports the best land and water conservation opportunities in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.”

Two out of the 23 organizations received funding from The Conservation Alliance for the first time: Kittery Land Trust and Save the Waves.

Conservation Alliance funds will support efforts to: secure new wilderness designations in Washington, California, and Oregon; purchase a climbing area in Maine; protect wildlands in Alaska, Canada’s Northwest Territories, Baja, North Carolina, Idaho, Utah, and Montana; protect wild rivers in Washington, California, and Oregon; remove dams in Oregon; halt mining and drilling in Colorado, Minnesota and Oregon; and acquire wildlands in Vermont and Maine.

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

“Our member companies continue to identify great projects for funding,” said Sterling. “Our program gives our members the ability to contribute real dollars to protecting wild places in their backyards.”

For a complete overview of each grant, visit conservationalliance.com or download the Summer 2014 Grant Announcement:

Website: http://www.conservationalliance.com

PDF:  http://conservationalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/S14GrantAnnouncement_1.pdf

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 $11.9 million to grassroots conservation groups. Alliance funding has helped save more than 41 million acres of wildlands; protect 2,700 miles of rivers; stop or remove 25 dams; designate five marine reserves; and purchase nine climbing areas.

For complete information on the Conservation Alliance, see www.conservationalliance.com.