The Conservation Alliance held its 12th annual Backyard Collective event in Boulder, CO, on Friday, September 27. The stewardship project drew 100 volunteers from 10 member companies, four conservation partners and two local nonprofits.
The volunteers worked in collaboration with the City of Boulder Open Space & Mountain Parks (OSMP) and Boulder Parks & Rec to clean up the Foothills Community Park in Boulder. The volunteers worked with Boulder OSMP on a ditch repair project and cleared 400 yards of organic debris and maintained and restored a trail near Foothills Community Park. The volunteers also worked with Boulder Parks & Rec to build a 40-foot trail, cleared and weeded a 100-square-foot garden bed, removed two truckloads of weeds and collected five large 40-gallon garbage bags of invasive thistle seed.
Conservation Alliance member companies Backpacker’s Pantry, Exxel Outdoors, Fjällräven, Kelty, La Sportiva, Nite Ize, Outdoor Industry Association, Sierra Designs, Ultimate Direction and Verde Brand Communications participated in the event. Buff, CLIF Bar, Deschutes Brewery and Osprey donated gear, beer and energy bars.
The mission of The Conservation Alliance is to engage businesses to fund and partner with organizations to protect wild places for their habitat and recreation values. The Conservation Alliance launched the Backyard Collective Program to give member company employees the opportunity to work together on local stewardship projects while learning more about organizations that receive funding from the group.
Conservation Alliance grantees joined in a grantee fair to share current information and calls-to-action related to their programs. Grantees included American Whitewater, Crested Butte Land Trust, Conservation Colorado, The Wilderness Society, and local non-profit partners City of Boulder’s OSMP and Parks & Rec.
“We’ve got a wonderful community of member companies in the Boulder area, and they came out in force for the Backyard Collective,” said John Sterling, executive director of The Conservation Alliance. “Our members and grantees worked hard and had a big impact in a short amount of time, but most important, they spent time working together outside.”
