The Conservation Alliance sent grants totaling $750,000 to 20 organizations working to protect
wild places throughout North America. The donations marked the
Alliances first funding disbursal for 2013, and comprise the largest
funding cycle in the groups 24-year history. The Alliance plans to
contribute $1.5 million this year with a second disbursal in October.

 By a vote of the groups member companies, The
Conservation Alliance made donations to 20 grassroots conservation
organizations as follows:


 


Organization
Location
Grant Amount
Access Fund
Boulder, CO
 $ 40,000
Adirondack Mountain Club
Lake George, NY
 $ 50,000
American River Conservancy
Coloma, CA
 $ 35,000
Appalachian Mountain Club
Boston , MA
 $ 25,000
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society – Yukon
Whitehorse, Yukon
 $ 35,000
Chelan-Douglas Land Trust
Wenatchee, WA
 $ 35,000
Conservation Resource Alliance
Traverse City, MI
 $ 35,000
Friends of the Inyo
Bishop, CA
 $ 25,000
International Mountain Bicycling Association
Boulder, CO
 $ 45,000
Montana Wilderness Association
Helena, MT
 $ 50,000
Oregon Wild
Portland, OR
 $ 50,000
Rivers Without Borders
Clinton, WA
 $ 35,000
Soda Mountain Wilderness Council
Ashland, OR
 $ 25,000
Thompson Divide Coalition
Carbondale, CO
 $ 25,000
Trust for Public Land
Montpelier, VT
 $ 40,000
Vermont Land Trust
Montpelier, VT
 $ 50,000
Western Rivers Conservancy
Portland, OR
 $ 35,000
Wilderness Land Trust
Carbondale, CO
 $ 35,000
Winter Wildlands Alliance
Boise, ID
 $ 40,000
Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative
Canmore, Alberta
 $ 40,000
Total
 
$750,000


 


Thanks to our member companies deep commitment to
conservation, we continue to grow our funding program, said Executive
Director John Sterling. This list of grants supports the best land and
water conservation opportunities in the U.S. and Canada.


 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
Colorado, Montana, and Oregon; purchase a climbing area in Illinois;
acquire wildlands in California, Colorado, Vermont, Maine, and
Washington; protect wild rivers in Alaska, Colorado, the Yukon, and
British Columbia; and remove dams in Michigan.


 
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 see:



 


 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.