The Conservation Alliance doles out $235,000 to eight conservation organizations

The Conservation Alliance recently sent checks totaling $235,000 to eight organizations working to protect wild places throughout North America. The donations marked the Alliance’s second disbursal of funding for 2005, and the largest single round of funding in the organization’s 16-year history.

By a vote of the group’s 90 member companies, the Alliance made donations to eight grassroots conservation organizations as follows:

Alaska Wilderness League — $70,000 (includes matching donation from anonymous donor); Campaign for the Snake River Headwaters — $30,000; Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance — $25,000; Alaska Conservation Foundation — $30,000; California Wilderness Coalition — $30,000; Restore Hetch Hetchy –Â $20,000; North Fork River Improvement Association — $15,000; West Virginia Wilderness Coalition — $15,000

Prior to announcing the grants, the Alliance had secured a commitment from an anonymous donor to match funding for the Alaska Wilderness League from the Alliance. When the Alliance membership overwhelmingly voted to fund AWL for its work to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling, the resulting $35,000 donation leveraged an additional $35,000 from the donor.

With the conclusion of this funding cycle, the Conservation Alliance completes its 16th year of supporting conservation work. Total donations for 2005 were $435,000, which marked an all-time high.

“Our membership has grown steadily over the past several years, so we have more money to give to the groups working to save the places where outdoor industry customers recreate, and where wildlife thrives,” said the Alliance’s John Sterling.

The Conservation Alliance announced eight new members at Outdoor Retailer Summer Market in 2005: Black Diamond Equipment, Horny Toad, Mercury Advertising, MoonFoto, Nikwax, Osprey Packs, Sanitas Sales Group and Vasque. Through a partnership with Keen Footwear, the first year’s dues of those new members were matched dollar-for-dollar by Keen Footwear. The Keen matching program will continue through June 2006.

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. The Alliance reviews grant requests twice yearly.

Membership in the Alliance is open to companies representing all aspects of the outdoor industry, including manufacturers, retailers, publishers, mills and sales representatives.

Since its inception in 1989, the Alliance has contributed more than $4.5 million to grassroots environmental groups. Alliance funding has helped save over 34 million acres of wild lands; 25 dams have either been stopped or removed; and the group helped preserve access to more than 16,000 miles of waterways and several climbing areas.

For more information on the Conservation Alliance, go to www.conservationalliance.com.