Conservation Alliance Contributes $400,000 in Grants

Bend, Ore., April 2, 2010 – The Conservation Alliance sent grants totaling $400,000 to 15 organizations working to protect wild places throughout North America. The donations marked the Alliance’s first funding disbursal for 2010. Since the organization’s founding in 1989, the Alliance has contributed more than $8.3 million.

By a vote of the group’s member companies, The Conservation Alliance made donations to 15 grassroots conservation organizations as follows:

Organization Location Amount
Adirondack Mountain Club Lake George, NY $25,000
Appalachian Mountain Club Boston, MA $25,000
Appalachian Voices Boone, NC $35,000
California Wilderness Coalition Oakland, CA $25,000
Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society – Yukon Ottawa, ON $35,000
Grand Canyon Trust Flagstaff, AZ $30,000
Idaho Rivers United Boise, ID $25,000
Montana Wilderness Association Helena, MT $25,000
Our Ocean Portland, OR $30,000
Rivers Without Borders Port Townsend, WA $20,000
Save Our Wild Salmon Seattle, WA $25,000
Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition Asheville, NC $30,000
Washington Climbers Coalition Seattle, WA $15,000
Wilderness Support Center Durango, CO $30,000
Winter Wildlands Alliance Boise, ID $25,000

Total $400,000


“We’re thrilled to start the year with such a terrific collection of grants,” said John Sterling, Executive Director of The Conservation Alliance. “These projects stand a great chance of succeeding over the next several years, adding to the inventory of special places that will be permanently saved for habitat and outdoor recreation.”

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, California, Montana, and Tennessee; protect wild rivers in Idaho, California, and Alaska; protect parks in New York and Arizona; purchase a climbing crag in Washington; and end mountaintop removal mining in the Southeastern US.

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.”

See http://www.conservationalliance.com/UserFiles/File/W10GrantAnnouncement.pdf 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 $8.3 million to grassroots environmental groups. Alliance funding has helped save over 49 million acres of wildlands; 28 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 www.conservationalliance.com.