The Conservation Alliance Contributes $600,000 In Grants To 19 Organiz

Bend, Ore. – The Conservation Alliance sent grants totaling $600,000 to 19 organizations working to protect wild places throughout North America. The donations marked the Alliance’s first funding disbursal for 2012, and is the largest funding cycle in the group’s 23-year history. Since the organization’s founding in 1989, the Alliance has contributed more than $10.4 million.

By a vote of the group’s member companies, The Conservation Alliance made donations to 19 grassroots conservation organizations as follows:

Organization Location Grant Amount

American Whitewater Cullohwee, NC $34,000

California Wilderness Coalition Oakland, CA $35,000

Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy Hendersonville, NC $30,000

Central Oregon Landwatch Bend, OR $25,000

Conservation Resource Alliance Traverse City, MI $35,000

Earthjustice San Francisco, CA $35,000

Foothills Water Network Lotus, CA $25,000

Forest Ethics San Francisco, CA $30,000

Montana Wilderness Association Helena, MT $31,000

New York-New Jersey Trail Conference Mahwah, NJ $35,000

Niparaja La Paz, Mexico $30,000

Rivers Without Borders Auke Bay, AK $30,000

Sierra Club of BC Victoria, BC $35,000

Trout Unlimited – Alaska Juneau, AK $35,000

Trust for Public Land Montpelier, VT $25,000

Vermont Land Trust Montpelier, VT $35,000

Wild Salmon Center Portland, OR $35,000

Wyoming Outdoor Council Lander, WY $30,000

Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative Canmore, Alberta $30,000

TOTAL $600,000

“By contributing $600,000 in a single funding cycle, The Conservation Alliance demonstrates the outdoor industry’s growing commitment to protecting wild places,” said Executive Director John Sterling. “Our member companies recognize that the outdoor industry has a responsibility to help protect the lands and waterways that are so important to their customers.”

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 Washington, California, and Montana; acquire wildlands in North Carolina, New York, and Vermont; protect wild rivers in Canada, Oregon, and California; remove dams in Michigan; and establish vast new protected landscapes in Canada and Baja, Mexico.

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.”

For a complete overview of each grant see: http://www.conservationalliance.com/UserFiles/File/W12%20Funding%20Cycle/W12GrantAnnouncement.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 $10.4 million to grassroots conservation groups. Alliance funding has helped save more than 29 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, seewww.conservationalliance.com.