The Conservation Alliance sent checks totaling $250,000 to ten organizations working to protect wild places throughout North America. The donations marked the Alliance’s final disbursal of funding for 2006, and brought the year’s contributions to a new high of $530,000.
By a vote of the group’s 120 member companies, The Conservation Alliance made donations to ten grassroots conservation organizations as follows:
| Organization (Location) | Amount |
| Alaska Wilderness League (Washington, DC) | $30,000 |
| Greater Yellowstone Coalition (Bozeman, MT) | $30,000 |
| Carolina Climber’s Coalition (Spartanburg, SC) | $30,000 |
| Northeast Wilderness Trust (Boston, MA) | $30,000 |
| Colorado Environmental Coaltion (Denver, CO) | $25,000 |
| American Whitewater (Cullowhee, NC) | $20,000 |
| Deschutes Basin Land Trust (Bend, OR) | $25,000 |
| Nevada Wilderness Project (Reno, NV) | $20,000 |
| Forest Guardians (Santa FE, NM) | $20,000 |
| Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (Ottawa, ON) | $20,000 |
| Total | $250,000 |
“Through The Conservation Alliance, our member companies are supporting the most effective conservation organizations in the US,” said Conservation Alliance Executive Director John Sterling. “We’ve already celebrated several significant conservation victories this year, and look forward to more good news from this round of grantees.”
This round of grant recipients reflects the geographic distribution of Conservation Alliance members. Conservation Alliance funds will support efforts to: purchase a popular climbing area in North Carolina; secure new Wilderness designations for federal lands in Nevada, Colorado, and Alaska; protect a private land wilderness in New Hampshire; improve federal land management in Wyoming and New Mexico; restore rivers in the Carolinas; save a 9.6-million-acre watershed in Canada’s Northwest Territories; and protect a 30,000-acre forest in Central Oregon.
“We work hard to identify great projects throughout North America,” said Sterling. “It’s important to our members that we support a diverse range of organizations.”
With the conclusion of this funding cycle, the Conservation Alliance has contributed more than $5.3 million since its founding in 1989. The Alliance has budgeted to make $500,000 in grants in 2006, a 38 percent increase in just two years.
“The buzz around The Conservation Alliance continues to grow. We’ve added more than 25 new members this year, which increases our budget to support more conservation efforts,” said Sterling. “The outdoor industry is really stepping up in its support for wildland protection.”