The Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks Conservation Act created eight new Wilderness areas within the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument when Congress passed the Natural Resources Management Act in February 2019. The Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument was designated by President Obama in May 2014, and now 241,554 acres within the monument are designated Wilderness Areas. Wilderness is…
Congress passed the Oregon Wildlands Act in February 2019 as part of the Natural Resources Management Act. This legislation secured protections for 30,621 acres of Devil’s Staircase as Wilderness and 252 river miles in the Rogue and Molalla River watersheds as Wild and Scenic. The legislation also protects an additional 55 miles of rivers and streams from…
The Frank and Jeanne Moore Wild Steelhead Special Management Area Protection Act protects 99,653 acres along Steamboat Creek in Oregon’s North Umpqua River watershed as a sanctuary for some of the best wild steelhead spawning areas in the Pacific Northwest. The area provides more than 50 miles of high-quality river and stream habitat for summer…
Whatcom Land Trust acquired the 1,400-acre Skookum Creek property located in a major tributary watershed of the South Fork Nooksack river basin. Protecting this riparian and upland forest improves salmon habitat, watershed health, landscape connectivity and recreation opportunities.
The Tennessee Wilderness Act was signed into law on December 20, 2018. The act designated the 9,000-acre Upper Bald River Wilderness Area – the first new wilderness area in Tennessee in 30 years. It also expanded the existing existing Joyce Kilmer-Slicrock, Big Frog, Little Frog Mountain, Big Laurel Branch, and Sampson Mountain wilderness areas in the Cherokee National Forest. …
We funded Connecticut River Watershed Council‘s Deadbeat Dam Campaign in 2016 to remove three dams in Vermont and New Hampshire. CRWC removed two dams in Vermont, the Cold Brook and Geer, that were no longer generating power. The Clark Pond dam was removed in late 2018. The removal of these three dams restored passage for…
Winter Wildlands Alliance lead the effort to establish new protections for high-value backcountry ski and snow terrain, and important watershed and wildlife habitat in the Lassen National Forest. The new Lassen Winter Travel Plan protects an additional 121,000 acres from on-snow vehicle use, bringing the total number of wintertime protected acres in the Lassen National Forest up…
Potomac Conservancy used our funding to permanently protect the 1,725-acre White Horse Mountain, one of the largest remaining forest tracts in West Virginia. Overlooking the South Branch Potomac River, White Horse Mountain is a destination for hikers, hunters, anglers and mountain bikers. If you’re lucky, you might spot a Bald Eagle, bobcat or black bear while…
We supported Whatcom Land Trust’s effort to permanently protect 2,182 privately-owned acres of Galbraith Mountain near Bellingham, WA, and to secure legal rights to extensive, multipurpose, non-motorized recreational activities on that land.
We awarded a total of three grants since 2014 to Conservation Recourse Alliance to remove the Lake Kathleen Dam on Michigan’s Maple River. For the first time in decades, natural stream flow will be restored to more than 40 miles of the Maple River main stem and tributaries.
