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.
Conservation Resource Alliance used our support to orchestrate the removal of Sabin Dam on the Boardman River in Michigan. Sabin is the last of three dams to be removed as part of CRA’s Boardman River Dam Removal Campaign. The removal of Sabin Dam also marks the completion of the most comprehensive dam removal project in…
The Carolina Climbers Coalition acquired Buckeye Knob and Barn boulders, establishing the first permanently protected bouldering area in Boone, NC. The Barn bouldering area includes over 500 boulder problems. The group plans to build sustainable trails to improve access to the area.
In October 2018, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke signed a 20-year mineral withdrawal for 30,000 acres of National Forest lands adjacent to the Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness and Yellowstone National Park. This area includes Paradise Valley, Emigrant Gulch and Crevice Mountain, and is important migration habitat for mule deer and elk. Once threatened by two industrial scale…
North Carolina Coastal Land Trust acquired 2,992 acres of wetlands, cypress swamps, critical bottomland hardwood forests, and seven miles of Waccamaw River frontage. The property is adjacent to 37,000 acres of protected land, creating one of the largest conservation corridors in North Carolina. The 140-mile Waccamaw River, a designated Blue Trail, is a destination for…
