Our funding supported Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy’s East Fork Headwaters Project to permanently protect 8,000 acres of the Blue Ridge Escarpment and 50 miles of headwaters streams of the French Broad River through the creation of a Southern Appalachian National Wildlife Refuge, establishing a contiguous chain of 1,000,000 acres of publicly accessible wilderness. CMLC reports…
The Vermont Land Trust announced in March, 2013 that they had been successful in securing the funding needed to purchase and conserve 1,200 acres of Bolton Valley Nordic and Backcountry land. Later this spring, the parcel will be transferred to the State of Vermont as an addition to the Mount Mansfield State Forest.
The British Columbia government announced on December 18, 2013 that Shell Oil will withdraw its plans to develop coalbed methane in the Sacred Headwaters in northwest BC. The government also announced that it will not issue oil and gas leases in the area in the future. This decision protects one million acres of wild lands…
On December 18, 2012 the Downeast Lakes Land Trust and the State of Maine announced the purchase of a conservation easement on the 21,870-acres West Grand Lake Forest. The property wraps around the village of Grand Lake Stream, and is adjacent to other conservation lands, including the land trust’s 33,708-acre Farm Cove Community Forest. These…
Winter Wildlands Alliance celebrated the Final Yellowstone Winter Visitation Plan from the National Park Service, governing snowmobile and snowcoach use in Yellowstone Park. The Plan provides protections for this pristine winter refuge, limits noise and emissions, and provides for a cleaner, quieter experience for skiers and snowshoers. Beginning in winter 2014-15, this new winter use…
We supported the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests’ Mount Monadnock Royce Property Acquisition Campaign to permanently protect a 55-acre parcel on the flanks of Mt. Monadnock, North America’s most popular hiking destination. The Forest Society executed the conservation easement deed on March 30, 2012; resulting in the permanent protection of the Royce…
We supported New York-New Jersey Trail Conference’s Southern Gunks Greenway Campaign to purchase and transfer parcels of land to New York State resulting in the elimination of the remaining unprotected gaps in the Southern Gunks Greenway. The Trail Conference reports that they have protected two parcels totaling 514 acres that will improve recreation opportunities in…
We supported the Earthjustice’s Saving Utah’s Redrock Country Campaign to protect roughly three million acres of wilderness-quality public lands in Utah’s Red Rock Country from the imminent threat of oil and gas drilling and off-road vehicle use, opening the opportunity to obtain permanent federal protection for these wildlands. Earthjustice prevailed in an Appeals Court case…
We funded ONDA’s John Day Wilderness Campaign to secure wilderness protection for 17,000 acres of public land along the lower John Day River by 2012, an additional 60,000 acres of public land by 2014, and secure a Wild and Scenic River recommendation for 30 miles of river in the John Day Basin in 2012. ONDA…
The Conservation Alliance supported the Adirondack Council’s Upper Hudson Woodlands Campaign to ensure the protection of 200,000 acres of land in the Adirondacks; 90,000 acres of which was protected in 2011. In August 2012, New York State purchased 69,000 additional acres of the Upper Hudson River watershed, providing permanent protection for its mountains, ponds, lakes,…
