Bend, Ore. – The Conservation Alliance sent grants totaling $550,000 to 18 organizations working to protect wild places throughout North America. The donations marked the Alliance’s second funding disbursal for 2011, and brought the year’s funding total to $1.05 million. Since the organization’s founding in 1989, the Alliance has contributed more than $9.8 million.

By a vote of the group’s member companies, The Conservation Alliance made donations to 18 grassroots conservation organizations as follows:

Organization::Location::Grant Amount

Alaska Wilderness League::Washington, DC::$35,000

American Rivers::Seattle, WA::$20,000

Appalachian Mountain Club::Boston, MA::$25,000

Audubon Alaska::Anchorage, AK::$35,000

Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society::Whitehorse, Yukon::$35,000

Colorado Environmental Coalition::Denver, CO::$35,000

Downeast Lakes Land Trust::Grand Stream, ME::$35,000

Friends of the River::Sacramento, CA::$25,000

Idaho Conservation League::Boise, ID::$30,000

International Mountain Bicycling Association::Boulder, CO::$20,000

Klamath-Siskyou Wildlands Center::Ashland, OR::$30,000

Oregon Natural Desert Association::Bend, OR::$35,000

Raincoast Conservation Foundation::Sidney, BC::$30,000

Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition::Hazelton, BC::$30,000

Surfrider Foundation::San Clemente, CA::$35,000

The Nature Conservancy, New Hampshire::Concord, NH::$30,000

Wilderness Support Center::Durango, CO::$35,000

Winter Wildlands Alliance::Boise, ID::$30,000

Grand Total::$550,000

“By contributing more than $1 million in a single year, The Conservation Alliance has reached a huge milestone,” 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, Colorado, Oregon, California and Idaho; acquire wildlands in Maine, California, and New Hampshire; protect wild rivers in Canada, Washington and California; and win strict regulations on snowmobile use in Yellowstone National Park.

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/S11%20Funding%20Cycle/S11GrantAnnouncementAll%281%29.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 more than $9.8 million to grassroots environmental groups. Alliance funding has helped save over 50 million acres of wildlands; 29 dams have either been stopped or removed; and the group helped preserve access to more than 17,000 miles of waterways and several climbing areas.

For complete information on the Conservation Alliance, see www.conservationalliance.com.