grants03

Domestic Biodiversity

Alaska Conservation Foundation	Contact Them Anchorage, Alaska
ACF received $15,000 for their Ecosystem Protection Programs and to launch a Conservation Majority Program. Their current Ecosystem Protection Programs include: the Alaska Rainforest Campaign (seeks permanent protection for the roadless areas of the Tongass and Chugach National Forests); Alaska Oceans Network (seeks to reduce destructive bottom trawling practices); Alaska Coalition (protects the Arctic Refuge, Alaska's national parks, and wilderness areas from legislative riders and other threats). ACF's Conservation Majority Initiative aims to convince 51% of all Alaskans in the next decade of the severity of environmental threats to their state, and to have them vote accordingly.

Alaska Wilderness League	Contact Them Washington, DC
The Alaska Wilderness League received $25,000 for their work to pass Congressional legislation prohibiting the federal funding of logging roads in the Tongass National Forest. Without government subsidies to build additional roads, logging in the Tongass would become prohibitively expensive. In June, in a stunning bipartisan effort, the House passed this amendment, with 48 Republicans voting for it. The fight now moves to the Senate, with the strong possibly of Senator McCain sponsoring a similar amendment. To support this legislative campaign, AWL will work with media, provide weekly updates on its website, and recruit, train, and unleash 200-400 citizen advocates on Capital Hill to educate their elected representatives about protecting the Tongass.

American Lands Alliance	Contact Them Washington, DC
The American Lands Alliance was given $20,000 for their advocacy and litigation campaign to protect and restore mature and old growth forests covered under the Northwest Forest Plan. ALA's campaign will work to implement watershed-based restoration plans for federal forests and promote economic alternatives to old-growth logging. Campaign initiatives will include: 1) Articulating a restoration platform built on existing common sense alternatives and national restoration principles, 2) Laying the educational, communications and advocacy groundwork for old growth protection and restoration jobs, 3) Promoting ecologically sound hazardous fuel reduction and restoration projects that benefit rural communities, and 4) Demonstrating the on-the-ground consequences of the administration's policies.

American Rivers	Contact Them Seattle, Washington
American Rivers was awarded $20,000 for the fourth year of their "Voyage of Recovery" campaign to restore the rivers of Lewis and Clark. To date, victories of the campaign include two new hydropower re-licensing agreements, on the Deschutes and Lewis Rivers, which together will open several hundred miles of currently blocked salmon and steelhead habitat. The main focus for this year's campaign will be to fight the Bush Administration's continuing attempts to weaken the Endangered Species Act.. American Rivers NW office plans to capitalize on the high media attention being paid to the actual bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark's journey to help bring river conservation to the forefront of the public dialogue. This will entail educating members of Congress, particularly the NW and California delegations, and mobilizing grassroots river groups. American Rivers is currently the lead participant in the re-licensing process for the Hells Canyon dam on the Snake River, and for dams on the Clackamas and Columbia rivers. American Rivers will also continue to advocate for dam removal on the lower Snake River and restoration of Columbia River estuary habitat.

American Wildlands	Contact Them Bozeman, Montana
American Wildlands received $15,000 for their "Safe Passages" project, which aims to change federal highway policies and funding to incorporate measures that diminish wildlife carnage and improve human safety across the U.S road network. In the coming year, American Wildlands hopes to influence the final outcome of the Transportation Equity Act to ensure State highway departments implement requirements for wildlife studies and mitigation in their planning. The project is working in the States of Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho to create national models for successful "on the ground" projects that demonstrate that busy highways can be designed or retrofitted for the migratory needs of wildlife.

BlueWater Network	Contact Them San Francisco, California
The BlueWater Network was granted $10,000 for their Public Lands Campaign, which advocates for the appropriate recreational use of "thrillcraft" -jet skis, snowmobiles and off-road vehicles. Since the inception of the campaign in 2000, Bluewater Network has contributed to victories in: banning jetskis in nearly all U.S. national parks; banning snowmobiles in Rocky Mountain National Park; limiting the number of snowmobiles in Yellowstone and Grand Teton parks; and, reducing the number of designated ORV trails in Big Cypress national park, all of which set nation-wide precedents. This year's funding will permit Bluewater Network to advocate for stringent snowmobile and ORV standards for all national parks and public lands and uphold recent snowmobile and ORV bans and agreements for substantive environmental review.

Conservation Leaders Network	Contact Them Wedderburn, Oregon
The Conservation Leaders Network received $10,000 of funding for its "Northwest Federal Forest Protection Project" to help the environmental community defend local federal forests against assaults from the Bush Administration. As the only non-profit that focuses on providing support to and forging ties between county commissioners environmental leaders, and individual citizens, CLN employs economic arguments to show officials that their counties have more to gain from standing, healthy forests than degraded or clearcut forests. In 2005, several critical issues - including the Biscuit Fire, the Northwest Forest Plan, and Roadless protections - will play out in the Northwest in which county officials will play a pivotal role. Project goals include: generating county support for roadless protections; educating county officials on the economic benefits of old growth conservation; facilitating media support; restricting ORV use in federal forests; organizing and strengthening county voices on management plans; and tracking reauthorization of County Federal Forest Payments and the actions of the Association of O&C Counties.

Endangered Species Coalition	Contact Them Washington, DC
The ESC was awarded $15,000 of general support to protect our nation's most imperiled plants and animals. Currently, the ESC is conducting three campaigns: Empower the Grassroots; Educate the Public; and Uphold the Endangered Species Act. ESC will facilitate communications between local, regional, and national environmental groups in order to more effectively coordinate campaign strategies. To enhance education of the public, ESC will continue to improve and expand its email publications, monthly magazine, and website. ESC will also improve relationships with key reporters and editorial boards in their targeted states. The third campaign will focus on preventing anti-ESA bills from passing through Congress, as well as removing anti-ESA riders from appropriations and authorization bills.

Environmental Protection Information Center	Contact Them Washington, DC
Epic received a $15,000 grant for their Redwood Protection Program work. The project works to protect and restore the biodiversity of Northwest California, an isolated region that contains some of the wildest, most diverse habitat remaining in the West today. EPIC will use an integrated science-based approach that combines public education, citizen advocacy, and strategic litigation. They will monitor, and when appropriate, challenge ancient forest timber sales and proposed logging operations on public and private lands, including the proposed logging of 500 acres in the area of the proposed Wild and Scenic Black Butte River. The campaign also intends to reform Maxxam/Pacific Lumber's logging practices, while exposing its false "certified sustainable" labels, and inadequate "Habitat Conservation Plan." Additionally, EPIC will form a coalition to fight a gold-mining proposal that would drain 190,000 gallons a day from Canyon Creek, a critical cold-water tributary to the Klamath-Trinity Basin. Finally, but not least, EPIC will work with partners such as Earthjustice to prevent attempts to weaken existing environmental laws at the state and national levels.

Georgetown Environmental Law & Policy Center	Contact Them Washington, DC
GELPI received $20,000 to conduct research and education on legal and policy issues related to environmental protection and the conservation of natural resources. Working with conservation groups in California and the Northwest, the Institute will continue to assist groups fighting regulatory "takings" challenges to public conservation programs that protect forest and aquatic habitats for endangered species. The most immediate and important cases involve the ongoing dispute over western water rights and species protection. An ecologically destructive precedent would be set if the courts considered the provision of instream flows to protect endangered fish a "taking" of private water rights reserved for irrigation purposes. Across the West, a number of such "takings" challenges have been filed by extraction groups. The Institute's most significant contribution to these litigations has been to present the point of view that endangered species regulations on private land are designed to protect public rights, and therefore, do not represent a "taking." The Institute's expertise on takings law continues to allow it to supply the courts with a sophisticated academic analysis of the issues.

Grand Canyon Trust	Contact Them Flagstaff, Arizona
The Grand Canyon Trust's Kane Ranch Project received $20,000 to help protect and restore two large ranches in northern Arizona. The purchase of these ranches, totaling 900,000 acres near the north rim of the Grand Canyon, will result in the single largest grazing reduction accomplished by the environmental community to date. After the removal of cattle from some of the areas and lowering their numbers in other areas, the Trust will begin habitat restoration projects in the most critical parts of the landscape. Under the Trust's stewardship, the ranches will be managed as an important ecological link connecting three national monuments, two national recreation areas, eight wilderness areas, and Grand Canyon National Park. The purchase will also prevent the lands being sold to various grazing operators or for cabin sites.

Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center	Contact Them Ashland, Oregon
KS Wild received $15,000 to preserve wilderness-quality lands, old-growth forests, and riparian habitat across more than five million acres of public land in Southern Oregon and Northern California. The program is focused on protecting roadless areas while working with other regional and national environmental groups to oppose the Bush administration's land management policies and environmental law rollbacks. KS Wild is currently taking the lead in monitoring over 100 timber sales and other development projects in the region, as well as opposing road construction, cattle grazing, and lethal predator control operations.

Montana Wilderness Association	Contact Them Helena, Montana
MWA was awarded $20,000 for their Forest and Travel Plan Campaign seeking long-term administrative protection for roadless lands until wilderness designation can be achieved. Several management plans are currently underway that collectively address nearly all of the State's 8 million roadless acres. In addition to ORV regulation, these management plans also determine future levels of logging, road construction, and energy development, and identify areas for future wilderness designation (if any). Other projects include: Protecting the Rocky Mountain Front from natural gas development; Conducting Wilderness Study Act litigation; Collaborating with Canadian organizations to protect transboundary wildlands; and Educating and engaging Montana's citizenry through such programs as the "Wilderness Walks" program.

New England Forestry Foundation	Contact Them Yarmouth, Maine
The New England Forestry Foundation received $15,000 for their Private Landowner Network (PLN), a national database of conservation resources for private landowners and their legal service professionals. This internet-based resource for private landowners in the Northwest U.S. will allow them to access professionals dedicated to helping them conserve their land. The PLN online directory of professionals will include: conservation professionals, including legal professionals; estate planners; appraisers; sustainable forestry consultants; biologists; water quality experts; non-profit organizations; and wildlife management consultants. In addition, the PLN will provide articles, white papers, case studies and success stories from the first-person perspective of the landowner that illustrate the benefits of sustainably managed private lands for wildlife habitat and natural resource protection.

Pacific Forest Trust	Contact Them Santa Rosa, California
The Pacific Forest Trust was given $15,000 for the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument (CSNM) Forestlands Initiative. The CSNM is a unique part of the greater Klamath Cascade bioregion, which contains the most biodiverse coniferous forest in the world. Roughly 40% of the CSNM planning area is privately owned and unprotected, half of which are private commercial forest ownerships. Much of this commercial forestland is for sale and is prime real estate for development, threatening the integrity and purpose of the monument. Thus, PFT is working to negotiate and secure purchase and sale agreements, and options to permanently protect the majority of the commercially owned forestland. The ultimate goal is to transfer as much of these lands as possible to the BLM, and for the rest to be permanently protected by conservation easements.

Pacific Rivers Council	Contact Them Eugene, Oregon
The Pacific Rivers Councils received $20,000 for their proposed restoration alternative for the Biscuit Fire burn area (Siskiyou Forest, Southwestern Oregon). Despite public outcry and scientific scorn, the salvage proposal for the Biscuit Fire Recovery Area dismisses the detrimental impacts of salvage logging and its associated road building, allows logging in roadless areas, presents faulty economics, and lacks a true restoration alternative. Roads, like fires, cause increases in erosion, increased flooding, degradation of downstream habitats, and unlike fires intercept natural water routing. Thus, Pacific Rivers has developed a watershed restoration compromise, which will allow ample logging in already roaded areas to create over 400 jobs, while still protecting ancient forests and salmon streams.

PEER	Contact Them Washington, DC
PEER was awarded $20,000 to work with federal agency employees to expose information, protect scientists, and to take legal and administrative action to preserve biodiversity. Acting as a conduit for the release of critical internal documents and exposing agency malfeasance, PEER forces government agencies to be accountable for their actions against the environment. The three main objectives of PEER are to maintain the integrity of agency science, conserve and protect wildlife and to press for the enforcement of wildlife and natural resource laws. PEER will defend agency scientists being persecuted for exposing the agency's use of flawed science, conduct anonymous surveys to agency scientists, and utilizing the Data Quality Act to invalidate scientific work that has been altered to benefit commercial interests. To protect wildlife, PEER will prevent the turning over of National Refuges to the management of states, tribes and other entities.

Resource Media	Contact Them Seattle, Washington
Resource Media's campaign to protect Southern Oregon's Siskiyou Wild Rivers was granted $15,000. Resource Media is currently leading the effort to develop a sound communications strategy for groups opposing the Forest Service's Biscuit fire salvage logging plan. Creating a communications strategy on this issue is particularly challenging, because most of the public perceives burned forest as already destroyed, and the term "salvage logging" implies usefulness not wastefulness. The Campaign will make the case that natural recovery is already taking place in many areas and that a huge, taxpayer-subsidized salvage logging program is not needed.

Siskiyou Project	Contact Them Cave Junction, Oregon
The Siskiyou Project received $20,000 for their Save the Wild Siskiyou Campaign to protect the area from the Biscuit logging proposal in the short term, and to establish the Siskiyou Wild Rivers National Conservation Area in the long term. The Siskiyou area serves as the last refuge for many wild salmon and other species. Importantly, this designation would establish cohesive protections for the watersheds of five National Wild & Scenic rivers and nine candidate rivers on public lands. It would also establish wilderness designation for currently unprotected roadless areas.

Sitka Conservation Society	Contact Them Sitka, Alaska
The Sitka Conservation Society was granted $10,000 in general support for their work to protect the Tongass National Forest. SCS tracks every timber sale in the Tongass, and is the only local group with a GIS mapping facility, which they effectively use to track timber sale and logging information pertaining to federal, state, and native corporation land management. This year, SCS priorities will be to: 1) Make their database more available through the Alaskan Rainforest Campaign Network; 2) Mount local efforts to educate the public about the consequences to their way of life from the effects of intensive timber harvests and 3) Assist in making further wilderness proposals in Congress, and assist proposed amendments to the Tongass timber subsidies program. SCS has also developed a 10-point plan of action in response to the "Roadless Rule" exemption of the Tongass that includes tracking, mapping and litigating timber sales resulting from the exemption.

Southeast Alaska Conservation Council	Contact Them Juneau, Alaska
SEACC received $20,000 to defend the Tongass and Taku River watersheds. This year, SEACC will: mobilize and education citizens, media and decision makers; broadcast the strong public record of support for wildlands targeted for development; document high taxpayer costs and poor market demand for Tongass logging and its accompanying roads; and demonstrate that federal subsidies would be better spent on sustainable and growing industries, particularly fisheries, recreation and tourism. SEACC will collaborate with other Environmental NGOs in defending against legislative riders and amendments designed to open up the Tongass to further development, and will also work to secure lasting protection for one-half million acres of key fish and wildlife areas in jeopardy, despite protection allotted to them in the 1999 Tongass Forest Plan.
Tuleyome	Contact Them Davis, California
Tuleyome was awarded $10,000 for the Cache Creek Campaign to protect and restore both Cache Creek wilderness and its wild free-flowing river. While the nation's efforts to protect wilderness are hindered by Congress, Tuleyome hopes that its efforts to protect Cache Creek (Napa/Yolo counties) will energize activists throughout California. This year, legislation will be introduced to protect Cache Creek as a State Wild and Scenic River. The Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act will also be reintroduced and will protect 31,000 acres of Cache Creek wilderness if passed. Tuleyome will build support for these bills throughout the state and nation through education, outreach, and advocacy. Tuleyome will also promote their organizational model and tools for conservation to other groups and organizations in California and throughout the West.

WaterWatch of Oregon	Contact Them Portland, Oregon
Waterwatch of Oregon was awarded $20,000 to demand balanced water allocation in the Klamath Basin, and to defend ecologically significant rivers in Oregon from the effects of increased population pressures. Waterwatch plans to take advantage of this year's re-licensing settlement negotiations for the six mainstem Klamath River dams and the Bureau of Reclamation's Conservation Implementation Program as an opportunity to reform management of the Basin's waters and habitats. Long term goals for the Basin are: retire 250,000 acre feet of water rights; phase-out commercial farming on Tule Lake and the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuges; improve state and federal water management; and, insure that the survival needs of fish and wildlife are met at all times. Additionally, the grant will continue to support Waterwatch's program to stop Oregon municipalities from using the rationale of population projections to proactively lock up water rights and consequently reduce instream flows crucial to threatened salmon and steelhead.

Western Environmental Law Center	Contact Them Eugene , Oregon
The Western Environmental Law Center received $20,000 for their Northern California Project to protect the biologically rich and unique ecoregion of this area. Currently, the most significant threat posed to Northern California is the steady weakening of bedrock environmental legislation including the Northwest Forest Plan, the National Forest Management Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. In addition to responding to such region-wide threats, the Center will focus on four site-specific projects: 1) Preventing the Biscuit Fire salvage logging threats in the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion, 2) Protecting the headwaters of Humboldt County from Pacific Lumber's destructive logging practices, 3) Protecting the Canyon Creek Watershed in Trinity National Forest from a proposed gold mine and the accompanying water degradation and road construction, and 4) Fighting the proposed water bagging project, which will take 13.2 million gallons of water from the already impaired Mad River and transport the water in inflatable bladder bags to a pulp mill on the biologically important Humboldt Bay.

Wilderness Watch	Contact Them Missoula, Montana
Wilderness Watch received $20,000 t to confront damaging national policies, management plans, and project proposals that threaten the integrity of wilderness areas. A well-documented trend of degradation is steadily eroding and diluting wilderness stewardship standards throughout the federal management agencies; Wilderness Watch educates and empowers agency managers to understand that their management decisions decide the future of lands within the National Wilderness Preservation System. This year, Wilderness Watch will work to protect wilderness areas throughout the High Sierra, Oregon, Washington, and the Northern Rockies. Activities will include: assuring court ordered measures are established to restore the damage caused by commercial packstations in the John Muir and Ansel Adams Wildernesses; working to overturn a F.S. decision to allow the reconstruction and operation of 12 abandoned dams within Emigrant Wilderness; and strengthening the organization's ability to engage more wilderness advocates in wilderness stewardship issues.

Wildlands Center for Preventing Roads	Contact Them Missoula, Montana
Wildlands CPR received $20,000 for the Transportation Policy Program, which hopes to promote road removal, prevent road construction, and limit motorized recreation. Currently, the Forest Service is attempting to overhaul their offroad vehicle regulations through a national rule change, which has the potential to set policy across the country to keep ORVs on designated routes only. Working with the National Trails and Waters Coalition, Wildlands CPR is spearheading a national campaign to pressure the Forest Service to make this policy a reality. The campaign will focus heavily on organizing the traditional grassroots activist base, as well as non-traditional allies. Wildlands' Restoration Program is also working to increase the capacity of communities to restore watersheds through the process of road removal, simultaneously providing these communities with positive economic alternatives to logging.

Western Land Exchange Project	Contact Them Seattle, Washington
The Western Land Exchange Project received $20,000 for their research, outreach and advocacy for federal land exchange policy reform. This year, a particular focus will be the new trend of legislated land trades that involve wilderness designation. In their efforts to protect certain areas, some large wilderness advocacy groups are negotiating provisions designed to win support from anti-wilderness stakeholders such as ranchers, local politicians, developers, and ORV enthusiasts. This trend of "buying" wilderness protection turns wilderness bills into omnibus land-use, development, and policy-altering bills with some wilderness provisions attached. The impact of such exchanges on resources, especially water in the West, is of particular concern. In short, whatever pure protection gained in one area is potentially paid for through land privatization and /or development projects in another. In regard to water supplies in the arid West, these bills often implement large-scale water distribution projects that depend on an undetermined groundwater supply in the area being traded. A great deal of WLXP's work involves educating, assisting, and empowering citizen groups that are dealing with land exchange issues. WLXP will ensure that the consequences of these trades are disclosed and understood; that the trades advance the public interest as required by law; and that land exchange alternatives are given serious consideration.

World Wildlife Fund - Chile	Contact Them Valdivia, Chile
The World Wildlife Fund Chile was awarded $25,000 for the protection and management of the newly created 60,000 hectare Valdivian Coastal Reserve, "Chaihuin-Venezia." . WWF is currently working with a number of local and international partners to convert the majority of the area into a private reserve, open to the general public, and managed by a Chilean foundation. Project activities will include: developing initial management capacity for the reserve; zoning and demarcating boundaries and areas for public use; establishing the initial infrastructure; and fostering local economic development by integrating community members into their efforts. The project will also begin restoration of 3,000 hectares of eucalyptus plantations to native forest, and address the planning and development of a Marine Protected Area for the adjacent marine ecosystems.

International Biodiversity

Altai Assistance Project	Contact Them Wadhams, New York
The Altai Assistance Project received $20,000 for their work regarding land use planning and nature parks management, community-based eco-tourism, and sustainable energy in the Altai. Work for 2005 will include: 1) the creation of an Altai Republic level Association of Nature Parks, which will hold quarterly meetings and develop an overall Altai Nature Parks Management Plan, 2) the provision of legal and technical assistance to Nature Parks and regional land use planners regarding carrying capacity, identification of sacred sites, economic alternatives to poaching, and marketing of ecological products, and 3) a exchange visit to Nepal for park, tourism and energy professionals to experience well-functioning national parks, small off-grid energy development, mountain conservation, eco-tourism projects. Because Russia has begun a full-scale land privatization process, to be completed by 2010, this year will be critical in putting into place mechanisms to preserve the environment and cultural heritage of the Altai.

Amazon Conservation Association	Contact Them Washington, DC
he Amazon Conservation Society was given $25,000 to establish a 250,000-acre conservation concession in the Amazonian cloud forests of southeastern Peru. A conservation concession is a contractual agreement where the government provides long-term management responsibility for ecosystem and biodiversity conservation through a concession agreement with a non-governmental institution. Conservation concessions provide a unique opportunity to protect large tracts of state-owned land with high biodiversity value, complementing land purchase and easement strategies. The long-term plan for the Cloud Forest includes an ambitious research agenda, a conservation and management program, and a canopy walkway.

Center for Safe Energy	Contact Them Petersham, Massachusetts
The Russian Environmental Partnership Program (REPP) at The Center for Safe Energy (CSE) received $20,000 to preserve the Altai's rivers and protected territories. The two issues at the heart of the project are the controversial Altai Hydroelectric Dam on the Katun River, and the political and financial crises faced by Altai's nature parks and reserves. Despite being halted numerous times by citizen protest and legal action, the Katun Dam's developers are currently hiring construction workers, having rushed through a governmental environmental impact assessment and bypassed local hearings. An additional plight facing the Altai is a new federal law taking place in 2005 liquidating all nature parks and forcing them to re-register as new entities. CSE will help activists investigate different registration options, in order to ensure long-term protection of the parklands. Other activities will include: demonstrating renewable, sustainable alternative energy systems; supporting anti-poaching activities; and providing technical assistance and seed funding to NGOs and indigenous peoples committed to protecting the region.

Defensores del Bosque Chilenos	Contact Them Santiago, Chile
Defensores was awarded $25,000 for their quarterly newsletter, "Voces del Bosque". Providing information and news that alerts and informs supporters, Voces del Bosque is considered a vital tool in defending Chile's native forests. The newsletter is the only periodical that creates public awareness about industrial projects and government policies that threaten the environment, particularly native forests, in Chile. The newsletter also serves as important vehicle for publicizing conservation efforts across the country. Half of the funding will go towards general program support to fund activities such as Defensores' Forest Markets Campaign, Save the Alerce Campaign, the No Alumysa Campaign, and various other environmental education and outreach initiatives.

ELAW	Contact Them Eugene, Oregon
Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (E-LAW) received $20,000 to provide advocates throughout Latin America with the tools they need to conserve ecologically significant watersheds and forest ecosystems. Half of the grant will be directed to Chilean advocates working to protect the Patagonian region. ELAW advocates help citizens strengthen and enforce laws to protect biodiversity and ecosystems from ill-advised development projects and environmental degradation. Projects in Latin America this year will include: 1) protecting Choco forests in Ecuador from the monoculture agriculture of the palm oil industry, 2) preserving the Papagayo River Basin in Mexico from a hydroelectric dam project, 3) protecting rivers and watersheds in the Colca Valley of Peru from destructive mining operations, and 4) saving forests and rivers in Ixiamas, Bolivia from slash and burn farming methods. ELAW will also provide technical assistance to FIMA regarding a land management and zoning plan for the Aisen region, and will assist in reviewing a biodiversity protection strategy currently being developed by the Chilean government.

Environmental Law Institute	Contact Them Washington, DC
The Environmental Law Institute was awarded $20,000 to strengthen Chile's environmental enforcement capacity. The Institute has been chosen by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Chilean government to fulfill a commitment under the U.S. Chile Free Trade Agreement (UCFTA) for the two governments to cooperate on environmental enforcement. Although a number of legal tools exist in Chile to address problems, enforcement mechanisms, policies and strategies are in the early stages of development. Chilean enforcement officials are also confronting political and economic pressure to refrain from enforcing the law. Officials from CONAF, Consejo de Defensa del Estado, CONAMA, the Chilean judiciary and municipal governments will be provided with enforcement training with the aim of strengthening implementation skills as well as catalyzing the creation of an in-country network of environmental enforcement. The primary mechanisms for this program will be a two-week study tour in Washington D.C. for fifteen Chilean environmental enforcement officials, and a four to six month practical training program on the U.S. for a senior environmental enforcement official to study comparative environmental enforcement methodologies.

ForestEthics	Contact Them Portland, Oregon
ForestEthics was awarded $40,000 for their Chile Native Forest Program. ForestEthics will develop conservation plans for company-owned native forested lands, and detail how the companies will implement, and be certified for, sustainable Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) practices. Additionally, ForestEthics will lend support on other important threats to native Chilean forests such as the proposed Alumysa project, and the coastal road in the Valdivian rainforest. ForestEthics also intends to expand and coordinate the World Temperate Rainforest Network.

International Rivers Network	Contact Them Berkeley, California
IRN received $20,000 for their Aluminum Campaign, a global effort to increase awareness of the connection between the negative environmental and social impacts of large dams and the production, consumption and wasting of aluminum. As well as posing environmental threats through bauxite mining, airborne fluorides and perflourcarbon emissions, aluminum consumption accounts for 6% of the world's hydropower production. However, if recycled, the 800,000 tons of cans trashed in the U.S. annually would provide the same amount of aluminum that two large smelters produce in a year. The Campaign also continues to address critical dam projects around the world, and works to strengthen the environmental standards of international financial institutions financing the aluminum industry.

Island Conservation & Ecology Group	Contact Them Santa Cruz, California
ICEG was awarded $20,000 of general support for their work to protect island biodiversity. This year's goal is to have designated all 17 unprotected islands of Baja California's Pacific Islands as part of a biosphere reserve, and once this is accomplished, to remove the islands' invasive species. These actions will be the culmination of eight years of background policy work, community involvement, and internal capacity building in western Mexico. The 17 islands have 49 endemic species and subspecies of vertebrates and over 61 endemic plants. The islands are also home to 20 breeding seabird species and subspecies and have the world's largest known breeding colonies for seven species of those seabird species and pinnipeds. ICEG's work eliminates the only significant extinction threats to the flora and fauna of the islands and seeks the long-term protection needed to prevent extinctions in the future.

Pacific Environment	Contact Them Oakland, California
Pacific Environment was granted $20,000 of support for their conservation program that collaboratively blends science, public education, and outreach to policy-makers. The Altai's ecosystems are on a collision course with ever intensifying industrial development, including logging, mining, oil and gas development, and the construction of large dams. The program's conservation efforts will: Identify and propose new wilderness in the Republic of Altai; Strengthen monitoring of environmental threats to the region; Promote transboundary conservation in the Greater Altai and; Launch a new campaign to halt the re-proposed Katun Dam.

Rainforest Action Network	Contact Them San Francisco, California
The Rainforest Action Network (RAN) was awarded $15,000 for their efforts to permanently protect southern Chile's temperate rainforests. RAN will continue to keep the pressure on forest products companies by building on the successful Home Depot markets campaign (along with ForestEthics). RAN will also keep the heat on Chilean companies by pressuring American banks to discontinue their financing of unsustainable projects, and by reaching agreements with other large wood purchasers of Chilean wood in the U.S. Complementing these strategies. In addition, RAN will offer local environmental and indigenous groups strategic advice and grants to assist their efforts with the Chilean government and industry leaders.


Population & Consumption

As You Sow	Contact Them San Francisco, California
As You Sow received $15,000 for their shareholder advocacy initiative at Time Inc, the world's largest magazine paper purchaser. The initiative will ask Time to develop recycled content paper goals for their magazines and to strengthen requirements for certification of supplier forest lands. As You Sow will partner with Conservatree to utilize formal dialogue, shareholder resolutions, economic arguments, a study of the company's carbon footprint and direct media-based pressure to convince Time to alter their production methods. The adoption of recycled content goals at Time could catalyze a shift in the entire industry's production methods thereby conserving dwindling forest resources.

Californians for Population Stabilization	Contact Them Santa Barbara, California
Californians for Population Stabilization seeks recieved $25,000 to expand the radio component of their Overpopulation Awareness Media Campaign. CAPS's ads educate the public on the State's overpopulation problem, including its immigration component, and the impact that this has on California's environment. Last year's ads focused on air pollution and the resultant severe breathing problems caused by immigration-driven growth in the San Bernardino/Riverside area, which has the worst air in the nation. The ads ran for three weeks in August and as a result CAPS was inundated by requests for general information and membership requirements. This year's radio ads will likely focus on population growth and the looming crisis of water shortages. Potential target areas include Palm Springs or Sacramento. CAPS will develop these ads with Weeden input, as they have done in the past.

Casa	Contact Them Guanajuato, Mexico
The Centro para los Adolescentes de San Miguel de Allende (CASA) requests continued support for their Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights Advocacy Campaign. The majority of Weeden funding will be used in four Mexican States for radio and television announcements and programs that aim to increase favorable public attitudes towards adolescent reproductive and abortion rights. The campaign will produce and broadcast a weekly radio program, which will include serial dramas, call-ins, and expert guests. Complimenting mass media will be on-the-ground activities such as local theatre performances and billboards. Additionally, a team of 4 to 6 youth sexual and reproductive health rights advocates will carry out advocacy trainings with community youth in all four States, including a summer training program for the radio team.

Center for a New American Dream	Contact Them Takoma Park, Maryland
The Center for a New American Dream was rewarded $20,000 of general support for their work to counter the commercialization of our culture, and positively influence the way goods are produced and consumed. Ongoing and new programs include: "Back-to-School" campaign to provide sustainable alternatives to conventional school supplies; Do Not Junk Campaign to implement a national junk mail opt-out registry; "Institutional Program" that utilizes institutional purchasing power to promote demand for hybrid vehicles, green cleaning products, paper goods, and computers, and to explore the possibility of creating a Responsible Purchasing Network.

Center for Immigration Studies	Contact Them Washington, DC
The Center for Immigration Studies received $25,000 in general support for their work examining and disseminating the demographic and economic impacts of mass immigration into the U.S. Activities for the following year include: 1) "Snapshot" demographic pieces that provide a detailed analysis of the most recent Census data; 2) Fiscal Studies that examine the costs and benefits of various illegal alien amnesty plans by closely examining both the services that immigrants use and taxes that they pay; 3) Economic & Immigration reports that focus on the economic aspects of immigration such as its effects on per capita GDP and the high social costs of cheap labor; 4) Backgrounder papers highlighting particular issues, such as the medical brain drain effecting "sending" countries."This Week in Immigration" will also continue to have a strong reputation among scholars, politicians and the media.

Co-op America	Contact Them Washington, DC
Co-op America's PAPER Project, was awarded $20,000 to shift U.S. magazine paper purchasing to environmental papers, thereby catalyzing an increase in the production and long-term viability of environmental papers and the protection of endangered forests. The magazine industry takes a tremendous toll on the environment with an annual 12 billion magazines printed almost exclusively on virgin-fiber paper. Co-op America's research suggests that switching 5 to 8 prestigious magazines with circulations of 500,000+ will create enough paper demand to allow the paper industry to bring its unused recycled capacity online. The project will use education, dialogue, and pressure on leading publishers; and consumer outreach and mobilization to persuade publications to adopt environmental paper use in the next three years. The National Geographic Society, which publishes five different magazines with a total circulation of nearly ten million, will be the project's primary focus.

Diversity Alliance for a Sustainable America	Contact Them Oakland, California
The Diversity Alliance for a Sustainable America received $15,000 support for their educational efforts to reach politicians, policy-makers, citizens and the media about the impact of U.S. population growth. DASA focuses particularly on how immigration exacerbates the nation's population-related problems such as urban sprawl, environmental degradation, overcrowded schools and roads, the health care crisis, and declining wages and unemployment. Importantly, DASA will continue bring out minority voices to counter the idea that immigrant reform is really immigrant-bashing. DASA feels it is uniquely positioned to represent Bush's amnesty proposal as harmful to America's poor, minorities, and legal immigrants.

E Magazine	Contact Them Westport, Connecticut
E Magazine received $15,000 to underwrite the research, writing, and public relations/distribution costs for their coverage of population and immigration topics. The magazine continues to be one of the few mainstream publications willing to discuss the ramifications of population growth/mass immigration for the U.S. environment. Additionally, the distribution of these articles will be increased through "Our Planet", the E Magazine email newsletter that reaches 100,000 readers weekly, and through their "Earth Talk" column, which is syndicated through over 400 newspapers and websites.

Environmental Paper Network	Contact Them Ann Arbor, MI
EPN was awarded $15,000 to advance systemic changes in the paper industry at the macro-level. Weeden funds will be used to complete and promote an environmental indicators baseline report on the state of the paper industry, an analysis which is currently almost completely lacking. Currently, the North American industry is only monitored according to financial performance parameters including sales, growth, and commodity pricing. A consistently monitored pulp and paper industry will allow EPN to: establish paper industry goals in regard to fiber sourcing , recycled fiber utilization and, and clean production; measure baseline and ongoing industry progress towards accomplishing these goals; re-frame the debate with the paper industry according to parameters that are meaningful to the environmental community. The grant will also be used to implement a comprehensive issue-awareness media and communications campaign that will include inner-network communication, as well as creation of public awareness materials such as a national paper scorecard that enables end-users to identify and choose papers with the best environmental attributes.

Green Press Initiative	Contact Them Encinitas, California
The Green Press Initiative and their Canadian counterpart, Markets Initiative received $20,000 to foster systematic market shifts in the book publishing sector that will conserve natural resources and preserve endangered forests. By July 2008, GPI and MI hope to increase the U.S. book industry's utilization of post-consumer recycled fiber from 5% to 30%. PCI and MI will continue to secure commitments from publishers, and provide technical support to participating publishing houses and printing companies. GPI will also work with the EPA Office of the Resource Conservation Challenge to challenge the CEO's and Presidents of all U.S. publishing houses, manufacturers, printers, and suppliers to do what they can to help them reach the 2008 goal.

Grist Magazine	Contact Them Seattle, Washington
A $15,000 grant was awarde to Grist Magazine, a free online environmental magazine that publishes environmental news, analysis, opinions, consumer tips, book reviews, cartoons, action alerts, and green activist profiles. With half of its 150,000 monthly readers in their 20s and 30s, Grist is geared toward inspiring young adults to be more environmentally active. Grist will use funds to expand its"Ask Umbra" column, a humorous column offering useful advice on ways people can live more sustainably. In the last year, "Ask Umbra" has increased from a bi-weekly to twice weekly format. "Ask Umbra" continues to be marketed to a variety of audiences including colleges and universities, environmental organizations, sustainable home and living magazines, newspapers, websites, and consumer groups. Additionally, part of this year's grant will be used to report on U.S. and Global population growth and its negative impacts on the environment.

NumbersUSA	Contact Them Arlington, Virginia
NumbersUSA recieved $20,000 in continued support of their efforts to increase their activist base to100,000 persons by the end of the year, in order to strengthen the voice of population reform in Washington. The failure of the Sierra Club to make the connection between immigration, population growth, and environmental degradation has inspired NumbersUSA to create their own mega-organization, with the intent of attracting members interested in both the environment and population reduction. Since September 2001, NumbersUSA has grown ten-fold, from 3,000 to 43,000 members, benefiting in part from increased concerns about border security. However, Numbers is increasingly attracting members who are concerned with sprawl, habitat loss, and pollution and who recognize population growth as an important causal factor. Numbers encourages members to be active in sending faxes, letters and phone calls to Members of Congress, and the media. One of next year's projects is to create a website that compares cities and counties by various quality of life measures relative to their respective levels of population growth.

Rare	Contact Them Washington, DC
The RARE Center's Population and Environment Program recieved $20,000 to support their serial radio drama, Coconut Bay, which, after a two-year hiatus, will have two new episodes broadcast each week throughout the Eastern Caribbean. In its three years to date, the program has shown success in reducing population pressures on the environment, increasing the use of services at reproductive health clinics, and promoting the use of contraceptives. As a result of the program's success, popularity, support from local government, and its recent partnership with the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), RARE Radio will launch a new season of the drama, which touches upon social issues that affect everyday people in the region-- family life planning, drug abuse, spousal abuse, environmental degradation, teenage pregnancy, etc. Objectives of the series include: producing and airing 204 fifteen minute episodes; aggressively building listening audience, continuously evaluating programming with focus groups and questionnaires; and working toward program financial sustainability.

Redefining Progress	Contact Them Oakland, California
Redefining Progress was awarded $50,000 to strengthen sustainability education with the Ecological Footprint. Easily understood by both children and adults, the "Ecological Footprint" is a scientific measure of the impact human activity has on the global ecosystem. The Footprint provides students with the tools to comprehend and combat the many sustainability-related problems they will inherit. Research conducted by RP indicates that there are many inadequacies in current materials for sustainability education, including the dominance of 'stand-alone' lesson plans that do not place sustainability in a larger context, few curriculum units or lesson series, limited correlation of lesson plans to state standards, and prohibitively high costs for quality education materials. RP addresses these shortcomings by providing comprehensive classroom materials that conform to state standard, which can be obtained at workshops led by specially trained teacher trainers. RP is also developing an online portal that will act as the definitive resource for sustainability education as well as a networking tool for educators.

University of California, S.F.	Contact Them San Francisco, California
The Center for Reproductive Health Research and Policy was awarded $20,000 for "Mobilizing Environmental Organizations to Support Family Planning". Environmental organizations and their 15 million members have the capability to educate and influence policy makers and the public about the importance of population issues, but have yet to sufficiently mobilize on this issue. Based on their evaluation of the successful California state supported family planning program "Family PACT", the USCF Center has prepared materials suitable for use by a variety of audiences: population and public health professionals, policy makers, print and electronic media and the public. The Center aims adapt these materials for use by environmental organizations, in order to turn this community's attention to the advocacy of domestic and international family planning programs.

University of Tennessee	Contact Them Knoxville, Tennessee
The Center for Clean Products and Clean Technologies at the University of Tennessee received $15,000 for a life-cycle assessment of paper pulp production, comparing kenaf-based production with plantation soft wood tree-based production. Manufacture of paper pulp from kenaf is expected to have several inherent advantages for the environment, including reduced dependence on non-renewable resources such as old-growth forest, reduced agricultural chemical use, and increased carbon dioxide sequestration. However, a thorough life cycle analysis of kenaf pulp production has never been done. This study will document the environmental advantages/ disadvantages by quantifying and reporting on 14 environmental impact categories. The study will establish baselines for measuring environmental performance, and will prioritize areas for future action and research.