Domestic Biodiversity
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Washington, DC
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Bozeman, Montana
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San Francisco, California
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Sointula, BC
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Davis, California
| International Biodiversity | Population & Consumption |
| Domestic Biodiversity |
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| Alaska Wilderness League |
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| The Alaska Wilderness League was granted $20,000 for their efforts 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 will become prohibitively expensive. Working with Taxpayers for Common Sense and former Republican Congressman (and Alaska Wilderness League board member) Tom Evans, AWL has recruited fiscal conservative powerhouse, Steve Chabot (R-OH) to champion the amendment and help educate fiscally conservative decision makers about the amount of tax dollars spent on building roads in or around the Tongass. ATo support this legislative campaign, AWL will work with media, provide weekly updates on its website, and recruit, train, and unleash 100-200 citizen advocates on Capitol Hill. | |
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| American Wildlands |
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| American Wildlands received $20,000 for the Safe Passages and Corridors of Life programs, which addresses the negative impacts of major highways on wildlife movements and habitat connectivity in the Northern Rockies. AW’s goals for 2006 are to: 1) advance and promote science-based management practices for safe passage structures and mitigation measures to influence wildlife/highway safe passage-related laws and policies at the national and state level; 2) improve relationships between state department of transportations and outside interests so that these two different “corridor” mindsets (one of a highway corridor and one of a wildlife corridor) more readily work together; and, 3) continue on-going and establish new highway/wildlife conflict mitigation projects within six of seven identified major corridors within the Northern Rockies. | |
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| BlueWater Network |
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| Bluewater Network recieved $20,000 for their Public Lands Campaign. By pressuring the National Park Service to conduct a survey of off-road vehicle use in the park system during 2004-2005, Bluewater staff discovered that more than 90 park units - including Yosemite, Grand Canyon and Mount Rainier - experience illegal off-road vehicle use resulting in major resource damage. Furthermore, although jet skis are banned in all but 10 national park units, the Bush administration is working to reopen four additional park units to the machines. The Network will defend the current bans, and attempt to permanently block re-openings in key areas through strategic litigation. Bluewater is also taking an innovative approach by working with insurance companies to write exclusions into policies for thrill craft that nullify coverage if the vehicle is involved in an accident in a prohibited area. To buttress this disincentive for illegal use, Bluewater will also work with individual States to pass legislation that will make insurance mandatory for thrill craft owners, just as it is for automobiles. | |
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| Borealis Centre |
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| The Borealis Centre for Environment and Trade Research is an investigative research organization that provides support to markets campaigns ultimately concerned with securing the protection of key wilderness areas around the world. Borealis’s field research and investigations, and research assistance to partner NGOs underpin some of the most successful markets campaigning in recent years, including the Staples, Victoria’s Secret and Wal-Mart campaigns. Borealis member groups and clients include the Dogwood Alliance, ForestEthics, Corporate Ethics International, and the Rainforest Action Network. The Centre received $15,000 to create the first online Chain of Custody (CoC) research database, which will categorize, store and share information on particular products, from the forest (or ocean, mining site, etc.) right through to the retailer. As markets based forest campaigns have become more sophisticated, the need for an efficient system of sorting, sharing, and maintaining CoC information has become increasingly apparent. In particular, the Center’s Global Pulp Review will provide endangered forest campaigns with a better understanding of where products from endangered forests, such as the Northern Boreal, end up in the product distribution chain. | |
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| California Wilderness Coalition |
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| The California Wilderness Coalition recieved $20,000 for two campaigns that promote the permanent protection of both state and federal lands under the Federal and California Wilderness Acts. Their California Wild Heritage Campaign is working to pass the Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act through the House, which would permanently protect over 300,000 acres of wilderness, including 40,000 acres of the spectacular King Range, known as the “Lost Coast”. The second campaign, Defense of the Wild is focused on curbing ORV use throughout the state. CWC is actively participating in the Forest Services ORV route designation process by encouraging the fullest participation of its members in the public comments process, and by conducting painstaking GIS analysis of each national forest in order to identify any legal and illegal routes in key wilderness and habitat areas. | |
| Conservation Leaders Network |
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| The Conservation Leaders Network (CLN) received $15,000 for their “Northwest Federal Forest Protection Project.” As the only non-profit that focuses on providing support to and forging ties between county commissioners, environmental leaders, and individuals, CLN employs economic arguments to show officials that their counties have more to gain from standing, healthy forests than degraded or clearcut forests. With the success of the court challenge regarding the roadless rule, the recent change in Congress, and the possibility of gaining a “conservation” majority in the National Association of Counties’ Public Lands Committee, CLN sees a much-improved political climate for federal forest protection in 2007. | |
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| Environmental Protection Information Center | Contact
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| With this years grant of $20,000, EPIC will continue to protect the long-term health of the Redwood coast and Klamath-Siskiyou ecosystems of Northwestern California. EPIC monitors, comments, appeals and, when necessary, litigates against destructive extractive or infrastructure-related operations on public and private land. They track hundreds of Timber Harvest Plans (THPs) on private lands, and assess the cumulative impacts, which regulatory agencies far too often fail to adequately consider. Additional projects this year include: 1)conducting on-the-ground surveys of Forest Service Off-Road Vehicle (ORV) route designation proposals for the Mendocino and Six Rivers National Forests; 2) using the Clean Water Act to develop and implement Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) standards for non-point sources of water pollution on the Klamath River and its major tributaries, the Scott, Salmon and Shasta Rivers; 3) working to secure listed status for the Scott Bar and Siskiyou Mountain Salamanders under the Endangered Species Act; and, 4) litigating to protect water quality from logging-related discharges in Bear Creek. | |
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| Forest Guardians |
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| Forest Guardians was awarded $15,000 to gather and analyze information on public lands ranching in order to support the campaign to encourage reformation of outdated grazing policies. Forest Guardians will work to create: 1) a user-friendly website with interactive GIS maps and query-able databases of all grazing allotments and permittees on public lands; 2) a demographic profile of all public lands ranchers who control grazing allotments in “protected landscapes”; and 3) a spatial and informational database about public lands and their ecological values to identify where the greatest conflicts between livestock grazing and biodiversity exist.Based on information garnered from the West-wide grazing database, the threat to biodiversity from grazing could be underscored, organizing for state or federal buyout programs could be bolstered, and/or litigation against the U.S. Forest Service, BLM, and renegade ranchers could be brought. | |
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| FUSEE |
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| Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology (FUSEE) received $10,000 to engage the press, policymakers, and the public with critiques of firefighting, post fire salvage logging, and fire management planning from a wildland firefighter’s perspective. FUSEE is an Oregon-based organization that includes current and retired wildland firefighters, fire management professionals, rural property owners, and local citizens. Their goal is to fundamentally shift the model of forestry away from reactive fire suppression and towards proactive forest restoration. The grant will support the personnel costs and expenses necessary for the following projects: sending firefighters to speak at fire science and management conferences, environmental conferences, and community gathering; distributing hardcopies of their first publication, “A Reporter’s Guide to Wildland Fire,” which aims to reeducate journalists about wildfires; and, providing analysis and informal consulting on fire-related forest management issues to forest conservation groups, including several Weeden grantees such as EPIC, KSWild, and the Siskiyou Project. | |
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| Georgetown Environmental Law & Policy Center | Contact
Them |
| The Georgetown Environmental Law & Policy Institute (GELPI) received $20,000 to oppose regulatory "takings" challenges to public conservation programs that protect forest and aquatic habitats for endangered species in California and the Northwest. Most of the cases they have taken on involve a conflict between the use of water for irrigation purposes and the waters needs for endangered fish. An ecologically destructive precedent would be set if the courts considered the requirement of instream flows to protect endangered fish as 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. To date, the Institute has successfully prevailed over most all “takings” litigation, but perhaps their most significant contribution has been to promote the point of view that endangered species regulations on private land are designed to protect public rights, and therefore do not represent a "taking." | |
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| Klamath Siskiyou Wildlands Center | Contact
Them |
| KS Wild received $20,000 for their Conservation Program to preserve wilderness-quality lands, old-growth forests, and biodiversity across more than five million acres of Southern Oregon and Northern California. The program works to oppose the Bush administration's land management policies and environmental law rollbacks, with a focus on BLM Plan Revisions that could turn back the clock on unfettered old growth logging. KS Wild’s conservation strategy is three-fold: 1) Public Lands Monitoring defends roadless areas and old-growth forests from damaging timber sales, off-road vehicle abuse, and excessive cattle grazing and road-building projects through project tracking, comments, field monitoring, and strategic appeals and litigation; 2) Issue-oriented campaigning advocates for the protection of intact roadless areas, protection of threatened and endangered species, additional wilderness designation, and ecologically-driven redirection of land management activities through multi-stakeholder collaboration efforts; and 3) Education & Outreach involves educating the public, non-traditional allies and elected officials about the importance of functioning ecosystems, the threats to these ecosystems, and restorative alternatives to bad management. | |
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| National Center for Conservation Science and Policy |
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| The National Center for Conservation Science and Policy - a new organization formed by the combined programs and staff of the WWF Klamath-Siskiyou (Dominick DellaSala) and NCCSP offices in Ashland, Oregon - will provide scientific support to local, regional, and national conservation groups involved in forest advocacy in the Pacific Northwest. The Center will work on the following initiatives in 2006: (1) stop the Walden-Baird logging bill in the Senate and reframe the debate on post-fire logging; 2) protect roadless areas in the Biscuit area and across Oregon by providing scientific support to conservation groups and the Governor’s office; (3) provide the Siskiyou Project with a scientific synthesis of grazing impacts in the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument to present; and, (4) protect one million acres of conservation- important BLM lands in western Oregon – by providing scientific support for litigation and outreach regarding endangered old-growth forests and wildlife at risk. | |
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| PEER |
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| PEER’s (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility) objectives are to maintain the integrity of agency science, conserve and protect wildlife, expand and protect wilderness designation, and to press for the enforcement of wildlife and natural resource laws. Currently, PEER is working on behalf of nearly twenty federal wildlife scientists, by providing legal representation and access to the national media, aimed at deterring official alteration of agency science. Finally, PEER will focus on reversing water giveaways that would affect both national parks and wildlife refuges, and persuading Congress to enact safeguards to prevent the surrender of wildland water rights to support development schemes. | |
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| Resources First Foundation |
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| Resources First Foundation (RFF) received $15,000 for the “Private Landowner Network” (PLN), the only national database of conservation resources for private landowners and their legal service professionals. The tools and information contained on the PLN website provide a simple and effective means for landowners to connect with qualified, often local, professionals to navigate the complex ins and outs of real estate transactions, tax and estate planning, and regional land conservation activities. Weeden funding will allow RFF to maintain and build out the PLN websites, establish a new set of state nodes, amplify the legal and financial service provider data sets, and inaugurate the launch of the Conservation Tax Site. | |
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| The Siskiyou Project |
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| The Siskiyou Project received $20,000 the for the Siskiyou Wild Rivers Outreach Campaign to 1) expand public support for designation of the Siskiyou Wild Rivers National Monument Conservation Area, and 2) use advocacy and litigation to prevent logging, mining and other forms of habitat destruction. The campaign will focus on the Rogue Valley, the Illinois Valley, Portland Metro, Seattle, and Washington D.C. Siskiyou staff will use presentations, publications, free media, field research, and public comments to advance the public debate about current habitat destruction, and garner support for permanent protection of forests and aquatic ecosystems that support Siskiyou wildlife. The Siskiyou Project is currently involved in eleven lawsuits and numerous administrative appeals challenging the Forest Service and the BLM’s destructive management practices. Cultivating ties with local tourism industry, such as the Oregon Caves National Monument, is also an important campaign strategy as it encourages the local economy to move away from resource extraction and towards tourism and service jobs. | |
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| Sitka Conservation Society |
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| The Sitka Conservation Society was awarded $20,000 to protect the Tongass National Forest and advocate for a new Tongass future that is not reliant on industrial clear-cutting. Despite the timber industry’s atrophied contribution to the regional economy, planning of new timber sales continues at an implausible rate. This year, SCS will continue its ongoing support of the Alaska Rainforest Campaign’s attempts to reframe the debate for Tongass management. To this end, SCS will provide the ARC with agency monitoring reports, track all timber sales in the Tongass using GIS mapping, and build community presence at Forest Service Plan hearings and other public meetings. | |
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| Soda Mountain Wilderness Council |
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| The Soda Mountain Wilderness Council (SMWC) received $15,000 in general support to defend the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument (CSNM) in Southern Oregon. While the CSNM proclamation insists that Monument lands have been “set aside and reserved…for the purpose of protecting” their native species and natural features, heedless BLM management has allowed ORV, grazing, and other abuses SMWC will work to revise the Record of Decision (RoD) for the final Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument Management Plan so that it meets or exceeds the protection standards of the original Monument Proclamation. SMWC will file a lawsuit after the BLM releases their RoD – allegedly in late January 2007, and monitor first-out-of-the-gate management projects for compliance with the Plan and Proclamation. | |
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| Southeast Alaska Conservation Council |
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| The Southeast Alaska Conservation Council
(SEACC) was a awarded $20,000 general support to defend the Tongass forest
and Taku River watersheds, which continue to be threatened by clearcuts,
roads, mines, and privatization of public lands. SEACC’s court victory
overturning the1997 Tongass Land Management Plan dramatically improves
the likelihood of safeguarding high value wildlands pending completion
of the court mandated revision. In addition to ensuring that the revised
plan receives adequate public input, SEACC is negotiating the terms of
an injunction that would currently stop the Forest Service from authorizing
or moving ahead with timber sales in roadless areas. Other activities
for the coming year include: mobilizing and educating citizens, media
and decision makers; broadcasting the strong public record of support
for wildlands targeted for development; documenting high taxpayer costs
and poor market demand for Tongass logging and its accompanying roads;
and demonstrating that federal subsidies would be better spent on sustainable
and growing industries, particularly fisheries, recreation and tourism.
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| Tuleyome | Contact
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| Tuleyome recieved $15,000 to protect critical habitat in the Putah and Cache Creek region of northern California. Cache Creek flows though 100,000 acres of nearly contiguous public land owned by the BLM, California Department of Fish and Game, and the Yola County Parks Department. While this inner coastal range of oak woodlands, riparian habitat and chaparral communities are among the most biological diverse in the world, they are poorly represented by the current wilderness protection system. Restoring salmon to Cache Creek is Tuleyome’s largest goal. In this process Tuleyome will monitor Yola County planning efforts and develop citizen’s support for increased fishery habitat through local land management planning. Tuleyome will promote implementation of shallow water nurseries for salmon and other delta fisheries; implementation of fish passage at the Fremont Weir to prevent fish stranding and death; and fish passage at the settling basin and the Capay diversion dam. | |
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| The Sonoran Institute |
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| The Sonoran Institute was granted $20,000 to hire a full-time staff person to be situated on the Rocky Mountain Front (western Montana) to develop much needed local participation in regional conservation planning. The priority conservation challenges for the Front are motorized recreation on public lands, oil and gas development, and population growth and the concomitant residential subdivision of private adjacent agricultural lands. Working as an integral part of the larger Sonoran team, this person would build on the Institute’s expertise on collaborative conservation, and on the credibility the Institute has established though capacity building and economic development work along the Front. Senator Conrad Burns, and Governor Schweitzer have both indicated that they will not support conservation packages for the Front that are not “homegrown.” The Institute will build local support to complement the efforts of their advocacy-oriented partners at the Wilderness Society, Montana Wilderness Coalition, and Nature Conservancy. | |
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| Trout Unlimited |
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| Trout Unlimited recieved $20,000 to protect instream flows and fisheries on public lands in Montana. This project aims to influence the negotiation of federal reserved water rights between the Forest Service and the State of Montana. Quantifying the nature and extent of these rights will determine whether and to what degree the Forest Service has the right to protect and conserve the state’s river flows. Montana has a long-standing antipathy for federal control over water, and the state has resisted giving the Forest Service the ability to protect these public waters, preferring to keep their fate in state hands. The issue is now coming to a head under the pressure imposed by a 2009 statutory deadline for completion of the negotiations that started in 1997. To meet this deadline, both parties must submit a negotiated agreement for ratification by the 2007 state legislative session (January - April 2007). Weeden funds will support TU in mobilizing its grassroots membership, and implementing an outreach plan to build public knowledge of, and support for, meaningful water rights for public lands in Montana. |
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| Western Environmental Law Center |
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Them |
| The Western Environmental Law Center was awarded $20,000 to provide legal assistance to local conservation groups in the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion to uphold bedrock environmental laws and responsible ecosystem management policies. Like many other western wildlands, the Klamath-Siskiyou region is threatened by logging, mining, energy development, grazing, and road construction. WELC will continue to work to protect this region from site specific threats such as revisions to the National Forest Management Act regulations, the Forest Service’s travel management rules, and the elimination of Forest Plan Revisions from the environmental review process. Preserving the integrity of the Northwest Forest Plan’s “survey and manage” provisions is a high priority this year as the Administration has directed the Forest Service to once again attempt to revise (eliminate) the survey and manage standard. | |
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| Western Lands Project |
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| The Western Lands Project (WLP) received $20,000 for their research, outreach and advocacy to protect public lands from detrimental land exchanges. WLP reviews public land trades, conveyances and disposals and their direct and indirect impacts on resources, land use, communities and habitat in the rapidly growing West. In the coming year WLP will focus on: ensuring that public land transaction documents are available to the public, upholding citizen rights by filing administrative appeals and judicial challenges under the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA); monitoring for Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) compliance; and educating the press on the important and complex ramifications of privatization and public land trades. | |
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| Western Rivers Conservancy |
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| The Western Rivers Conservancy
recieved $20,000 to purchase 47,000 acres of the Blue Creek Watershed in
the Klamath Siskiyou ecoregion of northern California. Flowing from the
Siskiyou Mountains, Blue Creek is the first coldwater inflow reached by
salmon traveling upstream and offers high-quality spawning habitat for chinook,
coho and steelhead. WRC will purchase the land from the Great Diamond Resources
Company and convey it to the Yurok Tribe for the creation of an 18,000-acre
Yurok Tribal Park. The park will be managed to protect salmon and steelhead
habitat, restoring the alder, maple and other riparian species. As stewards
of the lower Blue Creek watershed, the Yurok Tribe will enter into a co-management
agreement with the Six Rivers National Forest, which owns the upper watershed.
This will enable both agencies to craft a watershed-wide management plan
that serves salmon, wildlife, recreation and Native American cultural values.
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| Wildlands CPR |
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| Wildlands CPR received continued support for their Transportation Policy Program in the Pacific Northwest. With last year’s grant from the Foundation, Wildlands successfully pressured the Forest Service to announce a new off-road vehicle rule, largely banning cross-country travel and limiting ORVs to designated routes only. With this year's $20,000, Wildlands will pursue a landscape zoning approach for implementation of the new rule and develop a strategic legal plan to address the rules’ problematic components. Under the landscape approach, the agency would designate zones where motorized recreation is allowed and distinct zones where it is prohibited for protection of wildlife habitat and non-motorized recreation. Working with Weeden grantee, The Natural Trails and Waters Coalition, Wildlands will:1) develop legal tools and strategies, such as closure petitions, that would make some types of land (e.g. wetlands and culturally significant lands) off limit to ORVS; 2) host a series of workshops to train Forest Service staff, conservationists, and ORV riders on environmentally responsible route designation; and 3) provide mini grants to grassroots groups in the PNW. | |
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| Wildlands Project |
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The Wildlands Project received $20,000 for
the Spine of the Continent Campaign, an ongoing effort to create a 5,000
mile wildlife corridor from Alaska to Mexico. Weeden funding will support
strategic planning, the development of a communications strategy, and
updating maps. As the campaign coordinators, WP staff will focus on the
following: 1) conducting meetings throughout the Spine region to clarify
the scope of the Campaign’s work with partners and to bolster fundraising
efforts; 2) reviewing appropriate trade publications and print media to
examine how continental (mega-linkage) connectivity is addressed in the
media; and 3) conducting up to 30 stakeholder and partner interviews,
probing key audiences and allies. |
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| Wildlife Conservation Society |
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| The Wildlife Conservation Society received
$20,000 for the Corridor Conservation Initiative. This Initiative will
use sound science as a basis for creating changes in policy, management,
and habitat protection to assure the long-term conservation of wildlife
corridors in critical landscapes across North America. Specific projects
this year are as follows: 1) developing legislation to spearhead a National
Wildlife Corridor Conservation System to link U.S. parks, wilderness areas,
and refuges; 2) creating a wildlife corridors web-site to promote corridor
protection across North America; 3) protecting key wildlife corridors
in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem via National Forest planning, and
the protection of the Path of the Pronghorn, the lower 48 states’
longest remaining migration pathway. |
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| Altai Assistance Project |
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| The Altai Assistance Project (APP) received $20,000 for their work in the Altai Republic on land use planning, nature park management, community based eco-tourism, and sustainable energy. AAP’s objectives this year include: 1) support the completion of zoning plans for the Ongudaisky Raion (County); 2) collaborate with the Wildlife Conservation Society to train rangers to use camera traps for snow leopard surveillance, and install wireless remote poacher detection devices; 3) partner with Fund for the 21st Century Altai to create a sustainable energy committee to perform local surveys, education, and field work for local communities; 4) establish training courses for nature park rangers, and local communities to educate them about conservation and tourism; and, 5) send two AAP local staff to the U.S. to intern with the Adirondack Park to learn about effective park management and eco- tourism strategies. Weeden funds will support the administrative costs of the aforementioned activities, and will also enable APP to purchase a much needed vehicle for use in the Altai. | |
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| Altai Project (sponsored by: Earth Island Institute) |
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Them |
| The Altai Project (AP) recieved $20,000 to bolster grassroots nature conservation efforts in the Altai. AP’s priorities this year include: a) advocating against the proposed Katun dam; b) advocating for a rerouting of the proposed Western Siberia-China pipeline away from the Ukok Plateau; and, c) strengthening management and protection of the Chemal, Uch Enmek, and Ukok Nature Parks. Specific project activities include: 1) assisting recently-created nature parks’ environmental education and conservation efforts; 2) supporting Uch Enmek Nature Park staff to work with indigenous park residents to generate local employment opportunities that help reduce poaching; 3) providing legal assistance to the Fund for 21st Century Altai, currently working to establish the Chemal Nature Park; 4) assisting in an environmental impact assessment of the government’s proposed gas pipeline across the ecologically sensitive Ukok plateau; 5) strengthening AP’s organizational capacity by broadening and diversifying its funding base. | |
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| Ecosistemas | Contact
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| Ecosistemas received $40,000 to promote the long-term conservation of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in Southern Chile. Ecosistemas’s coordination and advocacy work is several-fold, including: improving the flow of information between environmentalists and citizens nationwide on forest and wild rivers issues, educating public officials and the Chilean Congress about the importance of conserving healthy ecosystems in Patagonia, and employing legal strategies to promote compliance to with Chile’s environmental laws. Ecosistemas will continue to spearhead the campaign to challenge Endesa’s proposed dam construction on the Patagonia’s Puelo, Pascua and Baker Rivers. A continuing important role for Ecosistemas will be public education. They will continue to place articles in local and national newspapers, issue weekly news bulletins and op-eds on their web-site, and takeover the bi-weekly publication of "Voces del Bosque” (Voices of the Forest). Additionally, they will work with national and international environmental lawyers to implement legal challenges to dams projects, and will act as the chief Chilean liaison with international groups such as NRDC, IRN, and ELAW. Within Chile, Ecosistemas will continue to serve as the nodal group for campaign activities across the country, and will work to strengthen local groups through advocacy training and information-sharing. | |
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| ELAW | 
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| The Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide
(ELAW) was awarded $20,000 to provide advocates throughout South America
with the legal and scientific tools, resources, and activist training they
need to protect waterways and mature ecosystems from ill-advised dams, unsustainable
logging practices, mining, and industrial pollution. E-LAW’s priority
this year is stopping Endesa Chile's proposal for large hydroelectric dams
on the Baker and Pascua Rivers in Patagonia. ELAW is working with partners
at Ecosistemas and FIMA to educate citizens throughout Chile about the likely
impacts of the dams, to promote sustainable alternatives, and to pursue
possible legal challenges. Specifically, ELAW will help review the project’s
Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs), which are expected to come out
in March 2007, to identify its flaws, and propose sustainable alternatives.
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| FIMA | 
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| Fiscalia del Medio Ambiente (FIMA), the leading public interest law firm in Chile, was awarded $15,000 to protect water resources in Chile, including the provision of legal assistance and support to local communities and NGOs involved in water resources campaigns. A top priority this year will be to challenge Endesa’s proposal to build six hydroelectric plants on the Baker, Pascua, and Puelo Rivers in Patagonia. This March, FIMA will file legal action against the Chilean government in the context of the Chile-Canada Environmental Cooperation Agreement, arguing that the Endesa projects would violate the enforcement of national environmental norms. In addition, FIMA will challenge where appropriate, corporate water rights in Region XI (Aisen), with special attention on the Futaleufu, Peulo, and Cuervo Rivers. | |
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| ForestEthics |
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| ForestEthics was awarded $30,000 of support for their Chile Native Forest Program. Within two years of the program, ForestEthics successfully convinced Chile's two largest wood and paper producing companies to publicly commit to stop converting Chile's native forests to tree farms. This year Forest Ethics will continue to work with scientists to develop the first ever comprehensive native forest conservation plan. This plan will show the amount and type of protection that is felt to be needed, and define which forests are in the most urgent need of permanent protection. Simultaneously, Forest Ethics will focus on: 1) persuading the Chilean government to adopt national legislation prohibiting conversion of any native forest to plantation; 2) reforming CONAF (national forest department) policies; 3) increasing subsidies for assessment, conservation, and restoration of native forests and; 4) developing capacity for FSC certified products by persuading pulp producers to commit to supplying at least one of its pulp mills with 70% minimum FSC certified pulp. | |
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| International Rivers Network | Contact
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| International Rivers Network (IRN) received $20,000 to continue to fight plans to develop dams on the Puelo, Baker, Pascua, Futaleufu, and Cuervo Rivers in Patagonia. IRN assists local Chilean efforts to save their natural heritage and promote sustainable energy development by providing campaign and technical advice, disseminating information to bring these issues into the global spotlight, and working to prevent international involvement in funding and building dams. The Patagonia Initiative will focus on: 1) raising awareness among the Chilean public of the environmental and economic impacts of large hydroelectric dams and the feasibility of alternative energy sources; 2) countering the ideas in Endesa’s public relations campaign that dams are a “clean and renewable” solution to Chile’s energy needs; and 3) monitoring potential international financing of the program, and whether the World Bank and/or carbon funds attempt to broker the sale of carbon credits under the Kyoto Protocol Clean Development Mechanism to subsidize dams in Patagonia. | |
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| Island Conservation & Ecology Group | 
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| ICEG was awarded $20,000 in general support to apply their highly successful conservation model to the insular Caribbean, one of the world’s 25 biological hotspots. The project will commence this year with the following initiatives:1) planning potential cat and rodent eradication projects in the British Virgin Islands, and Turks and Caicos, Jamaica to protect the rock iguana; 2) exploring opportunities to restore island ecosystems in Puerto Rico negatively impacted by a variety of invasive animals; 3) conducting a trial mongoose eradication on the Goat Islands, off the coast of Kingston, Jamaica, with the dual goals of reestablishing a Jamaican iguana population and developing successful mongoose eradication techniques that can be transferred to other threatened islands. | |
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| The Mountain Institute |
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| The Mountain Institute (TMI), a Washington –based international NGO, received a $20,000 planning grant to strengthen the capacity of the Mongolian government, local communities, and NGOs to mitigate environmental threats facing the Altai Mountains within Mongolia. The proposal builds on TMI’s preliminary field assessments (September-October 2005), as well as its ongoing collaboration with the Weeden- funded Altai Assistance Project. Mongolia’s Altai Mountains – like their Siberian counterparts - contain populations of sheep, bear, picas, prairie dog, fox, wolves, brown bear and snow leopards. Funding will support travel and expenses for two TMI staff to conduct follow-up field assessments on the following: the current status and conditions of the Mongolian Altai system of protected areas; specific threats to the region’s wildlife, buffer zones, and local communities; and, the available environmental, economic, and exchange opportunities that could help reverse the trends of environmental and wildlife degradation while a) improving the lives of local people, and b) strengthening local capacities to sustainably manage natural resources. | |
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| National Environmental Trust (NET) |
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| TThe National Environmental Trust (NET) received $20,000 for the Global Species Rescue Fund (GSRF). This campaign, begun in 2006 with startup funding from Weeden and others, seeks to raise awareness about the imminent extinction crisis and to pressure international and bilateral agencies to increase funding for targeted international conservation efforts. NET’s campaign approach is designed to address these challenges by: 1) developing a policy vehicle (a GSRF) that increases the U.S. governments’ commitment to providing biodiversity assistance abroad; and 2) implementing an outreach and education campaign targeted at strategic constituencies, the media and the public to get the policy vehicle adopted abroad. This year, NET will work towards the following: securing a broad agreement on the operation and location of the global biodiversity fund; identifying policy makers who will advance the fund and create policy opportunities to mobilize support for it; engaging and developing partnerships with constituencies; and initiating outreach to international leaders who can catalyze campaigns abroad. | |
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| Pacific Environment | 
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| Pacific Environment promotes long-term conservation and renewable energy use in the Altai by increasing public awareness and acting as a watchdog to prevent destructive energy projects. This year, PE and a coalition of NGOs will continue their efforts to block development of the Katun dam project through legal avenues and public opinion. A more recent threat is the Putin- endorsed plan to build a natural gas pipeline connecting Siberia to China through the Ukok Plateau, a World Heritage site. With a $20,000 grant from the Weeden Foundation, PE will campaign against the routing of the gas pipeline and propose a routing alternative along existing right of ways in Mongolia. It will also educate local land users, farmers, entrepreneurs, and Altai government officials about the advantages and savings of renewable energy technologies such as micro-hydro, wind power, and solar energy. PE and the fund for 21st Century Altai will conduct political advocacy for the creation of new protected areas. | |
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| World Temperate Rainforest Network |
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| WTRN received $20,000 t for their dual efforts to: develop market campaigns to push for endangered forest commitments by timber companies and distributors, and, to publish the first book on the temperate rainforests of the world. WTRN will: advance the Chile Native Forest Campaign by advocating for the protection of remaining native forests in the Valdivian and Nahuelbuta Regions; pressure the Chilean government to pass an improved Chile Native Forest Law through actions such as ads, fax/e-mail blasts, and embassy protests and dock pickets. The World Temperate rainforest book, to be published in English and Spanish, will be accompanied by an advocacy campaign calling attention to the endangered status of these forests worldwide. | |
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| As You Sow |
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| As You Sow (AYS) received $15,000 for their “Corporate Social Responsibility Recycled Paper Shareholder Advocacy” initiative to gain commitments from magazine publishers to set recycled paper content goals. AYS will continue to pressure Time Inc. on these and other paper-related issues. AYS also initiated dialogue with four other major magazine publishers last year – Newsweek, Business Week, Meredith Corp., and Reader’s Digest – and will continue actions with these publishers this year. Other objectives for 2007 include: 1) strategizing with Green Press Initiative to pressure Scholastic Publications to publish the final Harry Potter book on recycled paper; 2) working with eco-aware advertisers like Aveda to press publishers to use recycled content in the publications; 3) securing a recycled content goal from at least one major publisher. | |
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| CAPS |
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| Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) received $20,000 to expand their Overpopulation Awareness Media Campaign. CAPS uses radio and television ads and media follow-up to educate the public about California’s overpopulation problem and its impact on the state’s environment and economy, including traffic congestion, water shortages, housing scarcity, overcrowded schools, and stagnant wages. As America’s population crossed the 300 million mark last fall, primarily driven by legal and illegal immigration, CAPS launched a Weeden funded radio ad campaign targeting “head in the sand” environmentalists for ignoring the threats to the environment posed by overpopulation. The 60-second ad ran in major affiliate stations with coverage reaching from Santa Barbara County to Kern County and into areas of Los Angeles County. The ad pointed out that some of the country’s most significant environmental leaders, David Brower and Gaylord Nelson have emphasized the need to address immigration. CAPS also provided print copies of the script and storyboards to tens and thousands of current and prospective CAPS members. In 2007 CAPS intends to expand its media coverage in 2007 to other overcrowded areas of the state and to continue online and in person lobbying efforts. | |
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| Catholics for a Free Choice |
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| Catholics for a Free Choice
(CFFC) recieved $20,000 in funding for their Latin America program, which
supports a network of country-level reproductive health rights organizations
under the banner of Catolicas por el Derecho a Decidir (CDD). Despite several
victories for reproductive health rights in Mexico in recent years, CFFC
will shift this year’s focus to Brazil, Bolivia, and Argentina. Thier
goals include implementing any existing laws that permit abortion, advocating
for continued liberalization of abortion laws, empowering Catholic youth
to make decisions about their own reproductive health, and providing education
and training workshops on women’s rights and reproductive health for
a variety of audiences. Smaller CFFC grants in Argentina, Colombia, and
Chile will support education efforts such as public forums, meetings with
legislators, media outreach and publications. |
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| Center for a New American Dream |
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| The Center for a New American Dream received $20,000 to counter the commercialization of our culture, and positively influence the way individuals and institutions consume goods. In October 2006, the Center will launch the Responsible Purchasing Network (RPN) with an initial membership of at least 40 institutions dedicated to environmentally and socially superior products. The Center’s ongoing initiatives include: building a coalition to press corporations to restrict advertisements aimed at schoolchildren; heightening activist support and launching the Do Not Junk Campaign to create opt-out registries for junk mail; and bolstering community activism by distributing ready made kits, such as Alternative Gift Fair packets and Earth Day tabling materials to thousands of activists nationwide. | |
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| Center for Immigration Studies |
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| The Center for Immigration Studies was awarded $20,000 demonstrate to policymakers and opinion leaders, through research and outreach, the need for lower immigration levels. This year, CIS expects to publish at least 12 Backgrounder issue papers, to be complemented by outreach activities including: congressional testimony, participation in conferences, CISNEWS e-mail services, and scholarly articles and op-eds. CIS will conduct at least two research projects related to environmental and demographic concerns. The first will be “Immigration’s Impact on Greenhouse Gas Emissions.” This research will determine what share of greenhouse gas emissions recent immigrants to the U.S. and their descendants account for, and how this share would differ if they remained in their home countries. In the second research initiative, CIS will make their own population projections of the future size and composition of the U.S. population, focusing on how different levels of immigration will impact the overall size of the U.S. population, and additionally, how the different population growth scenarios are expected to impact the country’s environment and quality of life generally. | |
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| Co-op America |
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Co-op America received $20,000 renewed support for the PAPER Project, which works with publishers to develop and implement procurement policies that switch magazines to environmental papers. Co-op advocates for publishers to start with 30% post consumer content paper (10% for some types of coated paper), while simultaneously phasing out of all papers derived from old growth or endangered forests. In addition to commitments from seventy smaller magazines, Co-op is currently negotiating with large publishers Conde Naste, Hearst, and American Media Inc. Goals over the next year include: gaining a commitment from AARP to print their publications (huge circulation) on 30% post consumer recycled paper; partnering with ForestEthics to switch National Geographic to use of eco-papers; engaging in dialogue with over twenty five additional publishers including Vanity Fair, O: The Oprah Magazine, and Nature; and expanding membership of the Magazine Leaders Network to foster information sharing between publishers committed to environmental responsibility. |
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| Diversity Alliance for a Sustainable America |
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| 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. | |
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| Dogwood Alliance |
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| Dogwood Alliance recieved $20,000 to launch their Packaging Campaign to eliminate excessive packaging and increase the use of post-consumer recycled content- starting with paperboard packaging. Currently, half of the paper made in the U.S. is produced for the packaging industry. While packaging requires destructive resource extraction, the average American generates 300 pounds of packaging waste per year. Dogwood Alliance will use market leverage created by securing forest protection commitments from corporate customers to influence the world’s largest packaging producers. Dogwood will identify companies that use excessive amounts of packaging and work with them to execute design policies with less packaging and more recycled content. They will also launch a public campaign to engage citizens and grassroots activities to challenge these companies via written communication and storefront demonstration. | |
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| E Magazine | 
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| The Environmental Magazine received $20,000 for a special package of articles that will address two popular myths about population growth: 1) the so-called “birth dearth,” whose advocates, including author and media pundit Ben Wattenberg, say that declining fertility (especially in the developed world) will lead to detrimental world-wide demographic shrinkage; and (2) the argument put forth by ABC new correspondent John Stossel that the world is not overcrowded and that we are well- prepared to deal with substantial population increases. The articles will include interviews with prominent demographers and population experts to show that: 1) the “birth dearth” is highly selective and will not lead to a declining global population before 2050; 2) population growth is a major factor in environmental quality and human health, and we cannot count on ever-increasing agricultural output and abundant free and clean water supplies to meet the demands of our country’s and the planet’s expanding populations; and 3) family planning and reproductive health are effective and essential parts of population control. | |
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| Environmental Paper Network | Contact
Them |
| The Environmental Paper Network was awarded $20,000 for the completion of the second year of a two-year project to promote sustainability in the paper and pulp industry. EPN synergizes efforts among environmental paper advocates in individual market sectors to encourage widespread paper mill participation in sustainable forest management, reduced conversion of forests to plantations, increased mill utilization of recycled and alternative fibers, and increased availability and research and development of environmental papers. The Weeden Foundation’s initial investment allowed EPN to make significant progress in completing the “State of the Industry Report” and expanding the EPN to 50 organizations. The North American pulp and paper industry is currently monitored according to a variety of performance parameters including sales, growth, and commodity pricing. A comprehensive and ongoing environmental analysis of the industry remains lacking. Once the EPN report is completed later this year it will include such indicators as: annual primary forest acreage consumed; forest-to-plantation conversion rates; threats to specific endangered forest types and species; post-consumer and non-wood fiber utilization rates; credibly certified pulp usage rates; and others. | |
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| Facing the Future | Contact
Them |
Facing the Future received $20,000 for their global sustainability curriculum. In 2005, FTF successfully expanded their 5th -12th grade programs to students in 49 states and 41 countries while maintaining a 2$ per student cost. This year, in response significant demand, FTF plans to develop and promote curriculum for elementary schools. National market research indicates that “plug-in” units are attractive to teachers because they are complete units of only one to two weeks duration, with day-to-day agendas and all materials included. Their goal for 2007 is to embed the new sustainability teaching materials into at least 300 new classrooms. As in 2005, Weeden funds will support a series of teacher workshops around the country that will train and equip 1500 teachers, subsequently reaching over 150,000 students. Teachers receive training and materials that will allow them to teach about population, consumption, environment and sustainability and the interconnections between them. |
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| Green Press Initiative | 
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| The Green Press Initiative (GPI) requests continued support for their work to foster systematic market shifts in the book-publishing sector that will conserve natural resources and preserve endangered forests. A major focus of GPI in 2006 will be coordinating and implementing the Book Industry Treatise on Responsible Paper Use. The Treatise is a new strategy that enlists publishers, mills, printers, and others in committing to industry-wide goals that, when reached, will result in 250,000 tons of virgin fiber being replaced by recycled fiber annually. GPI was awarded $15,000 to supportt: 1) trade publisher outreach and enrollment with a special emphasis on major multinational publishers; 2) efforts to engage K-12 and Higher Education stakeholders in pushing educational publishers to produce textbooks on recycled paper; and 3) increased efforts to garner mainstream visibility after the roll out of the Treatise. | |
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| INFORM | 
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| INFORM received $15,000 to create “The Secret Life of Paper," a 9 to 12 minute documentary intended to: (1) educate people about the need to reduce their use of paper products, (2) promote the recycling of those products already being used and the purchase of recycled paper products; and, (3) convey information about current innovative efforts to develop alternative fiber sources for pulp production. The film will include historical footage, interviews with experts, and scenes from various locations such as waste facilities, recycling centers, and industrial facilities in the U.S. INFORM will prepare "The Secret Life of Paper" in a format that can be made available to public broadcasting or other television outlets, as well as for distribution to shareholders in the paper industry who could potentially use their positions to advocate for greater use emphasis on environmental paper. | |
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| Ipas |
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| Ipas recieved $20,000 for their regional abortion advocacy activities in Latin America. Their campaign, Advocacy and Action on Abortion Policy in Latin America,will capitalize on converging opportunities—which include changes in political will and leadership, growing regional collaborations, and increasing legal support for abortion rights—to build a movement in support of women’s access to safe, legal abortion in the region. As part of this work, Ipas will: galvanize key individuals and influential groups to support safe abortion; build capacity among Ipas staff and partners to recognize and respond to anti-choice opposition; and mainstream abortion into other issues, so that it is seen as an integral part of the spectrum of women’s reproductive health and rights. | |
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| Markets Initiative |
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| The Markets Initiative (MI) aims to transform the paper consumption practices of the book, magazine, and newspaper industries in North America. MI redirects market demand away from products containing virgin tree fiber, while stimulating markets for paper containing recycled, agricultural and FSC certified wood fiber. With $15,000 grant from the Weeden Foundation, MI will focus on the following: 1) securing endangered forest commitments from Canada’s largest magazine conglomerates, the first educational book publishers internationally, and three leading Canadian newspapers (making them the first in North America to develop formal policies to conserve forests; 2) supporting publishers to implement their policies so that Ancient Forest Friendly (AFF) magazines, books, textbooks and newspapers are routinely available; 3) leveraging the market influence of their signatories to gain on-the-ground protection and change in logging practices; and 4) stimulating the development of publishing papers that are free of endangered forest fiber – including a high-profile trial of Canadian Geographic magazine on agricultural residue paper. |
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| NumbersUSA | 
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| NumbersUSA received $50,000 in continued support to expand their network of citizen activists, strengthen the voice of immigration reform in Washington, and provide crucial information linking population growth and urban sprawl. After the Senate approved immigration bill in June, Numbers USA (in partnership with the Heritage Foundation) analyzed the numeric effects of the bill. One important conclusion - that the bill would allow legal immigration of more than 60 million people over the next 20 years - is being widely publicized to Senators, the media, and key decision makers to use in the ongoing debate. This year, NumbersUSA will continue its critical role in reshaping the Congressional debate over immigration reform by focusing on immigration numbers. Coupled with actions on Capitol Hill, they will strengthen their growing citizen army and expand their Sprawl/Maps Project, which provides a graphical representation of how population growth and immigration affect sprawl, environmental quality, and quality of life in particular counties, cities, and states. | |
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| The Rewilding Institute |
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| The Rewilding Institute (TRI) believes it is essential for conservationists to be guided and uplifted by a bold, scientifically credible, practically applicable and hopeful vision of the future of wilderness and biodiversity in North America. Unlike far too many conservation and environmental organizations, TRI recognizes that catastrophic human population growth around the world and in the United States is the primary driver of the Sixth Great Extinction. TRI argues that pressure from the politically correct left has intimidated conservation and environmental groups from saying and doing what needs to be done about human population growth, including immigration into the United States. TRI recieved $20,000 continued support for their educational outreach program based on the writings, public lectures, presentations at conferences, and organizational outreach of Dave Foreman, David Parsons, Don Waller, Brian Miller, and Brian Howard, TRI’s founder and fellows. A priority this year will be promotion of Foreman’s new book, “The Myths of the Environmental Movement,” which includes three chapters on the U.S. population issue. Another priority will be enhancement of the TRI website. |
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| Rainforest Alliance |
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| Rainforest Alliance (RA) requests renewed support for their efforts to foster demand for FSC- certified wood, pulp and paper products. RA received $15,000 to continue to develop education, outreach, and market linkages to publishers, printers, paper merchants, and institutional buyers for certified paper. Specific activities over the next year will include: 1) providing interested parties with information about suppliers of FSC/SmartWood certified and recycled paper through their updated SmartGuide to Paper and Print Sources; 2) expanding corporate users’ interest in certified paper sourcing to packaging and commodity paper products, such as copy paper; and, 3) participating in the 3rd Annual FSC Global Paper Forum in Frankfurt, Germany to promote and generate market opportunities for FSC certified paper via panel discussions, workshops, and networking among key stakeholders. | |
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| Rare | Contact
Them |
| After the success of their first RARE Radio Program, Cocunut Bay (2002) Rare is launching a new, greatly expanded program that will air in nine Eastern Caribbean States. RARE’s radio programs combine entertainment-education and social marketing techniques to address local reproductive health and environmental conservation issues. Objectives of the series include: production of 416 15-minute episodes over a four-year broadcasting period; collaboration with service providers and regional government agencies, and periodic collaboration and updating of story lines to insure and impact local level training and capacity building. The Weeden Foundation awarded RARE $20,000 for the start-up phase of the new program, including scriptwriting and the production of four pilot episodes, and the first month of production (eight episodes). | |
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