Winter 2020 Grant Proposals

** CONFIDENTIAL - PLEASE DO NOT FORWARD ** WINTER 2020 GRANT PROPOSALS Following are two-page summaries for each proposal on The Conservation Alliance Winter 2020 Ballot. Please review the grant proposals and project slideshow, and complete your online ballot by Friday, March 13, 2020. If you would like to learn more about the projects on the ballot, please join us for our Winter 2020 Ballot Education Webinar, Wednesday, February 26 at 11:00 AM PST. Click Here to Register Thank you for your help in making the grant decisions for this round of Conservation Alliance funding. If you have any questions, please contact Josie Norris at 541-389-2424. Below are the organizations included on the Winter 2020 ballot: 1. Adirondack Council - Campaign for the Follensby Pond Preserve 2. Alaska Wilderness League - Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Campaign 3. American Rivers - Protecting Western Montana's Last Best Wild Rivers 4. American Whitewater - Wild Olympics Campaign 5. Backcountry Hunters and Anglers - Advancing Collaborative Conservation Solutions for Montana's Blackfoot Clearwater Valleys 6. California Wilderness Coalition - Northwest California Mountains and Rivers, Central Cost Wild Heritage 7. Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society - British Columbia - Establishing the Dene K'eh Kusan Provincial Conservancy in Northern BC 8. Columbia Land Trust - Mount Hood Oaks Acquisition 9. Dolores River Boating Advocates - Delores River Canyon National Conservation Area Campaign Education and Outreach 10. Downeast Lakes Land Trust - Lakeville Forest Project 11. Habitat Acquisition Trust - Sc'ianew Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area: A Reconciliation Based Path to Conservation 12. Northeastern Minnesotan's for Wilderness - Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters 13. Ohio Environmental Council - Black Diamond Backcountry Campaign 14. Oregon Wild - Protecting Wild and Scenic Rivers and Public Lands in Oregon 15. Outdoor Alliance - Protecting North Carolina's Mountain Treasures 16. The Association of West Kootenay Rock Climbers - Save the Waterline Walls 17. The Wilderness Society - The Gunnison Public Lands Initiative 18. Trout Unlimited – Alaska - Save Bristol Bay 19. Trust for Public Land- Lincoln Peak Conservation Project 20. Ventura Land Trust - Mariano Rancho Acquisition Project 21. Virginia Wilderness Committee - George Washington National Forest Campaign 22. Western Mass Climbers Coalition - The Hanging Mountain Project 23. Western Rivers Conservancy - Nason Ridge Project 24. Wildlife Conservation Society - Advance a Co-Produced Vision for Indigenous-Led Conservation: Laying the Foundation for Enduring and Equitable Conservation Impact 25. Wyoming Outdoor Council - Permanent Protection for Wyoming's Wild Northern Red Desert CONSERVATION ALLIANCE REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL TWO-PAGE SUMMARY Date: November 27, 2019 Name of Organization: Adirondack Council Address: P.O. Box D-2; 103 Hand Avenue, #3, Elizabethtown, NY 12932 (Main office) 342 Hamilton Street, Albany, NY 12210 (Communications and Legislative office) Phone: 518-873-2240 (Elizabethtown); 518-432-1770 (Albany) Contact Person: Diane Fish, Deputy Director (Main office) Contact Email Address: [email protected] Website Address: www.AdirondackCouncil.org Project / Campaign Name: Campaign for the Follensby Pond Preserve Project Location (One GPS Coordinate): 44.176564,-74.372654 Staff Size: 15 Total Membership: 6,500 households, 86,000 social followers and fans, 27,700 email list. Annual Operating Budget (for entire organization): $2.3 million Amount Requested from Alliance ($50,000 maximum): $40,000 Tax Status: 501 (c) 3 Organizational Purpose/Mission Statement: The mission of the Adirondack Council is to ensure the ecological integrity (clean water and air, extensive habitat, etc.) and wild character (solitude, scenic beauty, etc.) of New York’s six-million-acre Adirondack Park. The Adirondack Park is a patchwork of public and private lands, creating unique challenges and opportunities to create effective models for large- landscape conservation. We envision the Park with large core wilderness areas, clean water and air, surrounded by working farms and forests, and augmented by vibrant communities. One sentence on what final success looks like (please include the exact number of acres, miles of rivers, climbing areas, marine reserves etc. that will be protected when your project succeeds): The Nature Conservancy, State of New York and a third-party science organization will permanently protect 14,600 acres in the Adirondack Park, creating a fresh water preserve to protect and study rare heritage lake trout and climate change, opening the 1,000-acre Follensby Pond to motor-free paddling via the Raquette River, and adding 10,000 acres to the public Forest Preserve including the 10.5-mile Raquette River property boundary between the Follensby tract and the High Peaks Wilderness. Please provide a short (2-3 paragraphs) summary of your proposal that includes the overall goal of the project and a brief explanation of how you would use Conservation Alliance funding. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) has indicated the intention to move forward with a long-awaited conservation plan to permanently protect the 14,600-acre Follensby Pond property in the Adirondacks. The Nature Conservancy purchased the property in 2008 with the intention of selling it to the State of New York. The Conservancy cannot afford to protect the Follensby tract without some funding from New York State. The Adirondack chapter of the Nature Conservancy had to borrow $16 million from its larger parent organization to buy the property with the understanding that the bulk of the loan would be re-paid when the property was sold to the state. The property is listed in New York’s Open Space Plan as a priority for state acquisition. However, the Adirondack Council and the Nature Conservancy are concerned about the state not having the science and capacity to successfully protect the rare fishery from political pressure to allow overuse and unsustainable fishing. There is interest among stakeholders in developing a creative conservation strategy under various ownerships that protects the heritage lake trout fishery, provides access for wilderness paddling and other human-powered recreation, uses some of the property for climate change study, and builds local goodwill and financial support for TNC by allowing some private hunt club leases on the property to continue. Follensby Pond tract. The 14,600-acre property of mixed northern hardwood forests borders the state’s newly expanded 275,000-acre High Peaks Wilderness. It is bounded by “Forever Wild” state land to the east, north and south. In addition to the 1,000-acre Follensby Pond, the property includes more than 10 miles of meandering frontage on the Raquette River, one of New York’s longest rivers. Follensby Pond, considered the largest privately owned lake in the northeastern United States, was the location of the Philosopher’s Camp where Ralph Waldo Emerson and other 19th century scholars helped birth the Transcendentalist movement and transform modern America’s relationship with nature. In the 1980s, following the ban on DDT, Follensby Pond was chosen as the only site to host the successful reintroduction of bald eagles in the Adirondack Park. The property is in the towns of Tupper Lake and Harrietstown which have extensive accessible water resources, an enthusiastic paddling community, and a well-established and respected paddling outfitter. Campaign for Follensby Pond. The Council will conduct a multi-phased advocacy effort to secure a science-based conservation strategy for the Follensby Pond tract that includes 1) state acquisition of 10,000 acres for the public Forest Preserve and expanded Wilderness, 2) access via canoe from the Raquette River to 1,000-acre Follensby Pond, 3) a New York State conservation easement on 4,600 +/- acres of land remaining in TNC ownership, 4) some hunt club leases, and 5) some private conservation ownership by a third-party science organization for the purpose of scientific study and preservation. The Adirondack Council will use Conservation Alliance funding to strengthen our advocacy impact by 1) hiring scientists to document and analyze scientific data across the larger landscape, 2) contracting with mapping experts to define and communicate the ownership and management proposals, 3) creating print and video materials to explain the project to the media and the public, and 4) expanding public outreach through traditional and online platforms to build support for the conservation strategy and complementary recreational access. What are 3-5 measureable on-the-ground outcomes (NOT activities) that you hope to accomplish over the next year? 1) Complete scientific mapping and data collection that guides and supports the public value and conservation efficacy of the multi-tiered conservation strategy. 2) Create a package of advocacy maps, graphs, and photographs to communicate the opportunities for conservation, recreation, science, education and historical interpretation. 3) Provide The Nature Conservancy and the State of New York with input from interest stakeholders including citizen advocates and fellow conservation organizations. 2 CONSERVATION ALLIANCE REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL TWO‐PAGE SUMMARY Date: December 1, 2019 Name of Organization: Alaska Wilderness League Address: 122 C Street NW, Suite 240 – Washington DC 20001 Phone: 202‐544‐5205 Contact Person: Kristen Miller Contact Email Address: [email protected] Website Address: www.alaskawild.org

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