Annual Report 2017 “ Nobody Reads the Introduction Letter in an Annual Report ”

The greatest opportunity to address our nation’s most Dear Friends: pressing environmental issues is by unleashing the I’ve always believed nobody reads these introductory letters. But as long as power of farmers, ranchers, foresters and other private I have you, thank you for your past and future support and partnership. Now, keep reading a little longer because 2017 was a big one. landowners. That may be surprising, because many In 2017, Sand County Foundation celebrated 50 years of addressing unmet citizens don’t see farmers and ranchers as part of the conservation challenges. That’s 50 years of convening and collaborating with farmers, ranchers, other private landowners and partners from all sectors solution. But, in fact, they hold the keys to environmental to improve soil health, water quality and wildlife habitat. That’s a lot of improvement because they manage the majority of land cooperative, leading-edge work. But that’s what it takes to make a difference. in this nation. Without their leadership, our biggest We simply can’t make meaningful environmental improvements without the help of private landowners like farmers, ranchers and businesses who own conservation challenges cannot be met. and manage most of the land in the contiguous United States. But these landowners need trusted information, new methods and incentives to make it happen. Sand County Foundation inspires and enables a growing That’s where Sand County Foundation comes in. number of private landowners to ethically manage the We test and demonstrate new conservation practices, we seek policy improvements to make it easier for landowners to do the right thing, and natural resources in their care, so future generations we identify and tell the stories of outstanding land stewards who engage in have clean and abundant water, healthy soil to support conservation and remain profitable. our growing food demands, plentiful habitat for wildlife Thank you for considering how you can help us expand this necessary work for another 50 years. and opportunities for outdoor recreation. Reed Coleman Founder and Chairman Emeritus Sand County Foundation COVER PHOTO COURTESY OF SOYBEAN ASSOCIATION (UPTOWN FARMS, 2017 MISSOURI LEOPOLD CONSERVATION AWARD RECIPIENT) AWARD LEOPOLD CONSERVATION MISSOURI 2017 FARMS, (UPTOWN ASSOCIATION SOYBEAN OF MISSOURI COURTESY PHOTO COVER 2017 Achievements

Scaling Up Conservation through Policy Improvements: To speed the adoption of con- servation on private land, we sponsored the formation of a significant policy improvement project led by environmental policy experts, Dr. Tim Male and Ya-Wei (Jake) Li. The Environmental Policy Innovation Center’s goals are to expand environmental markets, build innovative state and federal programs that encourage pay-for- success contracting, and create predictable opportunities for large-scale conservation JEFF THOMSON, 100TH LEOPOLD CONSERVATION AWARD RECIPIENT finance investments and incentives for proactive conservation.

Paying for Results: What if farmers were 100 Reasons to Believe Private Landowners rewarded for keeping fertilizer out of lakes and streams instead of getting payments upfront Are Making a Difference: to implement conservation practices on the farm? That’s what we did in partnership with Winrock International and Delta Institute. We completed Our Leopold Conservation Award reached a major milestone in the three-year Pay-for-Performance project by 2017 by recognizing the 100th recipient since 2003. Missouri and rewarding 13 farmers in the Milwaukee River joined our family of states where the prestigious award is basin for the phosphorus they kept out of the bestowed on farmers, ranchers and foresters. Read more about the river. The Great Lakes Protection Fund supported remarkable conservation leadership of the Leopold Conservation this work, which may lead to more efforts to com- Award class of 2017 at www.leopoldconservationaward.org. pensate farmers for environmental Improvement. Making Gains in Water Quality: In late 2017, we prepared to launch The National Energized and Educated by Water Quality Practice Assessment in partnership with the Noble Research Pollinator Plantings Institute, Farm Foundation and USDA-NRCS. Advised by a blue-ribbon panel of experts, the assessment seeks to get sound, practical answers of what works Rural electric cooperatives often own land that when it comes to agricultural practices aimed at improving water quality. could be managed as habitat for pollinators. To pilot this idea with funding from the National Fish Planting Natural Water Filters: Sand County Foundation began a partnership with farmers, researchers and service providers to demonstrate how planting and Wilidlife Foundation, we helped electric native grasses and wildflowers next to crop fields can reduce farm runoff and cooperatives establish prairie vegetation around provide habitat for wildlife. As we plant more of these prairie filter strips this their equipment and substations, which has year, we’ll evaluate the environmental and economic impacts. Funding for this spurred great interest in pollinator projects project is provided by the North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research across the Midwest’s energy sector. High school & Education (SARE) program. students are also getting in on the pollinator push. Our new grant program allows high school students to grow native prairie plants in green-houses before transplanting them in rural areas. Thanks to Monarch Joint Venture, Enel Green Power North America, We Energies Foundation and Dairyland Power Cooperative, we awarded grants to 14 high schools. These hands-on habitat restoration activities help pollinators while sowing seeds for future conservation leaders. PHOTO COURTESY OF CHILTON FFA OF CHILTON COURTESY PHOTO Pam: Describe the soil conditions you’re Landowner Spotlight: working with. Jimmy Emmons, Emmons Farm Jimmy: We’re in a sandy loam type soil here in Oklahoma. People around the country say some of our uphill land is red, and it is, but It was an exceptionally warm and windy April 12, even for Oklahoma. that’s because we degraded it with heavy Jimmy Emmons had just received Oklahoma’s first Leopold Conservation Award tillage. We’re seeing that start to turn around when he received a text that strong winds and arcing power lines had started a as we put more organic matter into the soil. fire on his farm in bone-dry western Oklahoma. Emmons was being celebrated It’s helping with our water infiltration, so when for rejuvenating soils with cover crops on a farm that had received less than a it does rain we can store that in the ground… quarter-inch of rain in the past six months. More than half of Dewey County’s instead of it running off. It helps our water landscape would burn, including 3,000 acres where Emmons grazes beef cattle. quality and quantity as we work with this soil health project. In the aftermath, as local high school students helped clear some of the 18 miles of burned fences on his land, Emmons took time to do a radio interview with Pam: Have any neighbors caught on to this farm broadcaster Pam Jahnke to share his conservation story with other farmers cover crop idea and adopted some of it? and ranchers: Jimmy: I do have about two or three different Pam: There was something that inspired you to take a closer look at soil health local neighbors who have, and also my father- that in turn got you that Leopold Conservation Award. Tell me when you started in-law who turned 78 this year. Last year he down this path of soil discovery. sold all of his tillage equipment and bought a no-till drill and is practicing cover crops and Jimmy: It was about seven years ago when we started to really talk about it. soil health, so it’s catching on. We have a lot I reached out to some local partners like the Natural Resources Conservation of work to do. I do enjoy traveling around the Service and the conservation districts here in Oklahoma. I asked if I offered up country and talking about it and sharing my my farm as a demo site would you help me out? So everybody jumps on board… experiences, failures and successes too. and wow, since the beginning it’s been awesome to see the soil come back alive. Everybody kept saying in our arid part of the world that cover crops wouldn’t Pam: Well, you know you’re doing something work, but they actually will. We just have to be more cognizant of what’s going right when you can convince the in-laws to on with weather and what we plant. It’s been a really awesome project. adopt the practice! Way to go! PHOTO COURTESY OF JENNIFER M. LATZKE, HIGH PLAINS JOURNAL OF JENNIFER M. LATZKE, COURTESY PHOTO Jimmy: laughs, Yeah, that’s a good milestone! We proudly launched the prestigious Leopold Conservation Award in 2003 in . Since then, we have honored more than 100 outstanding private landowners who manage more than two million acres in 14 states.

Our early work with Mississippi Basin farmers helped reduce farm runoff to improve fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico and clean up streams and lakes in the Midwest. From 1999 to 2009, we brought community-based conservation to eastern and southern Africa to benefit villagers and give them greater control of wildlife resources.

By working collaboratively with commercial fishermen, we improved the Magnuson-Stevens Act, to achieve more secure fishing rights, safer 50 and more profitable fishing, reduced waste and better-quality fish. of Sand County Foun We pioneered safe, efficient dam removal efforts in a partnership that Years dation became the gold standard. Our work compensated private dam owners A Lay of the Land while improving fisheries on the 115 mile Baraboo River. Sand County Foundation was built on a singular idea advanced by In the early 1990s, we dug into ecological issues for Aldo Leopold, the leading voice of the modern conservation landowners related to carbon sequestration. movement. In his book, A Sand County Almanac (1949), Leopold introduced the concept of a land ethic – a deeply held conviction of individuals’ responsibility for the health of the land. We kept the Greater Sage-Grouse off the endangered list through voluntary conservation and collaboration in Western states. In our first 50 years, since stopping careless development around Leopold’s shack property in central , Sand County Foundation’s impact on conservation on private land has been We partnered with the Blackfeet Nation to lead a quick, felt on farms, ranches, forests and other working lands across the cost-effective, non-controversial recovery of the Swift Fox, U.S. and abroad. a small predator on the High Plains.

Our story is one of identifying unmet environmental challenges, By working with private landowners and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and responding with early investment, coalition building and we revived habitats of the endangered Karner Blue Butterfly. ingenuity. Our successes are rooted in seeking practical, scientifically -sound options for landowners to replicate as they adopt a land ethic of their own. Our Quality Hunting Ecology Program advanced landowner-hunter relationships for more effective deer management and healthier forests.

With an early investment, we helped ranchers make river improvements to benefit the Arctic grayling and prevent an endangered species listing. Thank you to our 2017 donors! Matt Miller Professional Alliance Peggy & Jon Traver Donors support Sand County Foundation’s work to advance voluntary conservation on private land and Missouri Assocation of Soil & Rainwater Basin Joint Venture Tri-State Generation & find solutions to some of the most pressing environmental issues we face. We gratefully acknowledge Water Conservation Districts Mary & Dennis Ray Transmission Association those who generously donated in 2017 and those who have continually supported us over the years. Missouri Cattlemen’s Association Camille Rogers U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Missouri Department of Conservation Sandhills Task Force USDA NRCS Missouri Farmers Care Chris Schellpfeffer Walton Family Foundation Acacia Conservation Fund Nancy & Marc DeLong ITC Missouri Soil & Water Lynne Sherrod Jackie Erickson & Ed Warner Alliance for the Future of Delta Waterfowl Wesley Jackson Conservation Program Dale Sievert We Energies Foundation Agriculture in Diane Derouen & Glenn Chambliss John J. Frautschi Family Foundation Missouri Soybean Association Alice Sittler Westar Energy Amazon Smile Foundation Ducks Unlimited Jean & Scott Johnson Monarch Joint Venture Slope Electric Western AgCredit APEX Clean Energy Andrew M. Duda Jane & George Kaiser Monsanto Corporation David B. Smith Bill White Association of Missouri John Duncan Dept. of Agriculture, Debra & Todd Mortensen Social Finance Winrock International Electric Cooperatives Alex Echols Division of Conservation Terry Mulcahy Association of Wisconsin Land+Water Bad River Ranches Enel Green Power Kansas Dept. of Wildlife, National Audubon Society Conservation Districts Wisconsin Soybean Association Basin Electric Parks & Tourism Environmental Defense Fund National Fish & Wildlife Foundation South Dakota Department Tom Zale Ramona & Lee Bass Kansas Forest Service EPRI Natural Resources Trust of Agriculture Belle Fourche River Mike L. Keiser Farm Credit Nebraska Environmental Trust South Dakota Department of Game, Watershed Partnership Bill Keitel Farm Credit Mid-America Nebraska Game & Parks Fish & Parks Bird Conservancy of the Rockies Association of Carol & Jim Faulstich Chad Njos South Dakota Discovery Center Debra Jackson-Bliss & Tom Bliss Conservation Districts Tom Fenger Noble Research Institute South Dakota Farm Bureau Federation Shaila & Thomas Bolger Kentucky Corn Grower’s Association First Dakota National Bank North Dakota Chapter of the South Dakota Grasslands Coalition Brenda & Donald Boydston Kentucky Dept. of Agriculture Paul Francis Wildlife Society South Dakota State University Abby & Mike Brand Kentucky Dept. of Fish & Judy & Thomas Fritsch North Dakota Chapter, Society Foundation Wildlife Resources Brenda Christensen & Tom Barry Full Belly Farm for Range Management Georgina Spiegel Nancy & James Bruins Kentucky Farm Bureau Federation Bob Giacomini North Dakota Game & Peggy & Bill Sproul Kentucky Tree Farm Committee Darla & Homer Buell Eric Graber Fish Department Starion Financial Julie & Bruce Knight Tina Buford Green Cover Seed Oklahoma Farming & Sustainable Agriculture Research Indy Burke Janet & John Green Mike Kollath Ranching Foundation & Education Capitol Travel Dayle Keitel-Haglund & Brent Haglund Erin Krier Oklahoma State University, Buck Sweeney Cargill Gayle & Kurt Haglund Mimi Levitt Division of Agricultural Sciences Sweetwater Trust Kim & Dick Cates Joan & George Hall M.F.A. Inc & Natural Resources Stanley Temple City of Oconomowoc Alan Haney Norma & John Magnuson Diane & Dave Olenchek The Fertilizer Institute Ann Miller & Reed Coleman Linda Bochert & Dave Hanson Tim Male Barb & Norm Pape The Ida & Robert Gordon Sand County Foundation is a Gold Level GuideStar participant. This means Leta Collord Harvey L. & Maud S. Sorensen Toni & Dave Mathis Renee Perna Family Foundation we are committed to demonstrating Compeer Financial Foundation Kevin McAleese Holly Perrotti The Nature Conservancy transparency and accountability to our McKnight Foundation Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin Mark Hoegh Carolyn & Rolf Peterson The William & Flora Hewlett donors. View Sand County Foundation’s Dairyland Power Cooperative Jim Holte Mike McNerney Pheasants Forever Foundation profile on GuideStar’s website to find Dakota Community Bank & Trust William Hutchins Mildred Michalski Producers Livestock The William H. Donner Foundation details about our financials, program Robyn & Tom Davison Ann & David Ingram Millborn Seeds, Inc. Marketing Association Dianne Thompson activities and impact. Financial Responsibility Board of Directors Foundation Staff CHAIRMAN Kevin McAleese Assets Lynne Sherrod Chief Executive Officer and President Owner ASSETS 2017 Brent Haglund, Ph.D. Rocking U7 Ranch Cash 162,998 Chief Scientific Officer CHAIRMAN EMERITUS Promises to Give 435,511 Christina Schellpfeffer Reed Coleman Vice President External Relations Accounts Receivable 23,097 CEO, Retired Prepaid Expenses 8,039 Madison Kipp Corporation Craig Ficenec Program Director Long-term Investments 9,149,556 VICE-CHAIR/SECRETARY Property & Equipment - Net 12,425 David Hanson Lance Irving Attorney National Program Director Michael Best & Friedrich Leopold Conservation Award Program TOTAL ASSETS $9,791,626 TREASURER Jamie Konopacky Liabilities and Net Assets Homer Buell Senior Attorney and Watershed Policy Owner Specialist LIABILITIES 2017 Shovel Dot Ranch Casey Langan Accounts Payable 61,437 Tina Buford Communications Director Grants Payable 50,000 Owner Ya-Wei (Jake) Li Other Liabilities 103,398 H. Yturria Ranch Director of Biodiversity TOTAL LIABILITIES $214,835 Indy Burke, Ph.D. Environmental Policy Innovation Center Dean Timothy Male, Ph.D. Yale University School of Forestry & Environment NET ASSETS Executive Director Environmental Policy Innovation Center Unrestricted Net Assets 6,333,050 Kevin Conrad Entrepreneur and Conservationist Temporarily Restricted Net Assets 3,243,741 Greg Olson Nancy DeLong Field Projects Director TOTAL NET ASSETS $9,576,791 Agriculture Sustainability Consultant Holly Perrotti Director of Operations TOTAL LIABILITIES AND NET ASSETS $9,791,626 Brent Haglund, Ph.D. Chief Scientific Officer Alex Echols Sand County Foundation Consultant, Special Projects Sand County Foundation has always been committed to full Bruce Knight financial transparency. The foundation is classified as a 501(c) Karen Sweet Founder and Conservation Consultant (3) Public Charity under IRS code. The report of an independent Consultant, and Strategic Conservation Solutions auditor, 2017 audited financial statements and our 2017 tax Leopold Conservation Awards return are available at sandcountyfoundation.org Stanley Temple, Ph.D. Craig Utter Beers-Bascom Professor Emeritus in Conservation Consultant, Nebraska Leopold In addition, Sand County Foundation conducts organizational University of Wisconsin – Madison Conservation Award and programmatic reviews of its work every three to four Ed Warner years. This interdisciplinary review process is conducted by Geologist and Philanthropist prominent independent experts and helps guide our priorities and strategies. PHOTO COURTESY OF PENNSYLVANIA FARM BUREAU FARM OF PENNSYLVANIA COURTESY PHOTO The nation’s leading voice for private land conservation

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