Building Conservation Legacies
While no two programs of Resources Legacy
Fund or
Resources Legacy Fund Foundation
are the same, there are important similarities. All of the
programs we implement focus on the long-term protection of
natural resources. All of them rely heavily on a commitment to
meaningful collaboration. And all are recognizable for their
quality and effectiveness.
The following links offer details of some
of the programs we’ve been fortunate to help design and
implement:
Northern Rockies Loan Fund.
Providing bridge financing to acquire properties promoting the rich diversity and significant landscapes of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Idaho Panhandle, High Divide, and the Crown of the Continent.
Marine Protected Areas.
Supporting state, nonprofit, and private sector efforts to
ensure marine biodiversity in the waters off California’s coast.
Western Conservation.
Protecting the West’s iconic landscapes and valuable natural resources from threats including population growth and climate change.
Sustainable Fisheries Fund.
Promoting sustainable fisheries, primarily through participation
of fishing, conservation, and other organizations in the
eco-certification program of the Marine Stewardship Council.
California Water Foundation.
Promoting science-based, integrated resource management to support
sustainable improvements in water management to meet California’s 21st century
economic and ecological water needs.
Additional Programs, Studies, and Projects
(back to top)
This list of additional programs, studies,
and projects gives a sense of the scope of our work.
Bay
Area Conservation Initiative—RLF worked with the Gordon and
Betty Moore and David and Lucile Packard foundations to create a
program that supports collaborations among land trusts
to catalyze a
coordinated regional approach to land conservation in the Bay
Area that is focused on strategic deployment of state bond
funds, as well as other public and private funds, to protect
large-scale, high-value habitat and linkages. The Bay Area Conservation Initiative
seeks the protection of these high-priority landscapes to create
a more systematic and lasting level of protection and enjoyment
for the people of California and support the long-term goal of
sustaining a healthy Bay Area ecosystem. The program
employs a range of
strategies, including engaging in science-based, regional
conservation planning; convening land trusts and public agencies
to prioritize efforts and design a collective conservation
vision; supporting pre-acquisition activities that develop
priority projects; mobilizing conservation organization
participation in the development of transportation and land use
policy; and catalyzing key initial acquisitions.
California Coastal and
Marine Initiative. A multi-year program begun on behalf of
the David and Lucile Packard Foundation in 2003 dedicated to
improving the coastal and marine health of California’s Central
Coast and generating more effective statewide policies and
programs to enhance the protection of coasts and oceans for
future generations. See a summary of the revised
program strategy for a more detailed description.
The program currently accepts letters of inquiry for grants.
Children
and Urban River Parkways—Some of
California’s most ethnically diverse and underserved communities
reside alongside urban rivers, including Los Angeles, San Diego,
Fresno, and Modesto. Often, these communities have very little
access to parks or open space. RLF works to link these
communities with more traditional conservation interests,
establishing unique partnerships focused on the revitalization
and protection of urban river parkways. These collaborations
create opportunities for safe outdoor recreation and provide
hands-on environmental education, job skills training, civic
engagement, and valuable assets for neighboring communities.
RLF’s goal is to help advance establishment and stability of
river parkways as a vital tool to improve the quality of life in
underserved communities, support the growth of new and diverse
urban conservation movements, and reinforce the emergence of new
voices for conservation.
Climate
Change Public Education Program—California
has led the nation in addressing climate change by passing
landmark laws that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help
ensure the thoughtful, sustainable growth of its communities.
These policies have the potential not only to help the
communities in California and elsewhere adapt to climate change,
but revive them as well by creating new industries and jobs
around clean energy and other new, “green” technologies. RLF and
its consultants craft strategies that support the implementation
of these policies and their potential application throughout the
western United States. RLF supports communications, public
opinion research, and administrative advocacy experts to help
philanthropic investments drive meaningful policy development
and to ensure that these new approaches revitalize the state’s
economy, clean up its air, build livable communities, and
protect the health of its children and families.
Northern
Sierra Partnership. (www.northernsierrapartnership.org)
Under the leadership of the Morgan Family Foundation and with
support from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, five
organizations have come together in a unique alliance to protect
watersheds, recreational lands open to the public, working
ranches and forests, and other natural resources in Sierra
Valley, Genesee Valley, Upper Little Truckee River, Sierra
Crest, Martis Valley, Donner Summit, and other important
landscapes. The Northern Sierra Partnership will link these
goals and public policy initiatives to reduce the risk of
wildfire, build sustainable local economies, and contribute to
an enduring relationship between people, land and prosperity.
Partners include the Feather River Land Trust, Sierra Business
Council, The Nature Conservancy, Truckee Donner Land Trust, and
The Trust for Public Land.
Northwest Mexico Land
Conservation. The Gulf of California and surrounding
states—Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora, Sinaloa,
and Nayarit—are world renowned for the diversity and importance
of their coastal
and marine habitats. The Northwest Mexico Land
Conservation program is dedicated to maintaining landscape
integrity in this region through the long-term protection of
important coastal areas. In response to requests from leading
Mexican conservation organizations, and made possible by the
collaboration and leadership of the Marisla, Packard, and
Sandler foundations, this multi-year program is guided by the
ongoing strategic advice of a Mexican advisory board, the Grupo
de Trabajo, and facilitated by RLF. RLF provides support for
communications, organizational capacity and effectiveness,
conservation science, and other strategies that complement the
land protection priorities.
Para información en español,
oprima
aquí.
Renewable
Energy and Land Conservation—Through
this program, RLF is working to ensure that the development of
renewable energy on public and private lands is done
responsibly, so renewable energy siting and transmission is
coupled with the conservation of significant natural resources.
Focusing initially on the California desert and Nevada, RLF has
engaged a coalition of conservation groups, philanthropic
entities, clean energy advocates, solar industry companies, and
other key stakeholders to establish a model approach to the
development of renewable energy. Additionally, RLF consultants
are engaged with federal and state policy experts to help craft
and implement short-term projects that access federal stimulus
funds, and a long-term effort to promote the commitment among
state and federal agencies as well as energy stakeholders to a
scientifically derived, consensus-based plan for renewable
energy development addressing factors such as appropriate siting
and the collection of royalties from energy production to fund
conservation.
San Francisco Bay Salt Ponds Restoration Project. (www.southbayrestoration.org)
In 2003, with funding from the Goldman Fund, the William and
Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation,
and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, RLF helped federal
and state agencies purchase more than 16,000 acres of commercial
salt ponds and property ringing South San Francisco Bay and in
Napa County. Since that time, RLF has managed philanthropic
funds supporting initial stewardship and restoration planning,
pilot projects, and restoration science.
Since 2003, RLF has supported Pelican Media, led by Judy Irving and Mark Bittner, in the photographic documentation of this project – capturing the original condition of the salt-making operations and ponds, restoration activities, public use, and wildlife. This archive chronicles the dramatic transformation of land and the return of a variety of native species, habitat, and public use to these areas. You can view the collection here. (If you would like to use one of these photographs free of charge for nonprofit or educational purposes, please contact Judy Irving for an un-watermarked file and correct crediting information.)
Wildlands Acquisition
Program—Through this program, RLF supports the acquisition
of inholdings within California desert parks, desert wilderness
areas, and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park while strengthening
the capacity of organizations seeking public financing for land
protection and working to preserve California’s desert
landscape. There remain tens of thousands of acres of private
land within the five million acres of California’s three desert
national parks—Joshua Tree National Park, Mojave National
Preserve, and Death Valley National Park—that form significant
threats to the parks from development and uncontrolled land uses
such as dumping, land clearing, and off-road vehicle traffic.
RLF is assisting groups in acquiring inholdings within the parks
to consolidate park management and help defuse the threat of
development. Additionally, the 70,000 acres of inholdings within
desert wilderness areas continue to threaten wilderness values
and resources. Roads that access inholdings create ongoing
wilderness management problems, thus consolidation and expansion
of protection remains crucial. The program also supports efforts
to protect Anza Borrego Desert State Park. The park contains
critical habitat for several threatened species, and management
of the wilderness landscape remains problematic and expensive
due to complications caused by inholdings. To maximize the
existing protection of wildlands within the park, RLF is
prioritizing and acquiring the most important remaining private
inholdings.
Preserving Wild California
(closed). A program of Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, this was a
five-year, $150 million program designed to preserve
California’s wild lands and rivers, and to ensure their
permanent protection by investing in systematic acquisitions of
land and fostering supportive policies, organizations, and
constituencies. Preserving Wild California offered grants and
loans and entered into contracts for land acquisition, planning,
policy and advocacy, constituency building, nonprofit
organizational capacity building, and stewardship and
restoration. Among other important outcomes, efforts
significantly supported by the program led to the protection
through Wilderness designation of more than one million acres of
California wildlands. A comprehensive external assessment of the
Preserving Wild California program, conducted by Dr. Steven
Yaffee of the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the
University of Michigan, can be viewed
here.
Conserving California
Landscapes Initiative (closed). A five-year, $175 million
initiative of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation that
served as a magnet for $764 million in leveraged funds, leading
to the protection of more than 420,000 acres of beautiful,
productive, and richly diverse lands in the Sierra Nevada,
Central Valley, and Central Coast of California.
Donor-Initiated Conservation
Projects. Several independent funds devoted to conservation
opportunities based on the requirements and wishes of donors.
Photograph by Mark Bittner
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