The West
A 2006 grant preserved Western wilderness through the Western Resource Advocates’ Rocky Mountain Energy Campaign.
The rapidly growing North American West faces unprecedented pressures from developers and the coal, timber, oil, and gas industries. In 2006, we made grants in five areas:
- Protecting open spaces and wilderness. Our primary wilderness work this year, both in terms of funding and acres protected, focused on the Great Bear Rainforest and the Boreal forests of Canada.
- Ensuring adequate natural flows of water. In 2006, we supported efforts to ensure that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s dam relicensing proceedings contribute to the restoration of streams. We also backed the reform of laws to increase natural flows in headwaters states.
- Reducing the destruction caused by fossil fuel development. Our strategy to build environmental protection into the Western energy development boom helped save several beautiful areas from destruction this year and helped build new coalitions for broader protection.
- Supporting public finance for open space. Since 2002, we have funded analysis and public opinion research that has advanced public funding measures in eleven states, raising over $10 billion to preserve private lands.
- Making the environmental movement more effective. Program grants in 2006 strengthened environmental groups in the West by helping them develop capacity and attract more diverse community support.
2006 Highlights
In June 2006, the Foundation made a two-year, $6.5 million commitment to help preserve the Boreal Forest, the largest intact forest in the world. These funds will be matched by at least $18 million from the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Lundfest Foundation. Between 26 and 32 million acres are slated for protection in the Boreal.
With action by fishing groups and ranchers, and the savvy of a very strong team at Trout Unlimited, key water law reforms were advanced in 2006. Trout Unlimited won a major victory in the Montana Supreme Court that puts firm limits on groundwater development in the state. This significant new precedent for the West paves the way for statutory reform that will protect surface water flows from groundwater well depletions.
Hundreds of ranches and hundreds of thousands of acres of federal land across the West were destroyed in the past year by reckless fossil energy development. With Foundation funding, the Rocky Mountain Energy Campaign (RMEC) continues to mount an effective response: promoting responsible energy policy, preserving the West’s remaining wild places, and protecting citizens and communities from unchecked energy development. In 2006, RMEC played a role in gaining protection for the Rocky Mountain Front in Montana and the Valle Vidal in New Mexico from drilling for oil and natural gas. Furthermore, its efforts to establish more rigorous air, water, and wildlife standards related to energy development have gathered momentum in Colorado, Montana, and Wyoming.
2007 Goals
- Support conservation management under the new agreement protecting the Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia
- Pursue conservation and protected area status for lands within the Boreal forests
- Ensure protection of wilderness areas in Oregon, Washington, and California and introduce new wilderness proposals in Arizona and New Mexico
- Strengthen alliances between conservation organizations and grassroots groups, hunters, ranchers, and anglers
- Advance policies recommended in the Western Governors’ Association’s recently adopted Clean Energy Initiative
- Obtain favorable settlements, and implement those already achieved, in the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s licensing of dams on Western rivers
- Increase both federal and regional funding for water conservation and the amount of water flow protected
- Conduct training, research, and outreach to build support for conservation finance measures in more Western states
For more information, please visit the Foundation Web site.
