December 12, 2021 2 min read

Back in September we sent out a call to our Hyke & Byke readers, asking you to help us vote on a number of exciting conservation efforts around North America. These projects were all vying for funding from the Conservation Alliance, which twice a year chooses several initiatives to support. 

We received hundreds of votes from you, our readers. It was a two-way tie for your top picks:

  1. Women's Earth and Climate Action Network: Women for Forests: Tongass Protection
  2. Wilderness Workshop: Achieving Permanent Protection for the Thompson Divide

Before we close out the year, we wanted to be sure we announced that the Alliance made their choices for the summer 2021 grant cycle. According to the Alliance, "this cycle, we awarded $890,000 to grassroots groups working to protect wild places across North America. These projects were chosen by you, our member companies, through a nomination and voting process."

Here are the grant recipients (spoiler alert: your two top projects made the list!):

Cottonwood Lake Preservation Society: Save Cottonwood Lake — $45,000

Dolores River Boating Advocates: Dolores River Canyon NCA Campaign Education and Outreach —$25,000

Environmental Law & Policy Center: Seizing Opportunities for New & Expanded National Wilderness Areas Designations — $50,000

Friends of the Owyhee: Protect Oregon’s Owyhee Canyonlands — $20,000

Grand Canyon Trust: Permanently Protecting the Grand Canyon Region from Uranium Mining — $25,000

Great Basin Water Network: Save the Swamp Cedars — $45,000


Women for Forests: Tongass Protection

Gunks Climbers' Coalition: Millbrook Mountain Conservation Initiative: Ant Lion Crag — $20,000

Gwich'in Steering Committee: Gwich'in Steering Committee Support - Protecting the Coastal Plain — $50,000

Natural Resources Council of Maine: Saving Endangered Atlantic Salmon in Maine’s Kennebec River —$50,000

Oregon Desert Land Trust: Pueblos and Trout Creek Mountains Conservation Area — $50,000

Oregon Natural Desert Association: Owyhee Canyonlands Campaign — $50,000

Park County Environmental Council: Protecting the Wild and Sacred Lands of Montana’s Crazy Mountains — $40,000

San Juan Citizens Alliance: San Juan Mountains Wilderness — $40,000

The Wilderness Land Trust: North Cascades - Washington Wilderness Project — $35,000

Trout Unlimited: Anglers & Hunters for the Ruby Mountains — $40,000

Trust for Public Land: White Rocks & Otter Creek — $35,000

Achieving Permanent Protection for the Thompson Divide

United Tribes of Bristol Bay: Protections for the Bristol Bay Watershed — $50,000

Wild Montana (Montana Wilderness Association): Wildlife and Recreation Protections for Iconic Montana Rivers — $45,000

Wilderness Workshop: Achieving Permanent Protection for the Thompson Divide — $35,000

Women's Earth and Climate Action Network: Women for Forests: Tongass Protection — $50,000

Wyoming Outdoor Council: Northern Red Desert Permanent Protection Campaign (Years 2 & 3) — $40,000

The following discretionary awards were granted by the Conservation Alliance board of directors to support the specific needs of important conservation projects.

Conserving Carolina: Bracken Preserve Addition — $10,000

Nuestra Tierra Conservation Project: Equitable Access & Public Participation — $10,000

Soda Mountain Wilderness Council: Protecting Cascade-Siskiyou — $10,000

Southeast Alaska Conservation Council: Keeping the Tongass Wild — $10,000

The Wilderness Society: Protect the Tongass — $10,000

Which project are you most excited about? Leave a comment and let us know!


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