How We Work

A Word from Larry Selzer
President, The Conservation Fund

Since our founding in 1985, The Conservation Fund has protected more than 6 million acres of America’s land legacy—lands that encompass some of the nation’s top wildlife habitats, wetlands, working forests and historic sites. And in the process, we have saved the American people nearly $1 billion.

These are superior results delivered by an unmatched team of professionals who are at the forefront of a new environmentalism, one that is based on collaboration rather than confrontation, on the full integration of economic and environmental objectives and on effective partnerships between public, private and nonprofit organizations.

From the beginning, however, we knew that setting aside America’s special places was not enough. To ensure their future protection, we would need to find sustainable paths for economic development and community growth, and we would need to prepare the next generation to be good stewards of these irreplaceable resources.

Consequently, we invested heavily in sustainable development, and the results are exciting. Our Freshwater Institute is a world leader in researching and demonstrating sustainable aquaculture. Our Natural Capital Investment Fund is expanding into new markets that encourage job creation through the sustainable use of natural resources. Our carbon sequestration program invests private dollars in restoring native forests in previously cleared areas, thereby addressing both the critical need for wildlife habitat and tangible solutions to climate change.

Two regions in particular demonstrate how powerful the integration of land conservation and economic development can be: the east Texas Pineywoods and northern California’s redwood forests. In the Pineywoods, we are working with local communities—long dependent upon the timber industry for their livelihoods—to embrace a new economy based on eco-tourism, the fastest growing segment of the tourism industry. But you cannot have eco-tourism without the eco, so we are working to protect more than 100,000 acres of critical forestland that will anchor this new economy. In northern California, with the recent acquisition of 16,000 acres, we now own more than 40,000 acres of redwood forest purchased in a groundbreaking partnership of private groups and the state of California. Through our sustainable timber harvesting we are restoring the property for fish, wildlife and public recreation.

However, no area of our work may be more important than reconnecting children with nature. At no time in history have so many children been so separated from direct experiences in nature. In the past 30 years, children of the digital age have become increasingly alienated from the natural world with disturbing implications for their physical fitness, their long-term mental and spiritual health, and for the environment.

Young people who grow up without experiencing nature are much less likely to be strong champions of the environment when they reach voting age, when they become the decision makers in our public and private institutions. To address this, The Conservation Fund is launching a major new initiative, the National Forum on Children and Nature, to identify and implement opportunities to reconnect children with the natural world.

With the support and dedication of our board, staff and partners, we have made great strides. For the sixth year in a row the American Institute of Philanthropy named The Conservation Fund the nation’s top-rated environmental charity, and Charity Navigator again gave the Fund its exceptional “four-star” rating for exceeding industry standards. Our 1 percent fundraising costs are the lowest in our field and our 97 percent allocation of donated funds to conservation programs is the highest.

But these accomplishments are not enough. We need all hands on deck. We must work harder to reach out to communities of color, to help them address their needs—both economic and environmental. And we must reconnect our children with nature so they will be prepared to inherit and care for the land legacy we have spent the last two decades creating.

This is our mission. Please join us as we pursue it.

Sincerely,

Larry Selzer
President and CEO