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The Nature Conservancy Announces $18 Million Raised For Conservation

DES MOINES, Iowa—January 25, 2008—The Nature Conservancy announced that they have raised more than $18.1 million dollars for conservation in the Saving the Last Great Places in Iowa-The Campaign for Conservation publically launched in June 2006. This exceeded the original goal of $9.5 million.

“Iowans said ‘yes’ to conservation in a meaningful way,” said Jan Glendening, the director of philanthropy for the Conservancy in Iowa. “We have the most altered state in the country, 99 percent of Iowa’s prairie has been altered or plowed, but Iowans told us that they value this diminished resource, these native areas, by responding swiftly and generously.”

The campaign focused on the six most ecologically important and threatened landscapes in Iowa, which include: the Loess Hills, Lower Cedar Valley, Little Sioux Valley, the Driftless Area, Grand River Grasslands and the Upper Mississippi River. By funding efforts with urgent conservation needs, the Conservancy hopes to make a more significant impact on some of Iowa’s last remaining intact, native landscapes for future generations.

When the campaign officially ends on February 1, 2008, it will have:

• Protected over 3,700 acres across the state in our priority areas
• Specifically protected 2,100 acres in the Loess Hills at Broken Kettle Grasslands
• Raised funds for stewardship and management of the land
• Funded science research to both guide land acquisition and to help better manage land

In keeping with some of the original goals of the campaign, the Conservancy is moving forward. Additional lands in each of the six project areas has been and is being conserved, monitoring and water quality projects have been established on two river systems, one on the Boone River, and total protected land in the Loess Hills has moved from 17 percent of the 100,000-acre goal to 28 percent of the projected goal with bison being re-introduced to that area in fall of 2008.

Major gifts to the campaign include the lead gift of $2 million from the Fred Maytag Family Foundation, $5.4 million lakefront natural area on Clear Lake from Max Clausen, a matching gift grant of $500,000 from the Kresge Foundation specifically for land acquisition and nearly $500,000 from Drs.Gregg Oden and Lola Lopes.

“We had more than 1,000 donors to this campaign. Some were past supporters who made larger, more significant gifts. Some were new members and supporters. We had 350 donors making contributions of $1,000 or more,” said Glendening. “Going forward, we hope to carry this message to other Iowans and increase awareness for the need of conservation in Iowa. Each person can make a difference but together, we can conserve the 1 percent that we have left.”

Conservation is ongoing. It doesn’t begin and end with a campaign. The Conservancy leverages funds, property and influence by working with partners, agricultural associations, landowners and government organizations to expand conservation and best management practices for land. The need for financial support continues well past the campaign.

In addition, landowners and agricultural entities can contribute their expertise and experience. “A big part of our work in Iowa is working with local landowners and producers to determine economic and ecological measures that will help improve both conservation and performance-based agriculture,” said Glendening. “This is particularly important as together we examine water quality issues.”

From Iowa’s largest remaining native prairie in the Loess Hills of western Iowa to northeast Iowa, where the cliffs of ancient limestone are riddled with sinkholes, springs and algific talus slopes, the monies raised in the Campaign for Conservation will address these unique landscapes across the state and preserve these dwindling natural areas as well as address grasslands on a global level. This campaign raised more than $600,000 for areas beyond Iowa’s borders in Mongolia grasslands and the Llanos grasslands of Venezuela and Colombia. Grasslands are the least protected habitat in the world with less than 5 percent protected.

“What Iowa does in the next few years as a result of this campaign funding will have state, national and global implications. From cross-border work on the tributaries and streams of the Mississippi River to the preservation of grasslands and other significant Iowa systems and species, it is going to be our opportunity to save these last great places in Iowa now and for future generations,” said Glendening.