Matching Funds Further Wildlife Trust Grants

Casper, Wyoming—December 11, 2006—Today’s formal presentation of a $250,000 check from The Nature Conservancy to Wyoming’s Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust highlighted the value of leverage.

“Matching funds from conservation groups, business and industry are necessary for the trust to realize its full potential”, says Erickson Quiroz, state director for the Conservancy’s Wyoming Chapter. She says the Conservancy’s matching dollars can be used to further dollars for projects selected by Wyoming’s Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust Board, and can help meet challenges from federal, state and private sources.

Leveraging Conservation Dollars
Matching funds can sometimes leverage conservation dollars up to four times the original grant when multiple parties come to the table. “It’s great that sportsmen’s and conservation groups are stepping up to increase the trust’s coffers,” says Erickson Quiroz. “Together, with the continued support of the Wyoming legislature, we can direct more dollars to the places where collaborative stewardship efforts can make a real difference.”

In June, The Nature Conservancy announced the creation of the Grasslands Conservation Fund, a quarter of a million dollars in matching funds to Wyoming’s Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust. The funds are for grassland conservation projects in eastern Wyoming’s Thunder and Shirley basins, regions of high biological significance. The first round of matched funds went to the Thunder Basin Grasslands Prairie Ecosystem Association, a landowner-driven effort to use a science-based, collaborative approach to long-term land management.

Grasslands at Risk
The Grasslands Conservation Fund comes at a time when grasslands are considered among the most threatened habitat types on Earth. Grasslands cover more than 17 million acres in Wyoming, with most of that land under the stewardship of private landowners. Conversion, invasion by noxious and non-native plants, and loss of naturally-occurring patterns such as fire, all affect the viability of Wyoming’s native grasslands. “Grassland Conservation Fund dollars can be used to help those private landowners continue to provide the wildlife habitat and natural resources we all benefit from,” says Erickson Quiroz.

Where It All Began
Tom Stroock, five-term Wyoming senator and a trustee emeritus of The Nature Conservancy in Wyoming, says he couldn’t be more pleased about various groups matching conservation dollars with Wyoming’s Wildlife Trust. Stroock was an early supporter of a bill introduced in the 1980s that many believe was the first version of what is today Wyoming’s Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust.

“Having Tom in the room as we watch Wyoming’s Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust gain substantial ground is really meaningful,” says Erickson Quiroz. “That idea has turned into something very popular—so much so that groups are coming to the table with matching dollars to ensure its continuing success.”

The Nature Conservancy is a leading international, nonprofit organization that preserves plants, animals and natural communities representing the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. With partners, the Conservancy has conserved more than 400,000 acres of biologically diverse wildlife habitat in Wyoming.