In 1989, the Fund for Wild Nature gave a small grant to the Greater Gila Biodiversity Project to protect endangered species and critical habitat in the southwest – the fledgling group’s first grant. This small group grew and later became the Center for Biological Diversity, currently one of the leading endangered species protection organizations in the world.

The Fund’s provision of a series of small grants to Environmental Flying Services, a one-woman and one-airplane organization working with biologists in Mexico to protect wildlife, resulted in the discovery of the calving waters of the endangered Pacific blue whale, the establishment of the protected National Wetlands of Mexico, and the declaration by the President of Mexico of all coastal waters in Mexico as a marine mammal sanctuary. In 2001, its director, Sandy Lanham, was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship.

The Fund for Wild Nature consistently has supported several of the groups involved with lynx restoration: the Center for Native Ecosystems, Predator Conservation Alliance, the San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council, Sinapu, and the Southern Rockies Ecosystem Project. Through a combination of scientific analysis, public education, policy advocacy, community coalition building, administrative appeals and litigation, these groups have been able to stem the tide of habitat destruction by development, motorized recreation, mining and logging, in order to secure habitat for lynx recovery. Their work continues, but the success of the lynx in Colorado is a milestone in ecosystem restoration.

Please see our Annual Reports for details on organizations supported and funding provided by the Fund for Wild Nature.