It's been two years since the Deepwater Horizon burned, sank and began spilling oil on April 20, 2010. With nearly 5 million barrels of oil discharged into the Gulf Coast, local communities, landscapes and wildlife are still dealing with the effects of oil contamination.
As a land conservation organization, we are dedicated to restoring the coastal landscapes in the Gulf Coast. Our work includes protecting and restoring unimpacted coastal wetlands, as well as bottomland hardwood forests along the Mississippi River and other rivers that feed into the Gulf of Mexico. This effort is important for wildlife, such as birds: Forced from contaminated marshes, birds must look for healthy habitat nearby in order to survive.
We also know that conserving natural landscapes will help the local communities, many of which have economies based on tourism and fishing. Read about our projects in Louisiana and Alabama to learn about our conservation successes.
We’re committed to actively helping our partners in federal, state and local agencies as they work to restore this damaged ecosystem. As these agencies plan to acquire healthy new habitat for birds and wildlife affected by the spill, we continue to play an active role. To date, The Conservation Fund has helped protect or restore more than 300,000 acres in the region.
Pelican flying with contamination boom in the background.Photo: USFWS Southeast/Tom Mackenzie
The Fund and its partners have protected more than 15,000 acres in Alabama, including Civil War battlefield sites, blufflands for a national preserve, and a long-anticipated trail connecting Alabama to the Appalachian Trail.
The Fund was part of the effort to contribute the largest addition to the Weeks Bay NERR since its designation in 1986. This property offers both wetlands and forests that serve as winter havens for various migratory birds and are open to the public recreation, including birdwatching. Read more >>
In 2009, our Racing for Wildlife program helped to protect the eight-mile crest of Rebecca Mountain, a major ridge in the Appalachian Mountains. Located just a short drive from Talladega Superspeedway within the Talladega National Forest, the protection of this land allows the U.S. Forest Service to complete a portion of the Pinhoti Trail, which connects Rebecca Mountain to the popular Appalachian National Scenic Trail in Georgia. The property will be open to visitors for hiking, camping and recreation.
Click here for a history of our work on the Pinhoti Trail and read about our success in linking the Pinhoti Trail with the Appalachian Trail.
The Little River Canyon National Preserve features one of the nation's longest mountaintop rivers, the Little River, which flows on top of Lookout Mountain for nearly all of its length. For the past five years, we have worked to protect the canyon’s spectacular viewshed from development, preserving 88 acres along the eastern rim, in partnership with The Nature Conservancy. Most recently, with support from Fred and Alice Stanback Jr., we protected an additional 14 acres here, stretching the preserve’s eastern boundary. Our efforts to save this favorite recreation destination continue, with support from Alabama’s congressional delegation.
Some of the South’s biggest trees grow in one of Alabama’s smallest counties. Here, at Brasher Woods Preserve, songbirds nest in the branches of towering hickories, oaks and maples. In 2008, we worked closely with the property’s longtime owners, the Brasher family, and The Nature Conservancy to preserve 40 acres adjacent to Brasher Woods—capping a three-year effort to protect 170 acres buffering this old-growth forest. Support from Fred and Alice Stanback Jr. and a Doris Duke Charitable Foundation grant made this acquisition possible.
Back to Civil War Battlefield Campaign
The Conservation Fund acquired 82 acres on the Day's Gap battlefield in Morgan and Cullman Counties in Alabama, site of a critical Civil War battle.
In April of 1863 US Colonel Abel D. Streight and his 1,500-man brigade were sent on a cavalry raid to destroy the Western & Atlantic Railroad in western Georgia and to divert CS Brigadier General Nathan Bedford Forrest and his cavalry while US Major General Ulysses S. Grant moved his forces down the Mississippi River. On April 30 at Day's Gap on Sand Mountain, Streight ambushed one of Forrest's columns and captured two of his guns. On May 3 Forrest bluffed the exhausted U. S. force into surrendering, but Streight's raid was successful in keeping Forrest away from the Mississippi River while Grant landed his forces on the east bank of the Mississippi River and launched his Vicksburg Campaign.
Today, the location remains much as it did 141 years ago and still holds significant natural value in addition to its historic importance.
The Conservation Fund has protected nearly 2,000 acres, including historic sites and wildlife habitat, in the state of Arkansas.
The Conservation Fund's Civil War Battlefield Campaign works in partnerships to protect our nation's hallowed ground, to provide comprehensive information on the 384 principal Civil War battlefields, designated by the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission, and to honor those that fought and died in the war. The Campaign has, with its partners, protected historic sites in 73 projects in 13 states, protecting more than 8,100 acres.
Arkansas Battlefield Conservation Projects: Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park
United States forces commanded by Brigadier General James G. Blunt and Brigadier General Francis J. Herron defeated Major General Thomas C. Hindman’s Confederates on December 7, 1862. This victory enabled the Federals to retain control of northwest Arkansas and southwest Missouri.
We purchased historic land, overlooking the battlefield from the site of the Confederate line, using our Battlefield Revolving Fund established with grants from The Gilder Foundation, and held it until the state of Arkansas had the funding to purchase it and add it to the Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park.
At the Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Fund, with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, protected more than 42 acres including 620 feet of oceanfront property, valued at $440,000. The refuge contains the most important nesting beach for leatherback sea turtles in the western hemisphere and provides a haven for several endangered bird species, including the peregrine falcon.
A leatherback sea turtle makes its way to the ocean in the Caribbean.
Photo: Ken Clifton/Flickr
Thanks to the Fund’s dynamic partnerships in Tennessee, more than 280,000 acres of the state’s special places—essential to outdoor enthusiasts and wildlife alike—will remain unspoiled for the enjoyment of future generations.
Based on our national expertise in green infrastructure planning, Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and The Land Trust for Tennessee selected the Fund to lead a team to develop an Open Space Plan for Davidson County. The recent flooding in Nashville illustrates how important the strength of natural infrastructure is to the well-being of a community. Read more.
Rocky Fork, Tennessee—a nearly 10,000-acre expanse of forests, trout streams, and mountainous ridges—is the largest unprotected tract of land in the southern Appalachian Mountains.
Learn more about our efforts to preserve Rocky Fork.
See images of the beautiful landscape and wildlife that make up Rocky Fork. View gallery.
Our work with the City of Brentwood in Tennessee is a great example of how our efforts can make a real difference in a community. In 2010, we helped the city increase its green space by 50 percent. Brentwood, just 13 miles from downtown Nashville, is one of the most desirable suburban locations to live and work in Middle Tennessee. As the city grows and the number of subdivisions increases, the community is putting conservation first. Find out how we've helped.
Known as "The Valley Beautiful," Unicoi County includes the 10,000-acre property of Rocky Fork—a mountain haven of forests and streams with more than a mile of Appalachian Trail. The county recently was recognized as an “Appalachian Trail Community” and tourist destination by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy—the first such designation in Tennessee and one of only four along the trail.
This special recognition is a great example of how the Fund's work creates lasting results. It all began with our Balancing Nature and Commerce course. Learn more >>
In 2010, the Fund worked with The Land Trust for Tennessee and the Friends of the South Cumberland State Recreation Area to protect over 6,200 acres of the western bluff of Fiery Gizzard Cove and over a mile and a half of the Fiery Gizzard trail system. Learn More.
Thanks to Bridgestone/Firestone, Inc., the state now owns 10,000 acres of unspoiled wilderness along the Caney Fork River at Scott’s Gulf. This breathtaking landscape is characterized by deep gorges, rock outcrops, and class V rapids. The company honored its 100th anniversary by donating 4,000 acres in 1999 and 6,000 acres in 2000 to complete the Bridgestone/Firestone Centennial Wilderness as a gift to the citizens of Tennessee. The Fund holds a conservation easement over the entire 10,000 acres, protecting these lands permanently.
In partnership with the state of Tennessee and the Cumberland Trail Conference, the Fund transferred 5,000 acres from Bowater Incorporated to the state to add to Cumberland Trail State Park. The new parcel contains three striking gorges and is the key to establishing a 230-mile greenway running from Cumberland Gap National Historic Park to Signal Point near Chattanooga.
With lead support from the Tennessee Environmental Endowment, Power Bar, REI, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Fund worked with Maury County landowners to restore 100 acres of land and two miles of the riverbank, preventing more than 10,000 tons of soil from entering the Duck River and its tributaries.
The Fund and the Foothills Land Conservancy now hold one of the largest conservation easements ever donated by private parties in Tennessee. The 769-acre property provides a two-mile buffer along the southwestern boundary of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, renowned worldwide for its scenic views and abundant wildlife, such as bobcat, black bear, and migrating songbirds. Tennessee’s U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander and his wife, Honey, along with Ruby Tuesday CEO Sandy Beall and his wife, Kreis and other partners made a gift of the easement.
By protecting nearly 150,000 acres in South Carolina the Fund and its partners have safeguarded key wildlife habitat, popular recreation destinations, and helped to strengthen local economies.
In 2012, we helped the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service exapnd Caronlina Sandhill NWR by nearly 270 acres. The tract is significant as a demonstration site for longleaf pine ecosystem restoration and it provides habitat for many of the same species found on the refuge, including white-tailed deer, wild turkey, bobwhite quail, Eastern fox squirrel, and forest-dwelling migratory birds.
Learn more >>
After a two-year effort, the Fund completed the final phase in the creation of Belfast Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in 2010. Conservation of this land not only protects wildlife habitat, but preserves part of South Carolina's history and offers the public access to new outdoor recreational space.
Their mission has always been to protect and defend, but now five military installations are watching over something new: a tranquil and towering forest along South Carolina’s Wateree River. In 2009, we joined Fort Jackson, McCrady National Guard Training Center, McEntire Air National Guard Station, Shaw Air Force Base and Poinsett Bombing Range in preserving 1,900 acres of critical longleaf pine and bottomland hardwood forest. This landscape, now held by the Congaree Land Trust, may soon welcome a new resident: the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker.
The effort is the nation’s lead conservation project involving multiple military partners along with state and local leaders. The Department of Defense’s National Readiness and Environmental Protection Initiative’s Conservation Buffer Program funded the project, as part of its Midlands Area Joint Installation Consortium(MAJIC) effort to establish buffers around the bases. Since 2008, we have helped MAJIC protect over 2,500 acres across South Carolina.
Located in the fastest growing county in South Carolina, the Ashley River historic district is considered one of the country’s most endangered places. The district’s centuries-old plantations and oaks dressed in Spanish moss represent the unique beauty of the South Carolina Lowcountry. While many visitors to the Lowcountry have taken Ashley River Road from Charleston to the Middleton Place National Historic Landmark, few know of the 5,800 acres across the road known as Middleton Place Woodlands. The woodlands contains wetlands and bottomland hardwoods that harbor wood ducks, little blue herons and endangered wood storks.
Back in 2008, the Fund worked with the Duell Family, owners of the Middleton Place Woodlands, to facilitate the placement of a conservation easement on more than 3,700 acres, protecting the historic beauty of Ashley River Road and the surrounding land. The property is part of the Duell family heritage, having been owned by the family since before the Revolutionary War. The easement was an opportunity for the Duells to preserve the property’s natural state while allowing only limited potential for future development.
Ducks Unlimited will monitor and enforce the easement. Three years ago, Ducks Unlimited began its Ashley River Historic District Project, an effort aimed at protecting critical habitat and undeveloped land between Charleston and Summerville. With the Middleton Place Woodlands easement and another easement recently secured by Ducks Unlimited on 2,441 acres of Millbrook Plantation, more than 12,000 acres have been protected within the historic district. The South Carolina Conservation Bank and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation’s Lowcountry Forest Conservation Project each provided partial funding for the easement.
In 2006, the Fund helped transfer 850 acres of hardwood forest and wetland habitat to the Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge, just south of Conway. The land not only will enhance recreation opportunities but will also protect important nesting and wintering habitat for wood ducks and migratory waterfowl species.
“The Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge is one of the most vital, yet vulnerable landscapes in the Southeast,” said Jason Johnson, The Conservation Fund’s South Carolina director. A haven for migratory birds, the 10,590-acre Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge spans portions of the Great Pee Dee and Waccamaw rivers, making up a large portion of the Winyah Bay drainage basin. Its diverse habitats include blackwater and alluvial-forested wetlands that host large concentrations of wintering waterfowl, wading birds and neo-tropical migratory songbirds and shelter the northernmost nesting grounds for the sallow-tailed kite.
From the Appalachian Trail to the Albemarle Pamlico Estuary, North Carolina's rich natural resources beckon wildlife and outdoor enthusiasts alike. Here, the Fund and its partners have worked closely with local communities to integrate conservation, sustainable economic development, and social justice principals to preserve more than 200,000 acres.
The Fund runs several programs from our office in Chapel Hill. Our Resourceful Communities Program helps North Carolina’s rural communities address persistent poverty by tapping natural resources to create jobs and strengthen economies. Working with a network of over 250 grassroots and community organizations across the state, RCP takes a balanced “triple bottom line” approach that focuses on environmental stewardship, sustainable economic development and social justice. Meet the team that makes up our Resourceful Communities Program or Learn more about the Resourceful Communities Program on their website.
Resourceful Communities is working with partners to establish NC's first community forest on a 532-acre parcel in Hoke County. Read more (at right) or click here to learn more about our efforts in Hoke Community Forest.
The Fund owns and manages Palmetto-Peartree Preserve, a 10,000-acre property in North Carolina established with funding from the North Carolina Department of Transportation. The preserve protects wildlife habitat and serve as a demonstration project for sustainable forestry and working lands preservation. The preserve also serves as an endangered species mitigation bank for the red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW) and provides habitat to a multitude of other wildlife species, including the bald eagle, peregrine flacon, red wolf, black bear, bobcat, and more than 100 migratory bird species. The Fund manages Palmetto-Peartree Preserve as a public park for recreation, environmental education, and economic development.
Rushing waterfalls and melodious birdcalls lift the deep quiet of Pisgah National Forest in the Appalachian Mountains. In 2009, we conserved 754 acres within the forest, preserving rare vegetation and expanding hikers’ access to Raquette Creek’s popular trails and waterfalls. Previously, we worked with the USDA Forest Service, the State of North Carolina, the Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina, and the Boy Scouts of America to protect 4,400-acre Lake Logan from further development. Protecting Lake Logan not only added to the national forest and the adjacent Shining Rock Wilderness Area, which was acquired from Champion International and was valued in excess of $10 million, but it safeguards important wildlife habitat and water resources that serve the local communities.
The Conservation Fund joined with North Carolina State Parks to secure a conservation easement over 332 acres along four miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Now part of the state’s Mountain to Sea Trail, the property’s scenic forested ridge tops are protected from development.
As a conservation gift to the nation, E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company protected more than 1,200 acres along the Lower Cape Fear River through a conservation easement donated to the Fund. A pristine 250-acre island and vital habitat for migratory waterfowl and American alligator are now preserved forever. The North Carolina Coastal Land Trust ultimately will manage the easement.
The Fund's work to protect Civil War battlefield sites in Mississippi highlights its dedication to preserving the state's cultural heritage. With more than 8,000 acres protected in Misssissippi since 1985, the Fund and its partners are upholding both the natural and the historic legacy of the state for generations to come.
The lush wetlands and dense forests of the Wolf River corridor give way to sawgrass marshes that serve as feeding and resting habitat for brown pelicans, ospreys and cormorants. Here, The Conservation Fund worked with the state of Mississippi and the Wolf River Conservation Society to acquire 1,000 acres, including three miles of river frontage. Lands within this preserve act as natural buffers and help control flooding along the St. Luis Bay and Gulf of Mexico.
The Fund's work to protect Civil War battlefield sites in Mississippi highlights our dedication to preserving the state's cultural heritage. With more than 8,000 acres protected in Misssissippi since 1985, the Fund and its partners are upholding both the natural and the historic legacy of the state for generations to come.
Read more>Louisiana is home to many of the Fund's most significant efforts and achievements in reforestation and carbon sequestration. Louisiana contains almost half of the wetlands found in America’s lower 48 states. Yet, Louisiana's coastline is losing these wetlands at a rate equal to the size of a football field every hour! The Fund and its partners have helped to safeguard more than 200,000 acres here.
The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has asked the Fund to help create a "master plan" for the state's wildlife management areas and refuges. Using our expertise in strategic conservation, real estate acquisition, plan implementation and mapping, we'll provide a blueprint for LA DWF to strategically and effectively move forward on management, planning, and acquisition priorities for its wildlife management system.
Learn more about this project >>
Did you know that the Upper Ouachita area is the site of the largest floodplain restoration project in the United States? In the 1960's, due to rising food prices, much of the native forest was replaced with farm land. But it turns out the land wasn't optimal for farming and efforts are now underway to return the river and forests to their natural state. We've been working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and local land owners to acquire lands and restore the forests at Upper Ouachita.
Learn more about our efforts here >>
Since 1990 The Conservation Fund has been working to protect and restore Louisiana’s coastal wetland and associated upland habitats, like those found around Lake Pontchartrain.
The Fund, in partnership with the Richard King Mellon Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, created the Big Branch Marsh and Bayou Sauvage National Wildlife Refuges, which lie in the heart of Louisiana's commercial and recreational fisheries region. In 2000, the Fund added an additional 1,300 acres to the refuges.
In 2008, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF), with key funding assistance from Ameriprise Financial, purchased more than 7,200 acres within the boundaries of Joyce Wildlife Management Area (WMA) from The Conservation Fund. The 23,000-acre Joyce WMA sits five miles south of Hammond within the Lake Pontchartrain basin and consists mainly of cypress-tupelo swamp. Alligators, deer, rabbits, squirrel and waterfowl, like mallards and woodducks, call this area home. An elevated boardwalk at the northwest corner of Joyce WMA provides visitors easy access to view wildlife and vegetation within the ecosystem.
The Fund’s long-term commitment to coastal wetlands within the Lake Pontchartrain Basin is an on-going project. We continue to work together with the state of Louisiana to preserve vital coastal wetlands across the region.
The Conservation Fund helped the State of Louisiana establish this nearly 68,000-acre expanse of cypress-tupelo swamp as a wildlife management area, and in 2009 added an additional 1,700 acres.
Purchase of the 1,700 acres by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries was made possible through a grant from Entergy Charitable Foundation. Entergy’s donation of nearly $300,000 marked its first gift in a new environmental initiative. Additional funding came from the state and a federal grant through the North American Wetlands Conservation Act.
This project builds on The Fund’s long-term commitment to protect and restore coastal wetlands within the Lake Pontchartrain / Lake Maurepas basin. Since 1990, the Fund and its partners have protected more than 127,000 acres of coastal wetland and associated upland habitats in the state. In 2000, we assisted the Richard King Mellon Foundation in securing one of the largest unfragmented blocks of cypress/tupelo swamp in the United States, which was designated as the Maurepas Swamp Wildlife Management Area.
Louisiana contains almost half of the wetlands found in America’s lower 48 states. The conservation of this area protects a primeval remnant of the rapidly vanishing lower Mississippi Delta ecosystem.
Whether permanently protecting a Civil War battlefield or restoring native forests, the Fund's work in Kentucky ensures that the natural resources and historic places that have shaped the state's history continue to thrive as a part of its future. Together with its partners, the Fund has preserved more than 36,000 acres since 1985.
In 2012, Kentucky added its newest wildlife management area and state forest to its public lands. The Kentucky Division of Forestry (KDF) and the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR) jointly acquired nearly 2,500 acres in Union County at the confluence of the Ohio and Tradewater rivers. The 2,484-acre site near Sturgis is a portion of one of the largest private landholdings in Kentucky. The entire property was purchased in early 2009 by an investment fund managed by The Forestland Group with cooperation from the and KSFW. The purchase of the entire property by The Forestland Group’s investment fund enabled KDFWR and the KDF to acquire and protect this tract. "This project demonstrates a relatively new but growing model for conservation where forest management organizations—like The Forestland Group—are helping to conserve land for public outdoor recreation," said Ray Herndon, director of the Lower Mississippi Region for the Fund.
The property will provide public recreational opportunities for hunting, fishing, hiking, canoeing, wildlife viewing and other activities as a wildlife management area. The property also will be managed to provide watershed and water quality protection; protection and recovery of endangered, threatened and rare species (such as the Indiana bat); preservation of existing cultural and geological treasures—and a sustainable forest. It will be permanently protected from development and agricultural conversion.
As part of its innovative Carbon Sequestration Program, the Fund is working with leading corporations to address two of the nation’s top environmental concerns: climate change and habitat protection. In 2005 the Fund partnered with Cinergy Corporation, Environmental Synergy, Inc., the state of Kentucky and Toyota to acquire 300 acres for the Sloughs Wildlife Management Area. When they are replanted, the native trees here will trap carbon dioxide and provide crucial nesting and feeding grounds for migratory waterfowl.
Obion Creek Wildlife Management AreaIn 2004 the Fund partnered with Cinergy Corporation, Environmental Synergy, Inc., and the state of Kentucky to acquire and reforest nearly 750 acres for the Obion Creek Wildlife Management Area. Over the life of the forest, the trees will trap hundreds of thousands of tons of carbon dioxide and shelter a variety of animals including the bald eagle, relict darter, and Indiana bat.
The Conservation Fund's Civil War Battlefield Campaign works in partnerships to protect our nation's hallowed ground, to provide comprehensive information on the 384 principal Civil War battlefields, designated by the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission, and to honor those that fought and died in the war.
The Campaign has, with its partners, protected historic sites in 73 projects in 13 states, protecting more than 8,100 acres.
Kentucky Battlefield Conservation Projects: Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site
President Abraham Lincoln pointed up the strategic importance of Kentucky: without it, the United States could not hold Missouri and Maryland. On October 8, 1862, the Widow Gibson Farm at Perryville was the site of a massive Confederate assault that hurled the Federal line back one mile. After a day of intense fighting and more than 7,000 casualties, the Confederates withdrew from the state and abandoned their effort to take over Kentucky. Kentucky remained within the Union.
A partnership with the state of Kentucky, the Perryville Battlefield Commission, the Perryville Battlefield Preservation Association, and the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels made possible the protection of 150 acres at the center of the key battlefield in Kentucky. The Perryville Battlefield Preservation Association bought the 150-acre farm with funding from federal ISTEA funds, The Conservation Fund, and its partners. The land was donated to Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site.
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Powered by: Phase2 TechnologyThe Conservation Fund National Office
1655 N. Fort Myer Drive, Suite 1300
Arlington, Virginia 22209-3199
Phone: 703-525-6300
Fax: 703-525-4610
Email: postmaster@conservationfund.org
