The Conservation Alliance is wrapping up a four-day virtual trip to Washington D.C. with business members spanning the outdoor, craft beverage and renewable energy industries.
Forty business leaders conducted meetings with 38 congressional offices as well as with the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the U. S. Department of Agriculture to bring the business voice to bear for the conservation of public lands and waters.
The goal of the virtual fly-in was to bring strong business support to key Conservation Alliance funded initiatives. The Alliance has identified three efforts as top priorities for this congressional session:
- Restoring protections for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
- Protecting the watershed of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness
- Protecting the Bears Ears landscape in accordance with the wishes of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition
“Alpacka Raft has been a longtime advocate for protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Like Bears Ears and the Boundary Waters, protecting the Refuge is precedence setting, it means honoring the Gwich’in way of life and putting wildlife habitat and recreation over extraction,” said Sarah Tingey, co-owner of Alpacka Raft based in Mancos, Colorado.
The Conservation Alliance endorses many other important conservation efforts this Congress, such as the Rivers Democracy Act of 2021, collaborative efforts to protect southeast Oregon’s Owyhee Canyonlands, and the Colorado Outdoor Recreation Economy Act.
Click here for a list of legislative priorities.
“It takes clean, free flowing water to brew great beer. Deschutes Brewery supports The Rivers Democracy Act of 2021 for that reason, and for the fact that as a proud, employee-owned and Bend based company, we value the rivers that help define our great state,” said Michael LaLonde, President of Deschutes Brewery based in Bend, Oregon.
Earlier this year, the House of Representatives passed the Protecting America’s Wilderness and Public Lands Act (H.R. 803). The collection of eight public lands bills will add protections to 2.7 million acres and 1,000 river miles to public lands and waters in Arizona, California, Colorado, and Washington. Business leaders encouraged similar action in the Senate.
The Conservation Alliance is an organization of like-minded businesses whose collective contributions support grassroots environmental organizations and their efforts to protect wild places where outdoor enthusiasts recreate. Alliance funds have played a key role in protecting rivers, trails, wildlands and climbing areas throughout North America. Membership in the Alliance is open to all companies that care about protecting our most threatened wild places for habitat and outdoor recreation.
Since its inception in 1989, The Conservation Alliance has contributed more than $26 million, awarded 800 grants, helped to protect more than 73 million acres of wildlands and 3,576 miles of rivers; stop or remove 36 dams; designate five marine reserves; and purchase 18 climbing areas.
For more information, visit www.conservationalliance.com
