Staff contact: Tim Greyhavens, Executive Director

Sound conservation policies and strong, effective laws are essential for the protection of biodiversity, connectivity and wilderness. At the federal, state and provincial levels, strong policies and laws have been the basis for protecting critical wildlife habitat, preventing habitat fragmentation, delaying or averting reckless resource extraction, and otherwise preserving our natural ecosystems.

This program focuses on two interconnected aspects of conservation law and policy:

• Safeguarding the integrity and application of important U.S. federal laws and policies that help protect wild lands, including, but not limited to, the Endangered Species Act, Federal Lands Policy and Management Act, National Environmental Policy Act, National Forest Management Act and the Northwest Forest Plan.
• Increasing awareness of and support for the importance of conservation laws and policies by key audiences, including legislators, legislative staff, government officials, agency and departmental directors and staff.

Because policies and laws are formulated at one or more intersections of public interests, politics, law, science and economics, the Conservation Law and Policy Program is a dynamic initiative that considers and, as appropriate, integrates strategic elements from each of our other program areas.

We are supporting the following organizations for work in this area. When you click on an organization name you will see a list of all grants made to that organization, which may include projects funded in other program areas.

• Alliance for Justice
• Endangered Species Coalition
• Great Basin Resource Watch
• League of Conservation Voters Education Fund
• Earthworks
• Montana Environmental Information Center
• National Center for Conservation Science and Policy
• Earthjustice
• Center for Biological Diversity
• David Suzuki Foundation
• Partnership Project, Inc.
• Western Mining Action Project