Dear Friends of the Northern Rockies,

Your generous donation to the Adopt an Acre® program in the Northern Rockies during our 2008 season is creating a lasting legacy for future generations and our planet. Thank you for your support!

This letter is just to give you a little update on what your gift to The Nature Conservancy’s Adopt an Acre® program has already done.

Thanks to your support, we made a tremendous step in conserving critical wildlife linkages in the Northern Rockies by striking an agreement to purchase approximately 311,000 acres of western Montana forest land from the Plum Creek Timber Company.

Bold Moves for Conservation

This Adopt an Acre project represents a bold and innovative undertaking and a unique partnership with the Trust for Public Land, state and federal agencies and a spectrum of community organizations.

The partnership secures a vital piece of what is known as the Crown of the Continent - a 10-million-acre ecosystem that encompasses Glacier National Park, the Bob Marshall Wilderness and the largest population of grizzly bears in the lower 48 states.

The Crown has been recognized by The Nature Conservancy’s top scientists as one of only 12 places left on Earth that has yet to suffer a single post-industrial extinction. The lands in this transaction serve as a vital intersection connecting habitat needed by legendary wildlife to migrate, breed and rear their young.

No terrestrial ecosystem offers more economic and ecological services than forests. They provide clean water, timber, recreation and jobs to rural communities. Unfortunately, as timber companies put more of their forests on the market, there is a tremendous threat that this land will be carved into subdivisions and second home development.

We have seized a once in a lifetime opportunity to secure a century of public investments in national treasures such as Glacier National Park and maintain critical connections for wildlife moving between Canada, Montana and Idaho.

Your Support Makes a Difference

Ultimately, we hope to conserve more than 1.5 million acres of threatened private land in the Northern Rockies that serve as key linkages for sustaining 80 million acres of wild lands. This grand network of mountain ecosystems offers one of the best hopes worldwide for long-term resiliency in the face of climate change.

We hope to be able to accomplish these goals, and with your support, I know we can continue to protect these critical lands.

Thank you again for supporting the Adopt an Acre program in the Northern Rockies and for all you do to help protect nature and preserve life, each and every day.

Sincerely,

Jamie Williams
Director
Northern Rockies Initiative

p.s. We invite you to learn more about our expanding work in the Northern Rockies and hope you’ll post this "I support the Northern Rockies" widget on your blog, social network or other web page.

p.p.s. Don’t have a blog, social network or web page? You can still help. Send Northern Rockies e-cards to your friends and family. Many of our e-cards are made of images from e-members like you, and they’re perfect for any occasion.

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Pronghorn antelope in Yellowstone National Park. Photo © Milton Rand.