Hundreds of Volunteers Participate in The Conservation Alliance’s Portland Backyard Collective
OutdoorHub 08.25.11
Bend, Ore. (August 24, 2011) —On Friday, August 19th, The Conservation Alliance teamed up with the Forest Park Conservancy and Johnson Creek Watershed Council to organize a mix of trail maintenance and habitat restoration in Forest Park and Sellwood Park. More than 250 volunteers participated in the event with employee representatives from sponsoring companies including: Columbia, Keen, Icebreaker, Merrell, Nau, Horny Toad, Egan & Associates, and REI, as well as volunteers from other conservation organizations including Oregon Wild, Save Our Wild Salmon, and WaterWatch.
The Conservation Alliance and partners teamed up for the second year in a row to organize the Portland Backyard Collective, a day of stewardship in the organization’s member companies’ very own backyard. After all the hard work was complete, volunteers relaxed in the green grass of Wallace Park in Northwest Portland, enjoyed lunch from Elephant’s Deli and talked with Conservation Alliance Grantees, WaterWatch, Save Our Wild Salmon and Oregon Wild about additional ways to support environmental efforts in their backyards.
Stephen Hatfield, stewardship director of The Forest Park Conservancy, said “The volunteers I was working with at Pittock Mansion were unbelievable… the hardest working crew I have ever spent the day with.” Hatfield continued, “In just one day, volunteers from The Conservation Alliance Backyard Collective provided about 10-percent of Forest Park’s annual volunteer hours!”
The next Backyard collective is slated for August 26th in Boulder Colo.
The Conservation Alliance is a non-profit organization whose members consist of outdoor industry companies that fund conservation organizations working to protect North America’s last wild spaces. In 2008 The Conservation Alliance launched its Backyard Collective program to organize and bring together employees of the outdoor industry for a fun day of environmental stewardship.
For more information about this event please contact coordinator, Deanna Lloyd at Deanna@conservationalliance.com or 530.344.0100 or 530.919.4534
About the Conservation Alliance:
The Conservation Alliance is an organization of outdoor 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.
Membership in the Alliance is open to companies representing all aspects of the outdoor industry, including manufacturers, retailers, publishers, mills and sales representatives. The result is a diverse group of businesses whose livelihood depends on protecting our natural environment.
Since its inception in 1989, the Alliance has contributed more than $9.5 million to grassroots environmental groups. Alliance funding has helped save over 50.5 million acres of wildlands; 28 dams have either been stopped or removed; and the group helped preserve access to more than 18,500 miles of waterways and several climbing areas.
For complete information on the Conservation Alliance, see www.conservationalliance.com.
