Grantee Profile

The Conservation Fund

Since its start in 1985, the Conservation Fund has acquired 3.9 million acres of land in the U.S. Its goal is to conserve wildlife habitat, working landscapes, and community open space. It uses more than 60 revolving funds that "recycle" dollars used for purchasing land.

In 1994, McKnight seeded the Fund's Mississippi River Revolving Fund with $350,000. Since then, it has grown to $2 million — an impressive nest egg but not enough for today's aggressive market. To date, outlays from this fund have protected 2,500 acres of land worth $7 million in the Upper Mississippi River Basin.

The organization is working with other conservation groups to reassess land protection opportunities along the entire river. Its priorities are focused on floodplains at risk of development, high-quality tributaries, restorable areas of low-quality tributaries, and on greenways that serve larger regional trail systems. This broader scope will require more support — to the tune of $4 to $6 million by 2010 — from public and private partners. Such an expanded fund will allow groups to support conservation along the river as soon as the time is right for willing sellers and partners.

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