Bridging the Divide

Where We Are Headed

Early in his career with the Idaho Conservation League (ICL), executive director Rick Johnson regularly fielded calls from an array of citizens concerned with backyard problems sometimes related to public health and often far afield from his organization's focus on public land protection. But these local people had real concerns and didn't know where else to turn. Johnson realized that the future of Idaho's conservation movement depended on new support from "regular folks" just like these, if ICL was to succeed in politically conservative Idaho. He established a new program, funded in part by the Brainerd Foundation, which now makes up fully half of ICL's program work, to address the environmental concerns of local communities.

In other areas of Idaho and Montana another coalition of nontraditional partners is working together for the environment. Through the place-based conservation funding area, the Brainerd Foundation supports groups of farmers, ranchers and community organizations in the High Divide, a rare east-west linkage zone between Yellowstone National Park and the Salmon-Selway ecoregions. The protection of the High Divide is critical to the continued viability of large carnivores and other species in the region. Our goal with this funding is to support key stakeholders as they confront the fragmentation of this remarkable landscape and the ongoing pressures from urban development.

This strategy of understanding and engaging key local constituencies is one of the chief tenants of the Brainerd Foundation. We believe that this on-the-ground approach builds lasting and significant conservation wins, over time.