This year marked a new phase for the Brainerd Foundation. In the winter of 2008, Paul Brainerd announced his intention to spend the foundation's entire endowment in the next 10 to 12 years, "Despite all that we have accomplished, the ecological challenges before us are as significant as humanity has ever faced. I believe we must each do whatever we can to protect the natural resources that sustain this planet because the need is nothing short of urgent. There are many ways to accomplish this, of course, and mine is to see that the foundation's entire endowment is spent in my lifetime. After much thought, I have decided to spend-out the foundation's assets over the next 10 to 12 years and then pass the baton to a new generation of conservationists and philanthropists." As a result, the foundation renewed the goals set forth in our strategic plan and began planning for the foundation’s sunset.

Grantmaking Highlights

Across our funding region, environmental leaders achieved conservation wins in both the policy arena and in local communities.

Conservation Policy

Idaho Conservation League waged a successful effort to press Nevada regulators to require improved emission-control equipment and emissions reporting at the largest source of airborne mercury in the country, a gold processing facility in Nevada that had been spewing thousands of pounds of mercury into Idaho’s air. And Montana became the first state in the nation to require a coal-fired power plant to specifically consider air pollution controls for fine particulates, which can cause severe respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Brainerd grantee Montana Environmental Information Center recruited community voices as vocal opponents of the plant; this strong and diverse base led to the victory.

Place-based Conservation

In the spring of 2008, President Bush signed into law a bill designating 106,000 acres in the North Cascades as the Wild Sky Wilderness, the first new wilderness area to gain protection in Washington State in more than twenty years. The Brainerd Foundation provided early seed money for Wild Sky to The Wilderness Society and Washington Wilderness Coalition.

In our High Divide focus area, the Madison County Board of Commissioners adopted a strong and sustainable Madison Valley Growth Management Action Plan. Brainerd grantees involved in this effort include the Madison Valley Ranchlands Group, the Sonoran Institute, and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition.

In our Crown of the Continent focus area the Milltown Dam was breached, connecting the upper and lower Clark Fork and Blackfoot Rivers for the first time in 100 years. Since remediation began, the waterway has been making a comeback after a century of contamination by mine waste. Since 2000, Brainerd grantee, the Clark Fork Coalition, worked to transform dam removal and cleanup into a viable option that was eventually endorsed by the EPA, the State of Montana, federal and state legislators, local governments and thousands of citizens and businesses in the communities near the Milltown Reservoir.