In 2010, our biggest challenge lay in the world's unpredictability. When the foundation or our grantees do not succeed due to matters beyond anyone's control, the best approach is to be as strategic, innovative, and even-keeled as possible.

Although we were heartened to find that most of our grantees maintained healthy levels of income this year, many efforts were hamstrung by state budget deficits. For grantees who have worked to build coalitions of support for Wilderness protections, the stalemate at the federal level prevented forward motion. And in parts of the West, anti-environmental sentiments were reignited. For many grantees, this meant a shift of resources to defensive battles that some thought were behind us.

Grantmaking Highlights

Despite these challenging dynamics, many of our grantees had significant successes in 2010.

Conservation Policy

In Alaska, the legislature approved an ambitious package of state energy policies, including a statewide goal of generating 50 percent of electricity from renewable sources by 2025.

In Oregon, key groups succeeded in winning approval of a moratorium on oil and gas drilling in coastal waters and a statewide requirement that major metropolitan areas set goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

In Washington, the Environmental Priorities Coalition succeeded in protecting environmental programs from further budget cuts, protecting the state's renewable energy standards, and passing a ban on certain chemicals in consumer products.

Place-based Conservation

In Montana, a coalition of groups made historic progress in the Montana Legacy Project, placing 310,000 acres of lands previously owned by Plum Creek into public ownership. This effort illustrates the value of dreaming big and seizing a significant opportunity for land conservation.

The Transboundary Flathead merits special attention, as many years of hard community organizing laid the groundwork for the B.C. government to take advantage of the opening of the Olympic Games in B.C. to embellish its environmental luster by closing the Flathead to oil and gas development.

Conservation Capacity

In Oregon, CRAG Law Center had a series of legal wins mitigating and reversing many of the adverse impacts of Measure 37, the controversial land-use ballot initiative that passed in 2004. Crag's victories were impressive and it shows what a small group can achieve with fire in its belly.