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ACF: 30 Years of Building Alaska’s Conservation Movement

The Beginning

The year was 1980, and conflict over Alaska conservation issues was heating up.

Congress was wrestling with the historic Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), while opponents were claiming it would “lock up” Alaska and stifle all development. President Jimmy Carter, the bill’s most prominent supporter, was burned in effigy.

The Alaska oil pipeline was three years old, pumping more than a million barrels of oil a day. An oil supply squeeze in the Middle East had driven oil prices to record levels, filling Alaska’s state treasury with money from oil taxes and royalties.

Desperate for more oil, the federal government opened Alaska’s arctic waters to oil drilling. In Congress, the oil industry and its allies pushed hard to allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Alaska leaders pushed for more mega-projects to keep the local economy booming: a colossal Susitna River dam, a petrochemical industry, a gas pipeline to the Lower 48.

In the rainforest of Southeast Alaska, two giant pulp mills were clear cutting huge swaths of old growth trees that had stood since ancient times.

What Alaska Needed

Facing so many threats of intensive development, Alaska needed a strong, homegrown conservation movement to work the front lines.

Photo courtesy of Carl Johnson.

What Alaska had was far short of that.

Alaska-based conservation groups were just beginning to grow beyond the all-volunteer stage.  A few national organizations had a handful of staff in Alaska offices. All the groups faced daunting logistical and financial challenges. Back then in Alaska, long distance calls could cost as much as $1 a minute. There were no fax machines, no Internet, no cell phones. Meeting with colleagues and allies could require driving hundreds of miles or spending hundreds of dollars on airfare.

Early conservationists describe this time as “David against Goliath.”

A Foundation is Born to Protect Alaska

As co-founders Denny Wilcher and Celia Hunter realized, the groups working to protect Alaska needed more help, lots more help.

They started the Alaska Conservation Foundation (ACF).

Denny Wilcher was the perfect person to get the new venture up and running. He had spent nearly two decades raising money for the Sierra Club. He knew Alaska’s issues – and he knew conservation-minded donors and foundations across the country.

Taking the helm of ACF as his “retirement” job, Denny frequently traveled the Lower 48 to raise financial support. There wasn’t time or resources to work from a large endowment – there was too much work to be done and not enough money to do it all.

Starting Small

ACF started small, raising about a half-million dollars a year. That funding nurtured the early growth of today’s well-established groups, such as Alaska Center for the Environment, Southeast Alaska Conservation Council and Northern Alaska Environmental Center.

Under Denny’s guidance, ACF also invested in training the staff and boards of Alaska’s young conservation groups and encouraged them to coordinate their work for maximum effectiveness.

That early effort gave rise to two statewide groups that are still going strong today. Alaska Conservation Alliance coordinates lobbying efforts in the state Legislature, while Alaska Conservation Voters works to elect supportive candidates.

National Eyes on Alaska

By 1989, Denny was ready for a smaller role at ACF, and the Exxon Valdez oil spill had brought the world’s attention on Alaska. The board hired ACF’s first full-time executive director, Jan Konigsberg.

Jan saw new opportunity in the growing attention and concern for Alaska issues.

During his tenure, fundraising grew steadily. By 1998, ACF broke the $2 million mark in annual grants. ACF also started its own programs in areas where there was a gap to be filled.

Beyond Grantmaking

One of those programs was the Alaska Rainforest Campaign. It helped scale back widespread, taxpayer-subsidized logging of old-growth in the Tongass National Forest. The campaign also saved 1,000 square miles of privately-owned coastal rainforest in Southcentral Alaska, by urging that nearly $400 million in restoration money from the Exxon Valdez oil spill be used to buy and protect the threatened land.

During this time, ACF also launched the Alaska Marine Conservation Council. The  group brought together fishermen, conservationists and local communities to deal with overfishing, undersea habitat damage, marine pollution and other threats.

Another innovation was ACF’s Rapid Response Fund, Alaska’s only emergency funding source for groups facing an unexpected threat.

A Growth Burst

In early 1999, Deborah Williams came aboard to run ACF – and another burst of growth ensued. Just a year later, as conservationists celebrated the 20th anniversary of the historic Alaska national parks and refuge bill, ANILCA, ACF’s annual fundraising topped $5 million. ACF’s endowment grew to $3 million and the Conservation Intern Program was launched to nurture Alaska’s next generation of conservation leaders.

In 2003, ACF launched a program to help Alaska confront the global climate crisis. The following year, ACF started the Renewable Energy Alaska Project (REAP), now a stand-alone group. REAP has helped persuade the state to invest $235 million in alternative energy projects during the past three legislative sessions.

A New Era

When Deborah left in 2005, ACF experienced a two-year gap in leadership. But by January 2007, Nick Hardigg took over and shortly thereafter, ACF was back at full speed. ACF was focused on the mission to serve as a foundation, build Alaska’s grassroots movement and provide support for critical campaigns.

Most notably, ACF restructured to hire program officers to specialize in Alaska’ major threat issues. The new focus helped ACF secure $3 million for two long-term projects. The first works to protect Bristol Bay, the world’s largest salmon watershed, from mining and oil drilling. The other promotes clean energy development while working to keep Alaska’s huge coal reserves in the ground.

By 2010, ACF was able to make a record $3 million worth of grants, surpassing prior levels.  Initiatives such as Community Capacity are helping to provide strategic support to build a more powerful statewide conservation movement and collaboration with grantees.

ACF Celebrates 30

At ACF, we take a lot of pride in what has (and has not) happened in Alaska during our 30 years as the hub of Alaska’s conservation movement.

Despite three decades of relentless pressure in Congress, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge remains safe from oil drilling. The era of industrial clearcutting in Alaska’s rainforest has ended, and there’s hope for a sustainable future based on restoring past damage, responsible use of second-growth trees and permanent protection of our ancient forests.

Repeated attempts to start oil drilling around Bristol Bay have been stopped. Opposition to the proposed Pebble Mine, which would surely devastate Bristol Bay’s world-class salmon fishery, continues to grow. Alaska’s heavily-fished oceans are now getting more ecologically responsible management. More and more Alaskans realize the state will suffer terrible damage if we don’t act quickly to deal with human-driven climate change.

As former director Jan Konisberg says, ACF’s job is “like [fielding] an army – you’ve got to have logistical supplies to make them effective. They’ve gotta be fed….We gave groups in the field the sustenance they needed to achieve what they did.”

Looking Ahead

This year, 2010, ACF began a comprehensive review of it’s grantmaking strategy. We want to ensure we continue using your money to make the best possible investments in protecting Alaska’s natural wonders.

“If Alaska is to maintain its wild, thriving uniqueness in a modern world, it simply must have a more influential grassroots movement. That means ACF addresses today’s critical threats, like the Pebble Mine, but also a larger vision of an Alaska that will stand up to protect its own healthy future,” emphasizes Executive Director Nick Hardigg. “All of our work must consider our immediate, as well as long-term objective.”

It’s our job to make sure Alaska has a strong network of conservation organizations with capable, professional staff. That vision requires longstanding commitment and financial investment, and can only be achieved with your help.