ANCHORAGE, Alaska — July 29, 2026 — Alaska Conservation Foundation (ACF) announced today the launch of the Bart Koehler Rapid Response Fund, a living tribute to one of Alaska’s most influential conservation organizers who is now struggling with Parkinson’s disease.
“Bart has spent more than four decades organizing for wild places, but Alaska is where his work met its greatest tests, and its greatest victories. He helped build the grassroots movement behind the Tongass Timber Reform Act, then helped defend it when it came under attack just five years later. Through it all, his gift trusting local people to lead the campaign. This fund is our way of keeping that model alive for the next generation of Alaskans standing up for their public lands.” – Michael Barber, President & CEO, Alaska Conservation Foundation
Few people have shaped the map of protected lands across Alaska as much as Bart Koehler. He began his career as a wilderness organizer in Wyoming in the early 1970s with The Wilderness Society, where he was mentored by Alaska conservation icons Mardy Murie and Celia Hunter. In 1977, Hunter assigned him to help mobilize citizens across the West in support of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA). Koehler moved to Alaska in 1984 to lead the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council (SEACC), beginning a 32-year relationship with the organization as both its director, twice, and a board member, through some of the most politically tumultuous years for the Tongass National Forest. Working alongside SEACC staff, volunteers, and members, he helped build the grassroots movement that led to the passage of the Tongass Timber Reform Act of 1990, which protected 1.4 million acres of Southeast Alaska’s most productive fish and wildlife habitat. When those protections came under attack in Congress five years later, Koehler led the effort to defend them, a fight that ultimately shut down two large pulp mills and brought a lasting sea change to how the Tongass is managed.
In 2016, Bart Koehler accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award from Alaska Conservation Foundation, a fitting tribute to a career that also earned him ACF’s Olaus Murie Award for Outstanding Professional Contributions in 1990.
The Bart Koehler Rapid Response Fund will channel gifts through ACF’s existing Rapid Response Grant Program, which is ACF’s longest standing grant program, and has moved more than $180,000 to frontline organizations in just the past two years alone. Rapid Response grants provide quick support for direct advocacy during urgent legislative or regulatory windows, ensuring organizations can participate in key policy decisions that shape Alaska’s future.
Many past and present leaders of the conservation movement have shared the impact Bart has had on the people and communities of Alaska. “Bart Koehler is a wildlands rock star. His strategic leadership and easygoing manner of working with people from all walks of life led to thousands and thousands of acres of Alaska being protected for generations to come,” said Jim Stratton.
“I use the things Bart taught me about organizing people for positive change every single day,” said Tim Bristol, Executive Director, SalmonState.
ACF is inviting anyone who worked with Koehler, was mentored by him, or shares his commitment to Alaska’s wild places to help build the fund. Gifts to the Bart Koehler Rapid Response Fund make more of that work possible.
Those interested in contributing can do so at alaskaconservation.org or by contacting Anna Dalton at adalton@alaskaconservation.org, or 907-433-8213.
About Alaska Conservation Foundation Founded in 1980, Alaska Conservation Foundation is the only public foundation solely dedicated to conservation in Alaska. Our priorities are protecting Alaska’s public lands and waters and building resilience to the impacts of climate change. As a proud intermediary funder, ACF prides itself on shifting power and resources to Alaska’s grassroots and providing value-added services to ensure statewide coordination and collaboration. To date, ACF has awarded more than $63 million in grants to support Alaska. Learn more at alaskaconservation.org.
Contact: Anna Dalton, Vice President of Program DevelopmentAlaska Conservation Foundation
adalton@alaskaconservation.org | (907) 433-8213 | alaskaconservation.org
