2022
Expanding Conservation Infrastructure
Alliance for a Sustainable Amazon (ASA)'s mission is to conserve the biodiversity and natural resources of the Peruvian Amazon for the benefit of all those who live in and depend on the rainforest. Based in Madre de Dios, they work by combining research and education with community-based conservation, acting as a resource to their neighbors across the region.
ASA's field station, Finca las Piedras, required infrastructural expansions to support greater conservation and research efforts. Wild Green Future provided a grant to support the construction of flush toilets, a corresponding waste disposal system, and the installation of larger solar panels. This enabled the station to support more students, personnel, and scientific equipment.
It can be easier to fundraise for certain tasks, like planting trees and conserving charismatic animals, but organizations are often more limited by less exciting factors. Despite their crucial role, these everyday concerns can be much more difficult to find funding for. This mismatch provides Wild Green Future with an opportunity: by funding infrastructure costs, we are able to help expand our partners' operational capacity, leading to much more benefit per dollar spent than might otherwise be obtainable.
Learn more about the Alliance for a Sustainable Amazon on their website, linked here.
2021
Mapping Uncharted Roads
Unofficial road systems are rapidly expanding into rainforest regions across the island of Borneo, opening new areas of the island to logging and large-scale agriculture. The success of conservation efforts in the region rely heavily on knowing where these roads are, and accurately predicting where they will be built next.
The Global Roadmap Program at James Cook University is working to create accurate maps of the region using satellite imagery. The process requires human input to accurately detect and catalogue the new roads. To map the world's third largest island, it requires a lot more time spent documenting uncharted routes than any single researcher could devote to the task, so the Wild Green community stepped up to help by tracing the new roads on Google Earth.
Thanks to the Wild Green Community's generosity in volunteering their time and effort, we were able to contribute an additional area of approximately 51,100 square kilometers to Global Roadmap's Borneo map. Results from the project, including the areas mapped by Wild Green Memes participants, have been published in Nature.
This data informs conservation efforts by allowing for the creation of better models to predict which areas are most vulnerable to further road expansion. Such models are vital to conservation planning because poorly placed new roads are among the largest contributors to habitat degradation. A greater understanding of where they might be constructed in the future can help avoid human-nature conflicts by allowing governments and local communities to direct road expansion and upgrades to areas where they will be most beneficial to people and least detrimental to wildlife and natural resources.
In addition to providing a literal roadmap for conservation planning, Global Roadmap and Wild Green Future made a donation for conservation in the region, which was sent to The Orangutan Project, an organization doing inspiring work to ensure the sustainability of rainforests and orangutan populations on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra.
Giving Sea Turtles a Boost
In 2021, the cold snap in Texas caused a major sea turtle stunning event. The staff and volunteers of Sea Turtle Inc. took in thousands of cold-stunned turtles for treatment, working heroically to rescue and care for them amidst power outages to their facilities.
The generous donations from the Wild Green Community during 2020’s conservation fundraiser allowed Wild Green Future to provide an emergency grant of $1,000 to Sea Turtle Inc. to help them with their efforts.
Supporting Research and Conservation in the Peruvian Amazon
Alliance for a Sustainable Amazon’s mission is to conserve the biodiversity and natural resources of the Peruvian Amazon for the benefit of all those who live in and depend on the rainforest. Based in Madre de Dios, they work by combining research and education with community-based conservation, acting as a resource to their neighbors across the region.
ASA’s conservation projects are vital in this highly biodiverse, rapidly changing region of high conservation value, but much of the organization’s ability to operate was threatened due to a COVID-related budget shortfall. Wild Green Future provided a grant to allow their work to continue uninterrupted during this globally difficult time period.
Learn more about the Alliance for a Sustainable Amazon on their website, linked here.
Improving Urban Monarch Habitat
Wild Green Future gave the Flint River Watershed Coalition a microgrant to help restore monarch habitat along the border of one of Michigan's urban lakes.
This microgrant allowed for the purchase of native flowering plants for a lakeshore environment.
During a period of historic rainfall, these plants survived flooding and provided a food source for butterflies and caterpillars alike.
Restoring Backyard Habitat
Wild Green Future gave Biologist Megan a microgrant to support the restoration of many native plants to her backyard, including these flowers. She even did a controlled burn!
Adding Bat Houses for Summer Camp
Wild Green Future provided naturalist CJ with a microgrant to assist with materials costs for bat houses at a recreational campground in Ohio.
The bat houses were specifically designed to provide shelter for summer maternal bat colonies of Indiana bats (Myotis sodalis). The campground also provided bat observation booklets to educate its young campers about these underappreciated animals.
Adding a Bluebird Nest Box to Campus
Wild Green Future gave science teacher Lily a microgrant to install a bluebird nest box on campus.
The nest box is made from recycled plastic, allowing for a more durable shelter with minimal upkeep.
Backyard Native Plant Restoration
The US devotes an area roughly the size of New York State to mowed lawns. Converting even a fraction of that space to usable habitat could serve as a huge boost to flagging insect populations.
Wild Green Future gave New York wildlife enthusiast Jennifer a microgrant to support native plantings on her woodland property. The plants were obtained from local conservation organizations, and were chosen to better support the local insects and birds.
Planting a Backyard Pollinator Patch
The US devotes an area roughly the size of New York State to mowed lawns. Converting even a fraction of that space to usable habitat could serve as a huge boost to flagging insect populations.
Wild Green Future gave Pennsylvanian wildlife enthusiast Erik a microgrant to support the addition of native pollinator plants to his garden.
Expanding a School Pollinator Garden
Wild Green Future gave a microgrant to a preschool in Massachusetts to support the purchase of pollinator plants for their garden.
From Science Teacher Amy: “The addition of the butterfly bushes and asters that were purchased with the microgrant from Wild Green Future border a lovely sensory stepping stone garden. We are so grateful for the support which will bring joy and wonder to our outdoor classroom space for years to come.”
Sustaining the Brazil Nut Corridor
Most of the world's Brazil nut supply comes from Madre de Dios, where a belt of designated concessions are stewarded by harvesters known as concessionaires. Brazil nut trees’ life cycle requires intact tropical rainforest, so as long as the harvest is sufficient these concessions will continue to support a wildlife corridor the size of Connecticut.
Our partner, Alliance for a Sustainable Amazon, works to assist Brazil nut concessionaires in maintaining the productivity of their forests by holding workshops on Brazil nut cultivation and raising seedlings to be planted in forest gaps.
2021 was our first year of supporting this program.
Solar Panels for a Field Station
Ashton Biological Preserve is a land and tortoise conservation organization in central Florida. They manage and protect over 100 acres of valuable upland habitat on the preserve itself, and are active in the conservation and management of over 1000 acres in the broader region.
The preserve lies at the end of a seven mile long dirt road in rural Florida. It's a great location for a wildlife preserve, but has the downside of frequent power outages and extended waits for repairs.
Wild Green Future has funded the installation of solar panels on the preserve, helping to provide them with cheaper, more consistent power than would otherwise be available at their remote field station.
You can learn more about Ashton Biological Preserve on their website, linked here.