The Conservation Fund is an environmentalist organization based in Arlington, Virgina that acquires, conserves, and supports the conservation of American forestlands and historic sites, mainly battlefields.

Background

The Conservation Fund was founded in 1985 as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization by activists Patrick Noonan and Richard Erdmann (who works as the fund’s executive vice president), in Arlington, Virginia. One year later, the fund received a grant of $30,000 from the Sacharuna Foundation, which it used to support its Springs Project, which centers on natural springs in the Shenandoah Valley. ^{1 2}

Later in the 1990s, the fund received a donation of 15,300 acres of forestland in New York’s Adirondack Mountains from International Paper; purchased 296,000 acres in New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire from Champion International; and established a Land Trust Loans program which offers land conservation nonprofits bridge-financing and short-term loans. ³

In the 2000s, owing to the reauthorization of the Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act, the fund began conserving George Washington’s childhood home in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Additionally in 2001, the fund established the Natural Capital Investment Fund, which offers participating small businesses working on conservation debt and equity financing, as well as technical assistance. The following year, the Richard King Mellon Foundation underwrote the fund’s acquisition of roughly 34,000 acres on the Alaska Peninsula, which was then transferred to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. ⁴

In the 2010s, the fund received a $400,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to provide programmatic assistance to Michigan farmers in minority racial groups to increase their crop production, store and produce crops, and sell their yield at farmers markets in Michigan counties. Later, in 2016, the fund purchased 32,396 acres of working forestland in southern West Virginia. ⁵

Battlefield Preservation

In addition to wildlife conservation projects, the Conservation Fund has undertaken projects intended to conserve American battlefields. For instance, in 1988, the fund compiled an analysis of Civil War battlefields that were most at risk for development and in 1990 published a guide to support an aligned battlefield-preservation campaign. According to the fund, 50,000 copies of the guide were sold that year. ⁶

To that end, in 1992, the fund purchased Glorieta Battlefield, a Civil War battlefield in Pecos National Historic Park in New Mexico. In 2007, the fund assisted in an effort to preserve 100 acres of the Brandywine Battlefield, a Revolutionary War battlefield in Pennsylvania. ⁷

Leadership

Larry Selzer has been the president and CEO of the Conservation Fund since 2001. Previously, Selzer was a researcher at the Manomet Center for Conservation Science (where he is also a board member), a chairman of the Outdoor Foundation, two-time chair of the Sustainable Forest Initiative, and board member of the American Bird Conservancy. Additionally, Selzer is a board member of Weyerhaeuser, a timber company. ⁸

Daniel R. Tishman is the chair of the Conservation Fund’s board of directors as well as the chairman and executive vice president of the Tishman Holdings Corporation, and a member of the boards of the Real Estate Board of New York and the National September 11 Memorial and Museum. Previously, Tishman was the the chairman and CEO of the Tishman Construction Corporation and the vice chairman of AECOM (Architecture, Engineering, Construction, Operations, and Management). ^{9 10}

Holly Cannon has been an executive vice president and general counsel for the Conservation Fund since 2014. Previously, Cannon was a managing principal at Beveridge & Diamond, a law firm. Additionally, she has been a member of the board of the International Women’s Forum Leadership Foundation since 2006. ¹¹

Kelly Reed has been the senior vice president of Government Relations for the Conservation Fund since 2011. Previously Reed worked as the environment and energy policy advisor for former U.S. Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI), at American Rivers, and at the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. ¹²

1. “History.” The Conservation Fund. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://www.conservationfund.org/about-us/history
2. “The Conservation Fund A Nonprofit Corporation.” ProPublica. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/521388917
3. “History.” The Conservation Fund. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://www.conservationfund.org/about-us/history
4. “History.” The Conservation Fund. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://www.conservationfund.org/about-us/history
5. “History.” The Conservation Fund. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://www.conservationfund.org/about-us/history
6.  “History.” The Conservation Fund. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://www.conservationfund.org/about-us/history
7. “History.” The Conservation Fund. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://www.conservationfund.org/about-us/history
8. “Larry Selzer.” The Conservation Fund. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://www.conservationfund.org/our-experts/larry-selzer
9. “Biography: Daniel R. Tishman.” AECOM. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://investors.aecom.com/board-member/daniel-tishman
10. “Board of Directors.” The Conservation Fund. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://www.conservationfund.org/about-us/leadership/board-of-directors
11. “Holly Cannon.” The Conservation Fund. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://www.conservationfund.org/our-experts/holly-cannon
12. “Kelly Reed.” The Conservation Fund. Accessed October 23, 2023. https://www.google.com/search?q=the+association+of+fish+and+wildlife+agencies&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS912US912&oq=The+assoicaiton+of+fish+and+wi&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCAgBEAAYDRgeMgYIABBFGDkyCAgBEAAYDRgeMgYIAhBFGEAyBggDEEUYQDIGCAQQRRhA0gEINDM4N2owajSoAgCwAgA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8