National Wildlife Federation

Conservation programsrecovering wildlifeas a leading conservation organization, the National Wildlife Federation is active across a broad array of issues. The breadth of our work reflects the breadth of threats confronting fish and Wildlife and it has never felt more important as treasured and unknown species alike face mounting pressures. Habitat degradation and fragmentation, the spread of zoonotic diseases and invasive species, and the impact from extreme weather events mean more than one-third of all species in the u.s. face an increased risk of extinction in the coming decades.recovering Wildlife is the thread linking everything the Federation does. And when Wildlife thrive, it improves the quality of life and economic opportunities for people and helps restore the environment. Throughout 2023 we worked to recover at-risk species and landscapes, including protecting native fish in the great lakes, supporting the reintroduction of gray wolves in Colorado, and transforming public spaces into productive habitats.national Wildlife Federation's garden for Wildlife and certified Wildlife habitat programs celebrated 50 years of converting outdoor spaces into habitat that support native plants and animals. In those five decades, the movement has worked with strategic partners to create an estimated four million wildlife-friendly acres in outdoor spaces as varied as backyards, public gardens, corporate campuses, universities, and places of worship. We have created 300,000 certified Wildlife habitat spaces across north america and at 39 embassies, consulates, missions, and ambassador's residences across the world.the los angeles highway system has long been a nightmare for drivers. But the area's freeways and interstates have also created deadly barriers and islands of habitat that can genetically isolate Wildlife from bobcats to birds to lizards. Construction continued throughout 2023 on the wallis annenberg Wildlife crossing above the 101 freeway along a 1,600-foot stretch of land where protected areas lie north and south of the freeway. The Wildlife crossing will span over ten lanes of freeway and an access road and will re-establish ecological connectivity for a multitude of native plant and animal species in the santa monica mountains ecosystem. This visionary structure will preserve biodiversity, connect an integral Wildlife corridor, and most critically, help save an imperiled local population of mountain lions from extinction. When complete, the crossing will be the largest in the world and the first of its kind in california.invasive carp are a clear danger to the great lakes and other waterways. These fast-growing large fish consume plankton, algae, and other base-level food chain organisms, removing important food sources for native fish. This crowding-out greatly reduces aquatic biodiversity by starving or pushing out the native and sport fish that are popular with anglers and that support local freshwater economies. Over the past year, the Federation, working with our state affiliates and the great lakes conservation coalition, helped to advance the brandon road project closer to the finish line. This project will rebuild the lock and dam outside of chicago to help stop invasive carp from entering the great lakes. While invasive carp continue to swim closer to the great lakes, our efforts are helping to protect Wildlife, local economies, and quality of life.one sheep is not like another. Sadly, domestically raised sheep transmit pathogens that cause diseases that can, and often do, decimate entire herds of wild bighorn sheep. The best solution is to provide separation between domestic sheep and bighorns. The Federation's Wildlife conflict resolution program did just that when, in furtherance of nwf's mission, it negotiated commitments with a ranching family to cancel its grazing permits on ten large high-elevation grazing allotments in the san juan mountain range of southwestern Colorado. This area will be free of domestic sheep, reducing the risk of disease and allowing the bighorn population to increase. The change will also allow nearly 100,000 acres of incredibly fragile alpine tundra habitat to recover from the effects of 140 years of domestic sheep grazing.the Colorado parks and Wildlife commission has finalized plans to reintroduce gray wolves into the state. The project has met with resistance from ranchers who fear wolf attacks on their livestock. The Federation partnered with the organization working circle to reduce possible conflict between newly-arrived wolves and livestock in north park, Colorado. We are continuing this work with other ranchers and landowners across the state to develop sustainable solutions that will help both wolves and rural communities coexist and thrive.embracing environmental justiceaccomplishing the Federation's core mission to protect Wildlife, people, and the planet requires that we address the persistent and pernicious inequities and environmental injustices in communities. This pertains to historically marginalized communities that have been traditionally excluded from decision-making and have shouldered the burden of pollution and other ecological crises. The National Wildlife Federation's environmental justice, health and community revitalization program, climate and energy program, and the choose clean water coalition joined partners at the university of Maryland and with community and university hubs to develop a proposal for the environmental protection agency's thriving communities technical assistance grant. This grant was awarded in july 2023 to create a mid-atlantic thriving communities hub to be an environmental justice thriving communities technical assistance center for epa region 3, serving the states of Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and west Virginia as well as the d.c. area. The program is part of the federal agencies' thriving communities network and epa's thriving communities technical assistance centers program that is working toward a government-wide framework for providing technical assistance and capacity building resources for underserved communities. The Federation is committed to supporting environmental equity. We advocated for stronger regulations that will build equity considerations into regulatory reviews and administrative processes. Thanks to those efforts, the federal energy regulatory commission and the department of energy issued rule proposals so that the priorities of communities and indigenous peoples will now be considered in energy-related programs, including infrastructure permitting processes.we launched the tribal and indigenous partnerships enhancement strategy as a federation-wide effort to increase our support and commitment to elevating tribal environmental priorities. Our tribal and indigenous partnerships enhancement strategy focuses on three core priorities: water protection, food sovereignty, and intergenerational knowledge transmission. This initiative will promote deeper relationships with our tribal and indigenous partners in a way that centers respect and prioritizes allyship to fight for environmental justice and conservation on tribal lands and beyond.longleaf pine ecosystems historically dominated southeastern forests, but harvesting, land conversion, and fire suppression resulted in longleaf pine acreage totaling less than 5% of its original area. The loss of these pines was a dramatic change to the region, as the forests make up some of the most important, biodiverse habitats for plants and Wildlife in the united states. The Federation's southeast forestry program, along with our southeastern affiliates, have spent over a decade working to restore this incredibly biodiverse landscape across the southeast. Two years ago, federation-led efforts established a coalition working to support black landowners, professionals, and students. In january 2023, the Federation along with core allies, celebrated its first graduating class at an event called "longleaf & the landowner." The program seeks to instruct historically and socially disadvantaged landowners and land managers who are interested in restoring longleaf pines, balancing economics and ecological models on their properties, and creating legacies for future generations. Our inaugural class included 24 black landowners, and the Federation hosted a follow up event in november for estate planning and heirs' property.

Membership & other nature education programsmembership education programs maintain an active, engaged and informed membership providing supporters with the information and inspiration to make a difference in their own backyards, their communities, and across the country. Nwf reaches millions of supporters on a monthly basis to communicate the most pressing needs facing the environment today - from people becoming more disconnected from nature to loss of habitat and the impacts of climate change. Through such publications as National Wildlife magazine, the nwf website, and other sources of information, nwf is educating our membership base on how nwf is working to protect Wildlife and habitat. Every month, through National Wildlife millions of people can read informative feature articles about Wildlife and Wildlife conservation, the latest environmental news and success stories from nwf and around the nation.

Education outreach & publicationsinspiring future generationsat the heart of the National Wildlife Federation's work is a desire to leave a legacy to future generations of thriving Wildlife, protected natural resources, and open access to cherished landscapes. Community-driven conservation is proven to produce tremendous results for people and Wildlife. Locally driven community habitat teams across the country have united around Wildlife conservation, inclusive community engagement, and environmental stewardship. We continue to support and celebrate local leaders that are doing the small things that leave a big impact. This includes local stream cleanups, tree plantings, invasive species removal, native plant sales, family friendly nature events, and other restoration events that benefit the local community.the mayors' monarch pledge program maintains an active network of mayors and community leaders advocating for equitable monarch and pollinator conservation initiatives. Since 2015, the program has received over 1,500 pledges, reaching 9 million people, and creating or enhancing over 9,000 acres of habitat. Leaders and residents take action to create quality habitats at home and across public spaces, while advancing policy changes and campaigns that support healthy, sustainable, wildlife-friendly communities.the Federation believes it is everyone's duty to be a caretaker of the earth and to improve the environment for those yet to come. That is why we work to inspire future generations and to reach out to include those usually overlooked by environmental programs. Nwf delivers environmental education through our k-12 ecoschools program. Since 2009, nwf has been the exclusive host of the ecoschools program in the u.s. and has engaged just over 6,000 schools and has certified close to 17,000 schools through ecoschools and schoolyard habitats programs.nwf's two climate-change education programs for middle and high school studentsresilient schools consortium (risc) and student climate resilience ambassadors provide more than 50 hours of free lessons, activities, and field trips. In new york city, risc has educated thousands of students and community members about climate justice and resilience solutions. Students learned how to create natural infrastructure such as rain gardens to help protect their homes and community from severe floods and polluted water.nwf's earth tomorrow program cultivates a new generation of lifetime stewards through a year-long cycle of leadership training, issues exploration, civic engagement, career development, community outreach and education, and student-led community action projects for teens. Once these high school students graduate, almost all of them go on to college. We continue to support emerging leaders by providing them with peer mentor positions working directly with the earth tomorrow summer institute.earth tomorrow program returns to houston - relaunched in 2023, our houston earth tomorrow program had 25 high school students visit sites over six days to join in service projects, program planning, and experiential learning. They gained knowledge about houston's gulf coast ecology, historic black communities, environmental justice, and more. Flood-prone neighborhoods in houston, Texas, usually are home to historically marginalized communities. Our student climate resilience ambassadors program helped teachers and students, particularly in marginalized communities, combat the causes of flooding in their neighborhoods and learn how to promote healthy watersheds. In the 2022-2023 school year, students from eight houston middle and high schools participated in the student climate resilience ambassadors program. They learned how to assess the vulnerability of their neighborhoods and school campuses. They then used this information to design, implement, and maintain programs to mitigate flooding, such as creating pocket prairies and rain gardens at their schools. A related field experience, in partnership with the galveston bay foundation, helped students connect the dots between the actions they took to improve their local watershed and the health of the larger galveston bay ecosystem.every young child deserves a healthy and safe outdoor space to play, learn, and connect with nature. In the past year, the early childhood health outdoors initiative received one of the largest covid-relief grants in Colorado designated to support early care and education and used the funds to enhance outdoor spaces for young children. The initiative reached out across the state to a range of childcare programs, from home-based educators to childcare centers, to provide professional development and pass-through funding to 78 childcare programs and educators. The early childhood health outdoors program's work is expanding across the country, helping communities in Michigan, Texas, new mexico, south carolina and Washington, d.c., with outdoor play and learning experiences for young children.2023 campus race to zero waste results - our campus race to zero waste program addresses environmental challenges of managing and disposing solid waste material, especially plastics. In 2023, 3.4 million college students and staff across 200 campuses participated in keeping 205 million single-use plastic containers out of landfills.