Arizona's Petrified National Forest is famous for its expansive vistas—stark moon-like landscapes and the colorful eroding badlands of the Painted Desert—and the rainbow hues of large petrified trees found throughout the park. Once a lush landscape of trees and riverways, the park now offers unparalleled opportunities for scientific research and one-of-a-kind experiences for more than 630,000 visitors each year.
For more than a century, the federal government has played a lead role in conserving the Petrified Forest. As a popular destination for Americans for generations, it may come as a surprise that not all of the land in and around the park is saved for public enjoyment. That's why we helped the National Park Service add 26,000 acres to the park in 2011, expanding it by roughly a quarter.
The 26,000 acres of acquired lands previously were privately owned and managed as ranchland by the Hatch Family Partnership. These lands now connect areas already managed by the State of Arizona and National Park Service. This acquisition helps ensure that the park continues to provide significant economic benefits to local communities and businesses through tourism.
While most noted for its petrified trees, the park also is known as a Late Triassic treasure trove and has evidence of ancient human settlements. Because these lands were previously privately owned, and therefore off-limits to collecting, their addition to the park offers paleontologists and archaeologists important new access to an area of the Puerco River valley.
"The potential for notable paleontological discoveries on the new property far surpasses much of what is in the existing park boundaries," said paleontologist Bill Parker. In other areas of the park, fossil hunters have turned up over a thousand specimens—including, in the 1980s, Gertie, thought to be a 250-million-year-old Staurikosaur. "What we learn from these fossil deposits may dramatically increase our knowledge of life during the Triassic Period in Earth's history."
The new lands also will offer opportunities to explore new cultural archaeological sites. Park archaeologist Bill Reitze notes, "Preliminary surveys of the new property have shown potential for a number of archaeological sites including large, early basketmaker villages and phenomenal petroglyph sites. Acquisition of this land may significantly enhance our knowledge of early peoples of the area."
"We’re basically a laboratory, " says Parker. "We have the exposed rock layers, we have the fossils, and we have the logistical support that scientists need to do their work successfully. We guide them through the process, getting permits, etc., to make it possible. Even more than that, we are a scientific collaborator."
In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt used his authority, provided by the Antiquities Act, to establish Petrified Forest National Monument to protect the area’s mineralized trees, fossils and archeological resources from commercial exploitation, illegal collecting and vandalism.
In 1962, Congress designated the area as a National Park and in 2004, the Arizona Congressional delegation championed the passage of boundary expansion legislation authorizing the potential expansion of the park from 93,353 acres to 218,533 acres. The Fund's addition to the park was made possible because of this legislation. Additional acres could be added in the future.
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Photos: DrLandscape/Flickr (top); National Park Service (center, bottom)
At the Fund, we believe America's history begins outdoors. By protecting historic sites we're not only preserving our nation's history, we're also saving natural areas where people can experience the outdoors.
That's why we're working with the City of York in Springettsbury Township to help save Camp Security, the site of a Revolutionary War POW camp. Camp Security is one of only a handful of POW camps established during the Revolutionary War era that have not been lost to residential or commercial development. The camp held approximately 1,500 captured British soldiers and their families between 1781 and 1783. The National Trust for Historic Preservation named the site one of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in 2005.
But what makes saving Camp Security truly great is that, while preserving our history, it also offers outdoor recreation opportunities and larger environmental benefits in the region. About 8,000 people live within a 15-minute walk of Camp Security Park and tens of thousands more live within a 15-minute drive. These local residents now have open space to enjoy for hiking, picnicking and other outdoor activities. What is more, preserving this land helps fulfill Pennsylvania’s commitment to protecting the Chesapeake Bay Watershed by promoting groundwater infiltration and better stormwater management in the area.
This project is a win-win for our nation and nature.
Our work began in 2011 with the protection of a 115-acre refuge of green pastures, known as the Walters Farm, in Springettsbury Township near York. The property, about six miles from the Susquehanna River, was a new addition to the already establish Camp Security Preservation Area. It features wooded areas and open fields with impressive panoramic views. Though the land sat practically undisturbed for more than two centuries, in the past decade development began to threaten these green pastures.
We continued our efforts in 2012 with the purchased a 47-acre property that was the primary site of Camp Security POW camp. This property is located adjacent to the 115-acre Rowe Farm, where a portion of the camp is believed to have been situated. We intend to transfer ownership of the property to Springettsbury Township once fundraising is complete.
The total cost of the project, which includes the purchase price of just under $940,000, pre-acquisition expenses, closing fees and carrying costs for one year, will be about $1.05 million. Springettsbury Township and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) have already committed $350,000 in project funding. The Conservation Fund will need to raise approximately $700,000 to ensure preservation of the property. The Friends of Camp Security and The Conservation Fund have embarked on a local fundraising campaign to raise a portion of this remaining need from donors throughout the region.
To learn more about our efforts to save historic lands, read about other projects here. You can learn more about our conservation efforts in the Chesapeake Bay area here.
When America declared its independence from Britain on July 4, 1776, a long and fierce fight was just beginning to unfold across the farms and meadows of our new nation. The American Revolution lasted more than five grueling years—and forever changed places like the Brandywine Valley, where Gen. George Washington’s army clashed with British troops before the capture of Philadelphia.
Today, you can still visit Brandywine Battlefield thanks to a coalition of public and private organizations, donors and volunteers—that worked for years to protect and maintain the most significant properties within Brandywine Battlefield National Historic Landmark. The Fund contributed to this important goal by providing a timely loan to the Brandywine Conservancy, so it could protect a prized 100-acre parcel within the landmark. David D. Shields, associate director of the Conservancy, called the loan “critical to bridging a funding gap and securing the last piece of the historic Meetinghouse Road corridor.”
Without this effort, the very grounds where America fought for freedom could be lost to stores and houses. When a place like Brandywine Battlefield is labeled a “landmark” by the federal government, it’s considered historically important—but not guaranteed preservation or funding to keep it open to the public. More than a third of the Brandywine landmark is developed. Conservationists focus on saving its most significant lands, which witnessed the heaviest fighting.
Brandywine is just one of the places we've helped save through our land trust loan program. Learn more about how this program works and what other favorite places have been conserved through this program.
Photos: Brandywine Battlefield corridor / Photo: Chita Middleton, TCF (top); Benjamin Ring house, site of Gen. Washington's headquarters during the battle / Photo: Holly Higgins, Flickr (bottom).
The town of Groton, Connecticut, has a long history dating to before its incorporation in 1705, and the 63-acre Sheep Farm property is part of that history. So when the Groton Open Space Association (GOSA), which works to save historic and open space, asked the Fund to help them protect the Sheep Farm we were happy to assist.
The Fund is dedicated to helping communities save their favorite places, and that often means helping them preserve their history. With a loan from our Land Trust Loan Program we were able to provide the GOSA with the financing they needed. “Our organization faced a tight deadline on the Sheep Farm acquisition. Without timely cash, our option would have lapsed," noted Joan Smith, GOSA president.
The land includes remnants of agricultural and industrial operations, including an early 18th century grist mill along Fort Hill Brook and the historic Samuel Edgecomb House. Edgecomb’s son became famous for his efforts to fight off British troops during the Revolutionary War by effectively throwing 18-pound shots, one with each hand, over the walls of Fort Griswold in Groton.
The property's mountain laurel forest, meadows and highly productive wetlands provide ideal habitat for a wide array of plant, bird, amphibian and other species. The site’s 10-foot waterfall on Fort Hill Brook—the highest waterfall in the town—forms a natural barrier to migrating fish, with the exception of the American eel, which can scale the rock wall. Fort Hill Brook flows onward from the farm to Mumford Cove, which feeds the Long Island Sound.
The Sheep Farm now will be open to the public for some recreation and will function as an outdoor classroom for all ages, providing opportunities for historical and natural studies and community enjoyment.
Historic lands define our nation—and our communities. With a donation from you we can make sure communities are able to preserve their landscapes for future generations.
The Fund protects the landscapes that define America's history. That's why we worked with a group of partners to protect lands around Fort Davis National Historic Site in Texas.
Fort Davis is one of the best preserved examples of a frontier military post in the American Southwest and serves as a reminder of the significant role played by the military in the settlement and development of the western frontier. The fort is perhaps best known as the headquarters for the first African-American Army regiments known as the Buffalo Soldiers, stationed here during the late 1800s.
Although many of the original buildings and most of the surrounding landscape are protected, one aspect of the fort always remained at risk—its view.
When the famed Buffalo Soldiers stepped out of their barracks, they saw a dramatic skyline created by the jagged cliffs of the rugged Davis Mountains. But this long-standing view was in jeopardy when the prominent 41-acre bluff overlooking the fort went up for sale in 2006.
Today, that view survives. We purchased the property in January 2010 from conservation buyer Roy Truitt and worked with the National Park Service to make the land part of Fort Davis National Historic Site. The property was added in early 2011.
“Protecting the entire viewshed of Fort Davis allows visitors to get the full experience of what life was like for the Buffalo Soldiers and other troops stationed at Fort Davis more than a hundred years ago,” said Andy Jones, director of The Conservation Fund’s Texas office. “We are incredibly thankful to Mr. Truitt, our congressional delegation and the many organizations and individuals who recognized this landscape as an integral part of telling the history of the Southwest.”
You can help save America's history for our children and our children's children.
A donation from you will preserve the landscapes that define America's history.
Since our founding in 1985, we have been committed to protecting historic sites across America. In 2009 we were pleased to assist the U.S. Forest Service in acquiring a historic landmark located in the Gila National Forest, near Alma, New Mexico.
The Fund purchased 40 acres that included the historic rock tomb of Sergeant James Cooney, who discovered silver along Mineral Creek in 1870. The land and the tomb had been privately owned but were surrounded entirely by public land. We held the property until the U.S. Forest Service secured funding to acquire it. The 40 acres is now part of Gila National Forest.
Cooney discovered silver in the area while serving in the U.S. Army. After his enlistment ended in 1876, he promptly returned to Mineral Creek to stake his claim. But his hopes for riches were cut short: Apache Indians attacked the mine, killing Cooney and several others, in the early moments of what has become known as the Alma Massacre. He was buried in a rock tomb on the site and his tomb, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, today attracts curious tourists. The tomb is all that remains of a small mining town called Cooney, established after Cooney’s death. The town also came to a difficult end—washed away by a flood in 1911.
Pat Morrison, Glenwood district ranger of Gila National Forest, was happy The Fund was able to assist in the acquisition of this land, "This acquisition provides an opportunity to protect and interpret Cooney’s Tomb and the associated graveyard for public enjoyment. Cooney’s Tomb is an important link to the early days of mining and settlement in the Glenwood area."
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The most extraordinary achievements of the people of the Hopewell culture were the huge earthworks they built, including walls of stone and earth to surround their ceremonial places. About two thousand years ago they built a stone wall that encloses 150 acres on a hilltop known as Spruce Hill in the scenic Paint Valley river corridor in the Arc of Appalachia region, west of Chillicothe and near Hopewell Culture National Historical Park. Our loan to the Archaeological Conservancy enabled the purchase of this 238-acre property which was to be sold at public auction.
The Conservation Fund and Pennsylvania Game Commission announced in 2006 the establishment of State Game Lands 93 with the protection of 100 acres purchased from the Berwind Natural Resources Corporation. In collaboration with the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and with support from the McCune Revolving Fund, National Park Service and Richard King Mellon Foundation, The Fund and its partners are ensuring that these lands are preserved in solemn tribute to the 40 brave Americans who lost their lives near rural Shanksville, Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001.
"The Families are exceedingly pleased by The Conservation Fund's tireless efforts to secure such lands that will honor our lost loved ones. We highly value our positive partnership with The Conservation Fund and appreciate its assistance to designate these Game Lands as ‘93’ and reinforce the recognition of our Heroes of Flight 93."
Located immediately north of the Flight 93 National Memorial in Somerset County, State Game Lands 93 opened to the public in September 2006, and is managed by the Pennsylvania Game Commission for recreation, including public hunting activities, and for the protection of wildlife habitat and open space. The 100-acre parcel serves as a land buffer for the planned entrance to the Flight 93 National Memorial and will help delineate the park’s northern boundary.
In 2002, Congress passed the Flight 93 Memorial Act authorizing the creation of the Flight 93 National Memorial. Public and private partners have provided a significant portion of funding for the future park, the final design of which was announced in September 2005.
On behalf of the Families of Flight 93, Flight 93 Federal Advisory Commission, Flight 93 Memorial Task Force, the local community and National Park Service, The Conservation Fund has been negotiating with private landowners to acquire and protect land in and around the crash site.
Working on behalf of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the Fund will continue its efforts to partner with willing landowners to protect key parcels as additions to State Game Lands 93. The Game Commission approved three parcels totaling approximately 300 acres in 2006. An additional 96 acres was donated by CONSOL Energy to The Conservation Fund in September 2007 for addition to State Game Lands 93. The previously-designated State Game Lands(SGL) 93, a 4,876-acre holding in Clearfield County, was renamed SGL 331.
The Flight 93 temporary memorial, located at the crash site near rural Shanksville, Pennsylvania, in Somerset County, already attracts more than 130,000 visitors annually.
It is an often overlooked episode of American history. After the start of World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing the forced relocation and incarceration of Japanese Americans to internment camps. In 1942, a total of 120,000 Japanese were interned in 10 different camps located in isolated areas of the west and mountain west—the single largest forced relocation in U.S. history.
Families were forced to leave their homes, businesses and belongings to live in camps surrounded by barbed wire and guard towers. The living quarters were quickly built and substandard and had no cooking facilities or bathrooms. About half of those interned were children.
In 2005 the Fund established its Japanese-American Internment Camp Preservation Initiative to acquire the lands once used as campsites. Many of the camps have little left as evidence of their existence. Protecting these sites leaves a lasting historical legacy that ensures future generations have a better understanding of the impact of World War II on American society. These historic sites provide a chance to understand, appreciate and learn that the denial of civil rights is not to be repeated or forgotten.
The Fund is focusing its initial efforts on three camp sites: Tule Lake, California; Topaz, Utah; and Minidoka, Idaho. We are pursuing opportunities to purchase unprotected land at the sites and to increase their level of protection through either federal legislation or national historic landmark designation.
Between August 1942 and October 1945, nearly 9,500 Japanese Americans from Portland, Oregon, Seattle and the surrounding areas were interned at Minidoka. Yet little evidence remained that a camp was ever there. The Conservation Fund has assisted in supporting the expansion of Minidoka's boundaries and in acquiring lands to add to the historic site. Read our story >>
The Fund assisted the Topaz Museum in acquiring land at the Topaz Relocation Center, including the largest remaining unprotected tract within the property. The tract includes blocks 33 and 34, two of the camps remaining unprotected barracks block sites.
Operated as one of ten internment camps during World War II, the Topaz Relocation Center housed over 8,100 Japanese Americans. Topaz became a National Historic Landmark in 2007.
The Conservation Fund has joined with the National Park Service, other public agencies, nonprofit organizations and corporate partners to preserve areas along the route taken by the Corps of Discovery led by Captain Meriwether Lewis and Captain William Clark. From 1804 to 1806 they traveled from Wood River, Illinois to the Pacific Ocean and back.
The Corps traveled more than 3,700 miles along the major rivers—including the Columbia, Yellowstone, and Missouri—and through lands that today are in ten states. The critical lands protected include river frontage, places of significance to American Indians, riparian habitat, and winter range for elk. With our partners, we have set aside more than 25,000 acres along the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail—including including approximately 26 miles of river frontage to date.
The 2,235-acre Beaverhead River Ranch, southwest of Dillon, Montana, includes several miles of the Beaverhead River. Lewis and Clark camped here while they made plans to cross the Bitterroot Range at Lemhi Pass. This stretch of the Beaverhead River is noted for its excellent trout habitat.
Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, the son of Sacagawea, the young Shoshone woman who guided Lewis and Clark, was born at Fort Mandan in 1805 and lived in the West most of his life. He died in Oregon in 1866 on his way from the California gold fields to those in Montana. In partnership with Bruce and Joni Boyle, Oregon ranchers, we protected the area of his gravesite, located on Route 95 south of Danner, west of the Idaho border.
In 2002 we joined the Crimson Bluffs Chapter of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation to add both the Crimson Bluffs and about 200 yards of property on either side of the bluffs to the lands protected in honor of the legendary expedition. With the Bureau of Land Management providing long-term management, the historic view of the Crimson Bluffs described in 1805 by Captain Meriwether Lewis will forever remain unchanged.
At the request of the Bureau of Land Management, we helped to acquire 116 acres on the Missouri River in the Chain of Lakes east of Helena. The acres are now a recreation area that includes 1.5 miles of shoreline. There is a pavilion with displays about Lewis and Clark.
With easements on 2,415 acres east of Great Falls along the Missouri River, the Lewis and Clark Heritage Trail Greenway begins across from the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center and continues downstream to Sulphur Springs. The Montana Power Company donated the easements to the Fund and subsequently we donated them to the Montana Fish, Wildlife, & Parks Commission.
In 2004 we purchased 921 acres from Weyerhaeuser for inclusion in the newly established Lewis and Clark National Historical Park. Designated one of the nation’s top conservation priorities by the National Park Service, the property includes land critical to the construction of the Fort to Sea Trail, which will connect the Fort Clatsop National Memorial to Sunset Beach State Park and the shores of the Pacific Ocean.
Overlooking the Missouri River Valley, the 5,600-acre McMaster Ranch teems with antelope, bighorn sheep, and elk. Located 15 miles outside of Helena, the ranch sits along Spokane Creek on the western shore of Hauser Lake and Canyon Ferry Reservoir. Two hundred years ago, Lewis and Clark journeyed through this area, noting the spectacular cliffs and the picturesque Helena Valley in their journals. We purchased the ranch on behalf of the Bureau of Land Management to help shield the Missouri River and nearby Elkhorn Mountains from encroaching development.
The partnership of the Fund, the American Foundation for Wildlife, the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, the North Dakota Natural Resources Trust, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service made possible the establishment of the Neu’s Point State Wildlife Management Area at the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers in northwestern North Dakota. The acquisition protects nearly 400 acres of critical fish and wildlife habitat as well as land where Lewis and Clark traveled. The project also launched a multi-million dollar conservation initiative to preserve historic and environmentally significant land along river corridors in North Dakota.
The Richard King Mellon Foundation, assisted by the Fund, purchased 430 acres on the Missouri River in northeastern Nebraska, and donated them as an addition to the Ponca State Park. The preservation of this land protects critical riparian habitat and a mile of the river. The protected bottomland land includes back water channels and one of the last remaining sand bottom stretches.
With funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Land and Water Conservation Fund, the Nebraska Environmental Trust and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, we purchased 1,168 acres as an addition to Ponca State Park. This land is one of the last unchannelized sections of the Missouri River. State and federal agencies will undertake large-scale ecosystem restoration that will benefit threatened species, including the pallid sturgeon, piping plover, and bald eagle. This addition to the park created the momentum for the construction of the Missouri National Recreation River Resource and Education Center at Ponca State Park. The center features interpretive displays designed by the National Park Service, telling the story of this stretch of the Missouri River as Lewis and Clark saw it in 1805.
The Richard King Mellon Foundation, assisted by the Fund, purchased 435 acres at Sulphur Springs east of Great Falls, Montana. The foundation’s donation assures the protection of the springs as well as 1.5 miles of Missouri River shoreline, connecting the springs to the Lewis & Clark Heritage Greenway. Water from the sulphur springs saved the life of Sacagawea, the young Shoshone guide for Lewis and Clark, when she became ill with a high fever in June 1805.
The 2,000-acre Ward Ranch provides habitat for elk and other big game. After restoration of riparian areas along two miles of the Missouri River, where Lewis and Clark traveled east of Helena, the ranch will also have more waterfowl nesting areas.
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1655 N. Fort Myer Drive, Suite 1300
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Phone: 703-525-6300
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