Year End report 2019
Our Mission: EcoFlight educates and advocates for the protection of remaining wild lands and wildlife habitat using small aircraft and collaborating
with 300+ conservation groups. The aerial perspective and our educational programs encourage an environmental stewardship ethic among citizens of all ages.
Letter from the President Another year in the air, and our flights made all the difference to conservation challenges in the West, amplifying the voices of diverse stakeholders, bringing policymakers from both sides of the aisle together in the cockpit - a small yet super-effective platform. Conservation in 2019 and the future requires collaborative approaches, and the aerial perspective we provide to over 300 organizations reaches across disciplines of knowledge, across cultures and political boundaries, and led us far and wide across the West, providing the connective tissue that supports multi-stakeholder participatory conservation conversations.
Overflights brought wild and threatened landscapes into perspective and highlighted the challenges on our public lands. More than ever, this aerial perspective is educating communities about the concerns for our great and small ecosystems of the US and highlighting the dire changes in our climate. EcoFlight is evolving to meet new demands, and 2020 will be exciting as we add an additional airplane and pilot, and update our website. Your support empowered EcoFlight’s particular legacy of flying for the future and doing all in our power to leave the next generation with a healthy and sustainable environment. With gratitude, Bruce Gordon
EcoFlight Safety and our Call to Action EcoFlight Safety
EcoFlight board and staff take safety very seriously, and maintain high standards for airplane maintenance and pilot training. We endeavor to keep the planes and pilot training to standards outlined by FAA Part 135, even though we are only required to follow standards as set forth by FAA Part 91. Our pilots are highly skilled professionals, not volunteers, who fly with focus and dedication to safety, and are very thorough in flight-planning and pre-flight airplane inspections.
EcoFlight’s call to action is to work with all sides of an issue, providing a platform for conversation
to happen in order to find solutions. The aerial platform and our ability to connect people can be used to help build bridges between current conflicting viewpoints, and a way to help Americans find common ground, bringing tribes, partisan alliances, and faith-based groups together. EcoFlight implements and influences connections through thought-provoking conversations in the cockpit.
photo credit Jim Harris
Coal is the Fuel of the Past Over the tens of thousands of miles EcoFlight has flown, we have seen the legacy of destruction and everlasting effects of the extraction industry on our environment. From immediate to long-term and ongoing, the effects of coal mining are far reaching. Despite the current administration’s efforts to bolster coal production in the US, coal is quickly losing its place as a major energy source for Americans. Across the West, EcoFlight is flying coal-fired power plants and bankrupt, shut-down coal mines. Some planned, some not. The Navajo Generating Station located near Page, Arizona is slated to close this December. With no power station to send coal, the Kayenta mine in the Navajo Nation in Arizona has shut down. In July, two mines in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming, the largest coal producing area in the US, abruptly closed when the owner, Blackjewel, filed for bankruptcy. Coal use in the US is in steady decline, from 53% of energy in 1997 to about 27% in 2018. While coal companies all over the country are filing for bankruptcy, local communities are the ones that are left with the burden to pay for proper reclamation and clean up of the mines. As these mines close and reclamation processes ensue, EcoFlight continues flights to ensure the land is returned to as close to its original state as possible. And as bankruptcy seems to be the new norm for coal companies, it is imperative that companies are held accountable and don’t dodge their responsibilities on our public lands And as bankruptcy seems to be the new norm for coal companies, it is imperative that companies are held accountable and don’t dodge their responsibilities on our public lands.
Dingell Act - Omnibus Lands Act of 2019 In March 2019, the John D. Dingell Jr. Conservation, Management & Recreation Act passed, designating 1.3 million acres of wilderness, creating six new National Park Service units, and permanently reauthorizing the Land and Water Conservation Fund. The Act included over 100 provisions that rose out of locally-based, collaborative proposals. EcoFlight’s overflight programs played a role in a number of these proposals in the final legislation, a result of the unrelenting hard work of our partners coupled with EcoFlight’s aerial perspective, which highlighted the local support of protecting these landscapes for posterity.
Montana - Permanent withdrawal of mineral rights in Emigrant Gulch and Crevice mining districts, saving 30,000 acres of critical wildlife corridor USFS lands on the border of Yellowstone National Park.
Utah – Designation of 750,000 acres as Wilderness, 300,000 acres as Recreation Areas,
and 60 miles of the Green River as Wild & Scenic, and linking Utah’s national parks to iconic public lands and protecting these landscapes in their entirety from development, including San Rafael Swell, Desolation and Labyrinth Canyons
California -Increased the size of Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks, and protected
350,000 acres of public lands between Mojave National Preserve and Death Valley to preserve connectivity and wildlife movement corridors. -Secured funds for protection and recreation in the California Desert, directing the Department of the Interior to do groundbreaking research on impacts of habitat fragmentation on migrating species across the region.
New Mexico – Protections for over 240,000 acres including designation of 13,420-acre
Cerro Del Yuta and 8,120-acre Rio San Antonio Wilderness Areas, and wilderness in Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument which the administration had threatened to shrink.
Washington - Methow Headwaters Protection Act permanently withdraws 340,079 acres of
U.S. Forest Service land from new mineral exploration and large-scale mine development.
Notable Victories Gila River
Owens Pump Storage
A pump storage proposal in California’s Owens Valley wanted reservoirs in wilderness and in mostly undisturbed critical habitat for rare and imperiled species. EcoFlight flew with Center for Biological Diversity, local elected officials and LA Times to bring more attention to the project, and the fact that it was poorly sited in sensitive habitat. After numerous concerns were raised, the project was withdrawn.
Grant County Commissioners passed a resolution recognizing the special values of the Gila River headwaters, and supporting a future Wild and Scenic designation to protect New Mexico’s largest free flowing river. EcoFlight has been working with NM Wilderness Alliance and American Rivers to give the aerial perspective of the river and rugged surrounding wild lands to the press, and local municipalities, who also added their support. EcoFlight will continue working to protect one of the Southwest’s last remaining free-flowing river segments.
CORE Act
The House of Representatives passed the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy Act (CORE Act), making it the first statewide Colorado wilderness legislation to pass the House in over a decade. The bill will safeguard more than 400,000 acres of critical wildlands and wildlife corridors, and ensure future generations have access to the state’s wildest lands like Thompson Divide, the San Juans and Continental Divide, and historic areas like Camp Hale. EcoFlight has worked for over a decade with local and statewide partner organizations on flights that helped inspire action among citizens and leaders, and to build partnerships and consensus among diverse stakeholders. The focus now turns to the Senate where the bill must gain enough support to become law.
Chaco
Badger-Two Medicine
The Badger-Two Medicine is a 130,000-acre area bounded on the north by Glacier National Park and the east by the Blackfeet Reservation. It has cultural and religious significance to the Blackfeet Nation. One of the last two remaining oil and gas leases within the Badger-Two Medicine was permanently retired earlier this year. EcoFlight has flown the Blackfeet for many years with partner conservation groups, elected officials, press, and filmmakers to elevate the issue and garner national attention.
Grand Canyon
In late October 2019, the Grand Canyon Centennial Act passed in the House, which will permanently withdraw 1 million acres surrounding the Grand Canyon from new uranium mining claims, in spite of the current administration’s idea to cancel the 20-year moratorium. Flights also highlighted two proposed hydroelectric projects on Navajo Nation lands and a Hopi sacred site just miles from the National Park boundary. The dams would flood a section of the Little Colorado River Gorge, a pristine and sacred area, known for its turquoise blue waters and habitat for the endangered humpback chub.
For years, EcoFlight has flown tribal and political leaders, reporters, archeologists and conservationists over the landscape surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park to highlight the region’s last remaining public lands that are not already managed for intense industrial energy development. The Chaco Cultural Heritage Area Protection Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives in October. The bill permanently prevents new oil and gas development within a ten-mile radius of Chaco Canyon, protecting 316,000 acres and an estimated 5,000 artifacts in the area. The next step is for the bill to make it through the Senate where it already has strong supporters, but will still face challenges. Senator Heinrich flew with us and Outside Magazine to bring attention to this important bill.
A Few of our Flights 184 flight missions 318 Hours of flying 83 Earned media pieces published 730 Passengers 85 Place-based conservation issues
A Bold Proposition to Save
Help Nature Buffer
Flights over the Snake River in Idaho educated passengers about the devastating decline in steelhead and salmon populations in the Snake, and highlighted the lower four dams that have contributed to this. If these dams on the Snake are removed, it will revive 140 miles of river and over 14,000 acres of riparian habitat and bottomlands, restoring productive access for wild salmon and steelhead to over 5,500 miles of contiguous, pristine, protected upriver habitat. EcoFlight spearheaded these flights with Nez Perce leaders and conservation groups including Save Our Wild Salmon, Snake River Waterkeeper, Idaho Conservation League, Idaho Wildlife Federation, Trout Unlimited and others.
Climate Change
the Steelhead & Salmon
the Impact of
Our partner, Mojave Desert Land Trust, is leading the efforts in the Californian Desert to acquire intersector lands in and between national parks. Flights this year highlighted the acquisition of these wildlife corridor areas connecting Mojave National Preserve to Joshua Tree National Park, San Bernardino National Forest and existing wilderness areas. Flights with MDLT, Audubon, NPCA and others celebrated the 25th anniversary of the California Desert Protection Act, and the importance of the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan.
Klamath
River Dams
AWildTruly Place Uranium in the
Southwest The Church Rock uranium spill site in New Mexico remains the largest release of radioactive material in US history. Flights with Reuters reporters flew the 40 year old devastation that is still clearly visible for a journalism project focusing on uranium impacts to Native American communities in the Southwest.
Owyhee Canyonlands on the border of Oregon and Idaho is one of the last great unprotected expanses of the American West. Flights over this area,carved by desert rivers winding towards the Pacific, gave congressional staff and community leaders with Friends of the Owhyee and Idaho Conservation League a better understanding of the unique and varied terrain of this world class recreation area in southeast Oregon and the importance of ecological connectivity to stem the tide of habitat fragmentation.
EcoFlight is committed to maintaining aerial pressure for the removal of the four lower dams - a crucial first step to restore the health of the Klamath River on the border of California and Oregon, sustain healthy fish populations and improve water quality for the communities that depend upon it. The project will be an immense boon to the tribes along the Klamath whose cultural, spiritual and economic health is dependent on these waterways and fish populations being healthy. EcoFlight is collaborating with a number of tribes, business leaders, conservation and sportsmen groups on this project to ensure successful restoration of the Klamath River.
Educating Future Environmental Stewards EcoFlight hosted its 16th annual Flight Across America college student program to educate, inspire and engage the next generation of environmental stewards. The initial concept was dreamed up earlier by EcoFlight founder Bruce Gordon and singer/songwriter, John Denver, to use celebrity pilots to guide a series of flights with policy-makers to highlight environmental issues on the national stage for Earth Day 2000. Unfortunately, Denver passed away before their program started, so Gordon decided to build on that idea with a student program to honor his late friend’s memory. This year, EcoFlight evolved the program into a for-credit course in partnership with a local university, offering students more in-depth academic experiences, which they can use as credit and valuable experiential learning for degrees in science, land management or media. This year’s partnership with the Salazar Rio Grande del Norte Center at Adams State University in Alamosa, and Colorado Mountain College, immersed students in core water issues in the Rio Grande River basin in southern Colorado. For 2½ days, students met on the ground with water and wildlife managers, ranchers, scientists and conservationists to learn about the complexities of water issues in the basin and the state – then flew over the basin to understand it first-hand. Students discussed the challenges related to climate variability, legacy mining impacts, surface and groundwater issues. The program promotes student civic engagement on the watershed through follow-up publications and public speaking assignments.
Diversity and Inclusion
Diversity and inclusion are critical elements in EcoFlight’s programs and outreach to ensure that aerial conservation is available to and a part of all communities.
EcoFlight is focused on ensuring that diverse and underserved communities perceive EcoFlight as accessible to all. The impact to the conservation community will be profound.
Soaring Soirée
photo credit Daniel Bayer
EcoFlight’s inaugural gala was a fun party for a worthy cause. We were surrounded by so many friends and supporters, including a personal message from Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado and a keynote address by former Governor of Colorado, John Hickenlooper. The Governor was quoted in the media saying he had known Bruce Gordon “a long time and was an immediate supporter of EcoFlight because it was able to change people’s perspectives. He praised Gordon and his partner, Jane Pargiter, for their willingness to improve everyone’s knowledge of the environment.” At the Gala we raised much needed funds to hire a new videographer, Mike Stevens, who has joined the EcoFlight family and got right down to work shooting two short films on some of our favorite watersheds to raise the bar on dam removal on the Klamath and Snake Rivers. We also raised dollars towards a new airplane, a new website, an intern and camera equipment. As the Environmental Airforce of the West, it was time to celebrate with donors and friends - an elegant and highly successful evening.
ECOFLIGHT OFFSETS CARBON EMISSIONS EcoFlight is purchasing tons of carbon offsets each month to offset the oil and gas burned in our overflights. Our investments support two carbon offset programs: methane capture in Colorado with the Southern Ute tribe and deforestation. Methane is a greenhouse gas 25 times more damaging to Earth than CO2. The tribe are capturing and processing methane emissions from underground coal beds on their reservation, distributing it via pipeline for use as natural gas. This project eliminates over 60,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions every year. Our offsets also support reducing deforestation, one of the best opportunities for cost efficient and immediate reduction of carbon emissions, in Borneo, a part of the world that is under high stress from unregulated agricultural practices and is eminently threatened by rising temperatures. The project lands were to be converted to palm oil plantations but the area has been declared a protected reserve for many species including the Borneo Orangutans.
Mike Stevens, filmmaker for EcoFlight, interviewing Devin Reuben from the Nez Perce tribe.
Making an Impact Your partnership and friendship means a lot to me. I was so glad to see EcoFlight become a core component of how the enviro community showed off our beautiful land and worked to influence power‌ The dozen or more flights we did together created powerful results and understanding, and supported some of the most exciting conservation wins in the country. Cadiz, Monuments, Soda Mountain Solar, Silurian Valley Wind, and Crescent Peak wind, just to name a few. - Dave Lamfrom, NPCA
EcoFlight, Thank you for your continued support in our work! We could not do or fulfill our mission without your assistance. By sharing the landscape through your work and perspective, we are able to demonstrate the importance of what we do; protect, preserve and honor this sacred landscape. Blessings. - Patrick Gonzales-Rogers, Executive Director & Charissa Wahwasuck-Jessepe, Operations Director, Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition
Thank you so much for offering the flights and doing all that planning and hard work. We’ve seen excellent posts from folks on board including a local council member, and this front page feature in the Daily Sun is just the first of what we’re told are several stories. Thank you for providing the opportunity – a picture is worth a thousand words and these folks wouldn’t have them imprinted on their brains without you. Thank you for building better advocates in our community. - Ashley Davidson, Grand Canyon Trust
Take action get involved
What makes an airplane fly, is it power or thrust or pressure differential, lift or wingspan? All of the above, but most importantly, it is your dollars that fill the gas tank, and enable EcoFlight to achieve Lift Off!
Become a member of EcoFlight, and fly high with us as we fly proactively to create positive and rational change. Your gift to EcoFlight helps ensure a future for America’s wild lands by providing the inspiring big picture aerial perspective which propels passengers into action.
We invite you to get involved in the following ways:
GIVE ONLINE Start making a difference for our wild lands in the West right away, by making your gift online. It’s easy and secure. secure.donationpay.org/ecoflight/
STAY CONNECTED Sign up to receive our monthly Captain’s Blog and biannual newsletter, to be a more informed member of a special community helping to conserve America’s magnificent wild lands and wildlife. ecoflight.org/contact
DOUBLE YOUR IMPACT
LEAVE A LEGACY Give a gift for future generations: include EcoFlight in your will or other estate plans so that our wild lands and wildlife will be protected long into the future. secure.donationpay.org/ecoflight/
Check to see if your company has a matching gift program to double, or even triple, your support Contact Jane Pargiter: jane@ecoflight.org
GIVE APRECIATED SECURITIES Consider using your assets – from stocks and bonds to mutual funds – to protect America’s wild lands. Contact Jane Pargiter: jane@ecoflight.org
Partners/staff/board Staff:
Bruce Gordon Founder & President Michael Gorman Program & Database Coordinator Gary Kraft Pilot Jane Pargiter Conservation & Development Director Dave Polovin Bookkeeper Michael CB Stevens Videographer Kristin Wright Photographer Rachael Bazley Graphic Designer
Board:
Mark Harvey, Board Chair Deon Ben David Behrhorst Bert Fingerhut Heidi Bintz Andrea Grant Bruce Gordon Bill Hedden Pete McBride Ronald Sievert
Advisory Board:
David Bonderman Thank you to Charles Cunniffe
for the generous use of his plane.
2019 Partners Organization Name
Ace Hotel ACES Acoma Pueblo Adams State University Adrian 2040 All Pueblo Council of Governors American Indian Institute American Prairie Reserve American Rivers American Whitewater APCG Natural Resources Arizona Daily Sun Arizona Republic Ark Valley Voice Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area Arkansas River Roundtable AROA Aspen Alpine Guides Aspen Grocery LLC Aspen Skiing Company Aspen Valley Land Trust Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia Audubon Society Azeez Family Foundation Backcountry Hunters & Anglers Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition Better World Group Betty Flies Foundation Billings Gazette Black Sheep Coffee Blackfoot Valley Dispatch Blaine County Bonfire Buddy Program Buzzfeed CA State Senator Ben Allen California Native Plant Society California State Assembly California Welcome Center California Wilderness Coalition Caring for CO
Catena Foundation CAV CBC News Center for Biological Diversity Center on Race, Poverty & Environment Citizens for a Healthy Community Charles Cunniffe Architects City of 29 Palms City of Brea City of Broomfield City of Chino Hills City of Coachella City of Cottonwood City of Deleno City of Flagstaff City of Glenwood Springs City of Green River City of Industry City of Klamath Falls City of Rock Springs City of Salida Clark Fork Coalition Colorado Canyons Association Colorado Central Colorado DNR Colorado Mountain Club Colorado Sun Rep. Ted Lieu Consejo de Federaciones Mexicanas Crazy Mountain Stockgrowers Association Crested Butte Mountain Bike Association Crested Butte News Crow Tribe Defenders of Wildlife Del Norte Triplicate Democratic Party of Grant County Denver Foundation Denver Post Desert Exposure Desert Sun DGB Films E&E News Eaglemere Foundation Earth Institute
Earth's Call Entravision Communications EPA Eric Ian Photo & Film Explore Big Sky Expressive Medias Family Water Alliance Fanwood Foundation Ferguson Law Office Field & Stream Freeheel & Wheel Fremont Adventure Recreation Friends of Browns Canyon Friends of Cedar Mesa Friends of the Desert Mountains Friends of the Inyo Friends of the Owyhee Friends of the Verde River Friends of the Yampa Full Court Press Communications Glenwood Springs Post Independent Grand Canyon River Guides Grand Canyon Trust Grant County, NM Greater Arkansas River Nature Association Governor John Hickenlooper Governor Jared Polis Gunnison Country Times Gunnison Public Land Working Group Gunnison Public Lands Initiative Gunnison Trails Harris Foundation Hauser & Hauser Farms Havasupai Tribe Hellgate Hunters and Anglers Herald & News Hi-Desert Star High Country Conservation Advocates High Country News Hills for Everyone Hopi Tribe House Natural Resource Committee Idaho Conservation League
Idaho Mountain Express Idaho Press Idaho Rangeland Resource Commission Idaho Rivers United Idaho State Legislature Idaho Statesman Idaho Wildlife Federation IMBA Inland Empire International Mountain Bicycling Association Inversion Marketing IOGA-Gal Joshua Tree National Park Karuk Tribe KCDZ News Kern River Outfitters Kern Valley Sun KEUR KFBB News KIVI ABC Klamath County Economic Development Agency Klamath Falls Chamber of Commerce Klamath River Renewal Corporation Klamath Water Users Association Klamath Lake Farm Bureau KLEW KUNC LA Nature for All LA Times Larimer County Open Space Las Cruces Sun-News Leadership Counsel Lewis & Clark County Lincoln Fire Department Lincoln Working Group Livingston Enterprise LOGIC Lonecone Project Lone Pine Paiute-Shoshone Tribe Louisville Middle School Loveland Herald MAP Brewing Mariposa Gazette Mauka Productions McBride Family Foundation
Meat Eater Missoula County Missoula Current Missoula Parks and Recreation Missoulian Mix 106 Radio Mojave Desert Land Trust Mojave Trails National Monument Mojave Moon CafĂŠ Mojave Sol Mono County Montana Public Radio Montana Wildlife Federation Morongo Basin Conservation Association Mountain Mail Mountain Rescue, Aspen National Parks Conservation Association Nature For All Navajo Nation NBC New-Land Foundation New Mexico Office of Outdoor Recreation New Mexico State Land Office New Mexico Wilderness Alliance Nez Perce Tribal Executive Council Nez Perce Tribe Nimiipuu Protecting the Environment North Fork Studios North Olympic Orca Pod Office for Regional Conference Ministry Orange County Oregon Public Broadcast Radio Our Part Outside Magazine Park County Environmental Council Patagonia Penner Foundation Pine Cone Inn Prairie Populist Prescott National Forest Promotora Protect Our Winters Pueblo of Santa Ana
Rafting Magazine Ravenswood Outdoors Rep. Adam Schiff Rep. Jared Huffman Rep. Paul Cook Rep. TJ Cox Rep. Tony Cardenas Reuters Rios to Rivers River-Branch Foundation Riverside County Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Rodel Foundation Routt County Sabin Family Foundation Sage West Health Care Salazar Rio Grande del Norte Center San Juan Citizens Alliance San Juan County Santo Domingo Pueblo Save Our Wild Salmon Save the Yellowstone Grizzly SCLF - Two Rivers Senator John Barrasso Senator Michael Bennet Senator Dianne Feinstein Senator Martin Heinrich Senator Jeff Merkley Senator Ron Wyden Senator Tom Udall Sierra Club Snowy Mountain Development Corp SoCal 350 Sublette County Conservation District Suzanne Parish Foundation Sweetwater County Telemundo News Tenderfoot The Desert Sun The Desert Trail The Hunting Dog Podcast The Mountain Enterprise The Nature Conservancy The Western News The Wilderness Society Thomson Reuters Foundation TightLine Media Timbisha Shoshone Tribe
Town of Bayard Town of Bluff Town of Crested Butte Town of Erie Town of Hurley Town of Silver City Town of Windsor Town of Yucca Valley Tsegi Canyon Stakeholders UCLA University of Idaho Univision Rep. Ben Lujan Utah Dine Bikeyah Valley Public Radio Valley Settlement Vet Voice Foundation Victor Valley Daily Press Visit 29 Palms Visit Mammoth Western Colorado University Western Conservation Foundation Western New Mexico University Western Resource Advocates Wiancko Foundation Wilburforce Foundation Wild Connections Wild Earth Guardians Wilderness Workshop Wildlands Conservancy William & Flora Hewlett Foundation Winslow Foundation Winter Wildlands Alliance Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality Wyoming Federation of Union Sportsmen Wyoming Game and Fish Department Wyoming Legislature Wyoming Wildlife Federation Wyss Foundation Yaak Valley Forest Council Yavapai College Yavapai-Apache Tribe Yellowstone Public Radio Yucca Valley High School Yurok Tribe Zuni Nation
EcoFlight 307 L AABC Aspen, CO 81611
Eco Flight
ecoflight1
ecoflight
EcoFlightVideo
EcoFlight . 307 L AABC . Aspen, CO 81611 . 970-429-1110 . EcoFlight.org