Environmental and Humanitarian Organizations

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"NPCA has worked to preserve pristine natural ecosystems in national parks by opposing such incompatible uses as logging, mining, sport hunting, commercial development, dams and reservoirs, and unnecessary roads. NPCA is also working to strengthen the Clean Air Act.

"As an example of the many NPCA successes, in 1981 we learned that the National Park Service had been ordered by the Reagan administration to build a case to de-authorize at least five National Park System units. NPCA's initiative led to oversight hearings in which Secretary Watt was forced to back down from his de-authorization plans.

"NPCA's active members and supporters total more than 45,000. We publish a bimonthly magazine, National Parks, which is designed to educate its readers on current issues, environmental problems, and the beauty of our country's parks. In addition to the magazine, members receive 'Citizen's Action Guides' and `NPCAlerts' on important issues. Dues range from $13 for students and senior citizens to $200 for sustaining membership. Regular associate memberships are $18. Dues in excess of $7 and all contributions are taxdeductible."

For more information, write to NPCA at 1701 18th St. N.W., Washington, DC 20009.

THE NATURE CONSERVANCY

Since 1950, The Nature Conservancy and its 200,000+ members have been involved in the preservation of nearly two million acres of prime wildlife habitat in 50 U.S. states, the Virgin Islands, Canada, and the Caribbean. And—you may well ask—just what do they do to "preserve" this land and its wild inhabitants?

Well, for the most part, they buy it. (Much is also donated and willed to them.) We like that approach; it could be compared to the activist tactics of Greenpeace and Earth First!-but instead of personal, physical action, the conservancy practices monetary environmental activism. It works.

The Nature Conservancy's efforts are currently being focused on their monumental National Wetlands Conservation Project—a five-year, private/public effort to conserve endangered water-related ecosystems in the U.S. Start-up funding for the Wetlands Project was provided through a $25 million grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation (the largest grant ever made by a private foundation for conservation purposes), but the conservancy must raise an additional $50 million in public and private funds over the next five years.

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