100 Million Acres Protected
Image courtesy of Glacier-Two Medicine Alliance.
Since its establishment in 1998, the Wyss Foundation has worked to protect and conserve the world’s wild places for future generations to enjoy. After twenty-five years, the Foundation is proud to announce that it has reached a major milestone. Alongside its partners, the Wyss Foundation has helped local and Indigenous communities, national governments, land trusts, and non-profits permanently protect more than 100 million acres of land – an area larger than Sweden.
“Protecting rich landscapes and ecosystems is essential to our planet’s survival and our commitment to the next generation,” said Molly McUsic, president of the Wyss Foundation. “The Wyss Foundation is extremely proud to empower local and Indigenous communities, governments, and nonprofits working to protect the planet and maintain its biodiversity.”
Philanthropist Hansjörg Wyss, chairman of the Wyss Foundation, first developed a love for the American West while working for the Colorado Highway Department in 1958. Mr. Wyss created the Wyss Foundation in 1998 to help ensure that the iconic Western landscapes that inspired him are protected for everyone to experience and explore. Since then, the Foundation has expanded its conservation efforts to protect land, ocean, and wildlife in the United States and across the globe. Together, the Wyss Foundation and its partners have protected several at-risk areas including:
Badger-Two Medicine: After a forty-year fight led by Blackfeet Nation tribal leaders to permanently protect their sacred lands from oil and gas development, the last oil lease in Montana’s the Badger-Two Medicine was retired in 2023. The Badger-Two Medicine Area – stretching more than 130,000 acres adjacent to Glacier National Park - is an essential wildlife corridor and is considered the sacred homeland of the Blackfeet people. The Foundation has been part of the coalition working alongside the Blackfeet Nation to protect this area for many years.
Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park: In Hawaii’s Pōhue Bay, the Foundation worked with grantee the Trust for Public Land to purchase more than 16,000 acres of land home to multiple endemic species including Hawksbill turtles, the rarest sea turtle in the world. The land will be added to Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park and remain protected for future generations.
South San Juan Wilderness Area: Working with the USDA Forest Service, grantee The Conservation Fund, and the Colorado State Forest Service, the Foundation provided funding for the permanent protection of more than 16,700 acres of private land adjacent to the San Juan National Wilderness Area in Colorado, providing an important buffer to this remote mountain wilderness.
Thaidene Nene National Park Reserve and Territorial Protected Area: Foundation support helped to create the 6.5 million acre protected area in Canada in partnership with The Nature Conservancy and its Canadian affiliate Nature United. The area boasts immense ecological and cultural significance: it is a key source of subsistence and holds deep spiritual value to the Łutsël K’é Dene First Nation.
Ansenuza National Park and National Reserve: Protecting South America’s largest saline lake, the Foundation worked with grantee Aves Argentinas to establish the 1.6-million-acre park. This publicly-owned park is critical to the area’s migrating birds and the endangered maned wolf.
The Wyss Foundation and Mr. Wyss have also played a central role in jumpstarting the global movement to protect 30% of the world’s land and water by 2030 through launching the Wyss Campaign for Nature in 2018 and pledging $1.5 billion towards 30x30. At the 15th United Nations Biodiversity Convention in 2022, nations pledged to mobilize $30 billion per year toward protecting 30% of the world’s land and water by the year 2030.
Read more about the projects that made this exciting milestone possible here.
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About the Wyss Foundation – The Wyss Foundation is a private, charitable foundation dedicated to supporting innovative, lasting solutions that improve lives, empower communities, and strengthen connections to the land.