It’s that time of year when holiday giving is on our minds. We spend endless hours shopping for the perfect STUFF to give to our love ones. Instead of giving out more stuff, why not give something that really makes a difference? This year why not give something back to wildlife?
My gift giving to my family this year will include making a donation in their name to organizations that help wildlife and the ecosystems that support them.
My pick this year:
Phoenix Wildlife Center is a small non-profit wildlife rescue which provides temporary care to injured, sick and displaced wildlife with the goal of returning healthy animals to appropriate habitats in the wild. They do amazing work on a very small budget and could really use your help. Just last week they successfully returned an injured Bald Eagle to the wild.
I asked my team members and facebook friends what small non-profits they knew of who were doing amazing work to help wildlife and protect their habitats. We’ve come up with a great list for you.
Susan J. Tweit has chosen:
The Wildlands Network, which works to connect migration routes for wildlife throughout the continent.
Pat Sutton has picked several:
We support Natural Lands Trust. They’ve protected so much land in PA & along the NJ Delaware Bayshore and work hard to manage it for wildlife
We also support the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey by sending an annual donation & by buying their excellent field guides for ourselves and friends (“Field Guide to Dragonflies & Damselflies of NJ,” “Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians of NJ”)
Mark Turner’s picks:
With the connections between native habitat (plants) and wildlife, each of the state native plant societies are logical organizations to be the recipients of giving. The work we do includes education and conservation. Washington Native Plant Society has 1.5 paid staff, Native Plant Society of Oregon is entirely volunteer run.
Kelly Brenner is a passionate wildlife advocate:
Conservation Northwest
Salmon Safe
Stewardship partners
Green Seattle Partnership
Of course I would also encourage donating to local Audubon chapters.
Casey Tucker suggests:
Ohio Nature Education provides a home for wild animals that can no longer live in the wild. We incorporate these animals into environmental education programs for people of all ages.
The fact is that most of us probably already have plenty of “stuff.” But think of the difference we could make for wildlife, wildlife habitats, and the health of our ecosystems if instead of giving “stuff” we supported these organization.
Making a difference for wildlife is the best holiday gift I can imagine. How about you?
Please feel free to add the wildlife organizations you support in the comments below. Let’s compile an exhaustive list of all of the groups doing such amazing work to protect wildlife.
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About Carole Sevilla Brown
Great choices, Carole, and thanks for this post! I thought of another one, Xerces Society (http://www.xerces.org/), which works for all the little guys, the invertebrates, from butterflies and native bees to snails and mussels. They have a fabulous native pollinator conservation program, and in fact, they authored the wonderful new book, ATTRACTING NATIVE POLLINATORS.
I would like to add to the list a few of my ideas if I may.
I would like to suggest for those interested in helping local wildlife you find out about your local rehab centers or the people down in the trenches, so to speak, the individual rehabber. I live in the Houston Texas area and there are FOUR rehab groups in that area alone. And many single rehabers not affiliated with any of them. Your state fish and game department is a good place to find out who is local to you, they have a state list of rehabers and what they do. You can choose to help a nearby center, or a person who specializes in your favorite animal. I know one rehaber who does nothing but reptiles and is always happy for some help-snakes don’t evoke a lot of sympathy…But he loves them and helps many throughout the year.
Almost every rehaber I know opperates on a shoestring budget and can use a little help. Even if it is just bags of cat or dog food, paper towels, bird seed ect. The list is endless.
Just throwing out my two cents worth. Think global-act local.
Happy holidays and safe travel for you all.
So important to think and act towards helping wildlife now and year round Carole! Brava! I also love NRDC – http://www.nrdc.org/default_t1.asp – for their continued efforts to save the earth and all her creatures.
Wow! This is a great idea to help the wildlife. Number of animals are being lost every year and this could really help. I’ll ask my husband so that we can do the same and choose an organization to help. Thanks for sharing this wonderful post.