Message from the Executive Director

It has been an amazing few months working as the first Executive Director at American Friends of Canadian Conservation (American Friends). Amazing to see the international partnerships forged over the years. Amazing to see the landscape scale conservation impact achieved by working in collaboration with others. Amazing to see the habitat, water, and wildlife conserved through a collective vision from coast to coast to coast in Canada.

The last year has not been without challenges – one of the largest impacting small charities like American Friends across North America were the extremely high rates of inflation. As costs continue to escalate we need to carefully evaluate the possible impacts to our programming and either increase and diversify our fundraising efforts or consider cuts to important programs.

Given the growing attention around biodiversity and the importance of land conservation as a nature-based solution to help address the dual biodiversity and climate change crisis, it really is the time to take-action and expand the work that we are already doing so well.

It may seem at times that land conservation is about acres/hectares conserved and bucks raised, but at AF we know the truth: it’s about people, partnerships, and collaborations working together to conserve the right acres/hectares.

As we look forward to the end of 2022 and a brighter 2023, please remember to support charities like the American Friends of Canadian Conservation and our land trust partners across Canada.

Sincerely,

D.E. (Dave) Hillary