SELC Receives Grant to from Louis Bacon’s Orton Foundation to Defend Southeastern North Carolina’s Natural Riches

CHAPEL HILL, NC— At a time of aggressive rollbacks of state environmental protections, The Orton Foundation, the North Carolina affiliate of Louis Bacon’s Moore Charitable Foundation, has awarded the Southern Environmental Law Center a $75,000 grant to support its work defending clean air, clean water, and coastal areas in southeastern North Carolina. The grant will help fund SELC’s work to address three issues: challenging state permits that would allow dangerous levels of air pollution from the Titan America Cement Plant, a proposed cement plant near Wilmington; controlling pollution from industrial hog farms; and keeping the North Carolina coast off-limits to offshore drilling. “Many people in North Carolina are working to restore our long tradition of protecting the environment and natural resources that make our state a great place to live and work,” said Derb Carter, director of SELC’s North Carolina Office. “We are grateful to The Orton Foundation for its generous support and for partnering with us to defend the state’s natural riches.” “SELC is a longtime partner of The Orton Foundation and we proudly support their tireless... read more +

Middlebury College Awarded Charles H.W. Foster Award for Commitment to Land Conservation

Academics for Land Protection in New England (ALPINE), a land conservation network based at the Harvard Forest, Harvard University, will present the Charles H.W. Foster Award for Exemplary Academic Leadership in Land Conservation to Middlebury College on February 22, 2016. The award recognizes the college’s protection of its 2,100-acre Bread Loaf Campus in Vermont, and honors Charles H.W. Foster, the distinguished conservation leader and mentor who passed away several years ago. Dr. Foster was, throughout a career of leadership in both the academic and public sectors, a remarkable catalyst of conservation initiatives, being a key player in the establishment of both the Cape Cod National Seashore and the Silvio O. Conte National Wildlife Refuge, as well as a great many other local and regional initiatives. Foster was the first Secretary of Environmental Affairs for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, one of the first full-time Executive Directors of The Nature Conservancy, the Dean of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and a beloved lecturer at Harvard Kennedy School’s Environment and Natural Resources Program. He was also a close collaborator... read more +

Louis Bacon’s Tercio Foundation Supports Noah’s Ark Animal Welfare Association: Donations to Honor the late Charlie Womack

TRINIDAD, CO — Today The Tercio Foundation, the local affiliate of Louis Bacon’s Moore Charitable Foundation, announced a donation to Noah’s Ark Animal Welfare Association in memory of Charlie Womack. Formerly the Manager of Tercio Ranch, Charlie was a pillar in the local community; he passed away in 2015.  “We were all deeply saddened by Charlie’s passing last year – he meant so much to us and everyone who knew him,” said Ann Colley, executive director and vice president of The Moore Charitable Foundation and its affiliate foundations. “He cared deeply for animals and we are proud to honor his legacy through the wonderful work of Noah’s Ark.”  Noah’s Ark Animal Welfare Association started as a foster-based program in 1998 by a group of concerned citizens seeking proper and humane animal care in the Trinidad area.  As a result of the efforts of this pioneering group, Noah’s Ark Animal Welfare Association took over the day-to-day operations of the City of Trinidad Animal Shelter in 2001. Besides providing shelter and veterinary services, Noah’s Ark finds permanent homes for adoptable... read more +

TRCP to Celebrate Three Extraordinary Champions of Habitat Conservation: Philanthropist Louis Bacon, Sen. Martin Heinrich, and Sen. James Risch

January 14, 2016 Philanthropist Louis Bacon, Sen. Martin Heinrich, and Sen. James Risch will be recognized at eighth annual awards dinner in April 2016 WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership is proud to announce the recipients of our eighth annual Capital Conservation Awards, to be presented on April 27, 2016, to three honorees building a legacy of support for fish and wildlife on Capitol Hill and across the country. The TRCP’s 2016 Lifetime Conservation Achievement Award will go to Louis Bacon, a conservation philanthropist and founder of The Moore Charitable Foundation, Inc. As the president of MCF and chairman of its affiliate foundations, Bacon has spent more than two decades conserving threatened habitat, protecting open spaces, and safeguarding clean water through the support of more than 200 local, national, and international organizations. He was also instrumental in the founding of the Waterkeeper Alliance, an international organization of over 260 Waterkeeper organizations working across six continents to protect rivers, lakes, and coastal waterways. Bacon has authorized conservation easements on more than 210,600 acres throughout the United States—including... read more +

The Bacon Foundation Provides £300,000 Grant to Blue Marine Foundation to Support Largest Marine Reserve in Atlantic Ocean

LONDON, ENGLAND – The British Government is to create a marine reserve of 234,291km2, slightly less than the size of the United Kingdom, in the waters of Ascension Island in the Atlantic, as the result of a grant of £300,000 from the Bacon Foundation. The money will be used to close an area of just over half Ascension’s waters to fishing, police a tuna fishery in line with the best international standards in the other half, and to scope the final boundaries of a marine reserve which could be declared, subject to local agreement, as soon as 2017. The grant, which will be administered by the Blue Marine Foundation for the Ascension Island Government, will enable the protection of waters described as a “hope spot” with high marine biodiversity by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The waters have a host of extraordinary species including some of the largest marlin in the world, one of the largest populations of green turtles, large colonies of tropical seabirds and the island’s own unique frigate bird. James Duddridge, the... read more +

Moore Bahamas Foundation to partner to rebuild ‘heart and heartbeat’ of Crooked Island, Acklins and Long Cay

The Nassau Guardian Dec 21, 2015 Louis Bacon’s Moore Bahamas Foundation has announced that the Bahamas Hurricane Restoration Fund is the third and final recipient of an overall $250,000 commitment to help the remote southern islands of The Bahamas recover from the devastation of Hurricane Joaquin. The final grant will go toward supporting the Bahamas Hurricane Restoration Fund’s efforts to rebuild ACL Hall on Crooked Island. Immediately following the storm that hovered for more than 48 hours over the islands starting September 30, Bacon pledged $250,000 to help restore homes, lives and local businesses. Applications for funds poured in, and the Moore Bahamas Foundation reviewed proposals, needs assessments and project plans. Two weeks ago, the foundation announced it would award the largest grant of $120,000 to Rotary and the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce for the joint long-term rebuilding project, Rebuild Bahamas. A second donation of $50,000 to Comments the Bahamas Reef Environmental Educational Foundation (BREEF) was announced last week. Those funds will be used to provide students with supplies and to restock schools with materials including books, videos,... read more +

Louis Bacon’s Taos Ski Valley Foundation Supports The Nature Conservancy’s Rio Grande Water Fund with $125,000 Grant

Taos, NM | December 15, 2015 Louis Bacon’s Taos Ski Valley Foundation announced today that it has donated $125,000 to The Nature Conservancy to support healthier forests and clean water through the Rio Grande Water Fund. The Water Fund leverages public and private donations to increase the scale and scope of thinning overgrown trees from Taos to Albuquerque, securing water for 1 million people in New Mexico. Forested mountains serve as nature’s water storage and filtering facilities. Frequent, high-severity wildfires and subsequent post-fire flooding increasingly threaten water that serves nearly half of the state’s population. “Thinning our forests makes them safer and healthier, and creates economic benefit through sustainable rural livelihoods. Before we launched the Water Fund, the annual average rate of thinning throughout the watershed was 3,000 acres. That’s not enough to make a difference,” says Ernie Atencio, the Conservancy in New Mexico’s Rio Grande Water Fund Program Associate. “In the first year of the Water Fund, we tripled the number of acres restored, and we hope to keep up that pace by thinning 600,000 acres in the next... read more +

Louis Bacon’s Moore Bahamas Foundation announces major donation to BREEF for re-supplying schools in the southern Bahamas

Bahamas Islands Info 12.15.2015 NASSAU, Bahamas — Louis Bacon’s Moore Bahamas Foundation announced Monday that a substantial share of its $250,000 commitment to the islands of the southern Bahamas devastated by Hurricane Joaquin would go to helping children and teachers return to the classroom and begin to regain a sense of normalcy by supporting the replacement of destroyed school supplies. “In the weeks following the hurricane, it became apparent that to regain any sense of normalcy it was critical to get children back into classrooms,” said Bacon. “While the Government of The Bahamas was and is doing all it can, one of our long-time partners in the conservation movement, Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation (BREEF), proposed assisting officials by providing chests of supplies and we are very proud to support them in this effort.” The Foundation will award $50,000 to BREEF to re-equip students with individual supplies and re-stock classrooms in Acklins, Crooked Island, San Salvador, Long Island and Rum Cay with collateral including marine-related posters, books and information intrinsically linked with lives on islands where fishing and... read more +

Moore Bahamas Foundation Rotary Club Bahamas donation

THE BAHAMAS (DECEMBER 2, 2015): Louis Bacon’s Moore Bahamas Foundation today announced its donation of $120,000 to the Rotary Clubs of The Bahamas for the rebuilding of the southern islands devastated by Hurricane Joaquin. “My family and I think of The Bahamas as a second home, and so we wanted to do whatever we could to reassure those affected by the devastation caused by the hurricane that they have remained in our hearts, and we are happy to support Rotary’s efforts to rebuild homes, lives and communities,” said Louis Bacon. “Today, we are very pleased to announce our donation to the Rotary Clubs of The Bahamas. We fully support their focus on economic recovery, specifically of the fishing, agriculture and livestock industries damaged by the storm,” said Bacon, whose philanthropic efforts have been rewarded by highly respected international honours. Teaming with the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Clubs have outlined plans for permanent solutions for potable water, the resupplying of schools and re-opening of businesses. This includes replacing fishing vessels that were destroyed in the storm and... read more +

Orton Foundation supports Oceana fight against Offshore Drilling and Seismic Airgun Blasting

Brunswick County, N.C. – Louis Bacon’s Orton Foundation announced today that it has awarded Oceana a second $50,000 grant dedicated to their campaign to prevent offshore drilling and seismic airgun blasting along the Atlantic coast, including the sensitive coastal regions of North Carolina. The Orton Foundation, the North Carolina affiliate of Louis Bacon’s Moore Charitable Foundation, supports conservation nonprofits that focus on protecting threatened landscapes, habitats and water bodies. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is considering opening a large swath of the Atlantic Ocean – from Virginia to Georgia – to oil and gas companies hoping to drill in the Atlantic Ocean. Nine of these companies have applied to use seismic airgun blasting to search for oil and gas deposits, which is an extremely dangerous process that can harm the ability of marine mammals to survive. The area includes critical habitat for endangered North Atlantic right whales (http://www.noaa.gov/). A groundswell of opposition to offshore drilling in the Atlantic is growing. As of today, 87 East Coast municipalities, including 27 in North Carolina, have formally opposed seismic airgun blasting and/or offshore drilling. In addition, roughly 600 local,... read more +