2020 campaign achieved significant support domestically and globally despite COVID-19
Louisville, Ky. — The Forecastle Foundation, the nonprofit environmental activism arm of the Forecastle Festival, contributed nearly $50,000 to its conservation partners in 2020, helping the organization to surpass $700,000 in overall giving since inception.
Founded in 2010, The Forecastle Foundation’s mission is to protect and connect the world’s natural awesome – the most critical, highly-threatened biodiversity hotspots left on the planet. The Foundation achieves this goal by partnering with like-minded organizations at home and abroad, to raise awareness, funds, volunteers and supporters.
Funds are raised year-round through corporate and small business partnerships, the generosity of individual donors and events like the Forecastle Festival. Forecastle 2020 was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a loss of a significant portion of annual fundraising revenue for The Forecastle Foundation.
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“This was a challenging year for everyone in the non-profit community, but I’m proud of the work our board did to persevere and support our local and global partners, who are doing incredible work to protect and connect the world’s natural awesome,” said JK McKnight, founder of The Forecastle Foundation. “Despite the setback in 2020, and through tremendous support from donors and partners, the Foundation was still able to make significant contributions to its conservation partners.”
The Foundation is active across three continents and five countries and has helped protect and preserve more than 51,000 acres of land and over 300 miles of waterway since 2011, with a goal to reach every hotspot region and continent in the years to come.
2020 partner organizations included:
● Kentucky Natural Land Trust (Eastern Kentucky);
● Guayaki Foundation (Argentina, Brazil);
● Friends for Conservation and Development (Belize);
● The Nature Conservancy (Central Kentucky);
● and Future Fund Land Trust (Kentucky).
In 2020, The Forecastle Foundation also made donations to Wilderness Louisville, Louisville Grows, and Trees Louisville as part of a partnership with My Morning Jacket and The Forecastle Festival through a virtual concert with proceeds benefiting local organizations that focus on environmental efforts in underserved areas of the city.
All donations have been made possible by The Forecastle Foundation’s supporters. In 2020 that included the Forecastle Festival, Give for Good Louisville, My Morning Jacket, Four Roses, Old Forester, Justin’s House of Bourbon, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, West Sixth Brewing, Sierra Nevada, Logan Street Market, DC Timing, Reverb, Cricket Press, Revelry Boutique Gallery, Amazon and Kroger.
More information on partner organizations and projects can be found below.
Kentucky Natural Land Trust (Eastern Kentucky)
Kentucky Natural Land Trust (KNLT) works to connect existing protected areas along the Pine Mountain Wildlands Corridor, a 180,000-acre ridgeline that stretches 125-miles from Tennessee through eastern Kentucky and into Virginia. This area is an important refuge for nearly 100 rare plant and animal species, and a migratory route through a region heavily impacted by coal mining, oil and gas development, and logging. Creating more contiguous protected habitat is essential to safeguarding and sustaining functioning ecosystems and ensuring the health and resilience of local, regional and global communities.
Overall contributions from The Forecastle Foundation have helped KNLT purchase and preserve more than 7,300 acres of the Pine Mountain Wildlands Corridor, establishing seven new preserves and expanding two existing preserves.
In 2020, the Forecastle Foundation’s contributions helped to protect 1,368 acres on Pine Mountain near Cumberland, Kentucky, establishing the Warbler Ridge Preserve. The preserve combines this newly acquired tract with land protected in 2017, creating the largest preserve totaling 2,456 acres. This is one of the most unique conservation projects in KNLT history.
Guayaki Foundation (Argentina, Brazil)
Now in its sixth year, the Guayaki Foundation helps to empower local indigenous communities to regenerate and protect the Atlantic Forest through research, educational programs and promotion of the agro-ecological systems in the Atlantic Forest. Contributions from The Forecastle Foundation have helped to fund their environmental education programs, a 290-acre land preserve, and the building of an international research center. The environmental education program invites indigenous school children to plant native hardwood trees and learn the principles of agro-ecology, where humans can produce crops that restore and protect endemic ecosystems. Each year, every student plants five native trees and harvests crops such as manioc, bananas and beans.
With the support of The Forecastle Foundation, more than 1,250 students have participated in the environmental education program, planting more than 6,250 trees in the 290-acre land preserve.
The Forecastle Foundation’s contributions have also helped acquire an additional 55 hectares of property to connect the FAI reserve to Iguazu National Park, creating an important corridor for wildlife.
2020 contributions helped to expand educational programs into the local community.
Friends for Conservation and Development (Belize)
Belize’s Chiquibul Cave System (CCS) is the longest and largest known network of caves in Central America. Nearly 35 miles of passages have been mapped and surveyed, including the largest known passage and cave room in the Western Hemisphere. The CCS is located within the Chiquibul National Park, whose dimension consists of over 265,937 acres in the Cayo District forming a vital part of the Chiquibul-Maya Mountains Key Biodiversity Area. It is a vast broadleaf forest, not only with populations of many endangered species, but also numerous Geological and Archaeological features such as ancient Maya Sites, caves and sinkholes. The CCS, due to its extent and integrity represents one of those unique and prestigious cultural features of the Chiquibul forest worthy of national and global importance.
The support provided by Forecastle Foundation enables for the monitoring and protection of the nearly 35-mile stretch of underground passages as well as the adjacent forest.
The Forecastle Foundation’s contributions made support for national recognition as a World Heritage Site possible. This included conducting inventory of the Chiquibul Cave System through Additional Karst Management Unit Support and identifying where gaps of information are found and analyzing the data generated.
The Nature Conservancy (Central Kentucky)
The Green River is the crown jewel of Kentucky’s river system. A globally significant watershed for biodiversity, it supports more than 70 species of freshwater mussels and more than 150 species of fish – including 43 species found nowhere else in the world.
Overall contributions from The Forecastle Foundation have helped protect more than 50 miles of river tributary frontage along Kentucky’s Green River and have supported plans to restore nearly 200 miles of the Green River to its natural state by eliminating locks and dams.
In 2020, the Forecastle Foundation’s contributions led to continued funding for Support for the Working Woodlands Program, which is aimed at landowners agreeing to sustainably manage their property. Additionally, support for the Green Heart Project Area was made possible. This allowed for the planting hundreds of trees and shrubs, along with inventorying and conducting preliminary health assessments on more than 700 existing trees in the project area.
Future Fund Land Trust (Kentucky)
The Future Fund Land Trust was established in 1993, with the goal of providing a 10,000-acre conservation overlay to protect the Floyds Fork watershed in Louisville, Kentucky from encroachment. Floyds Fork is one of the last remaining natural streams in Jefferson County. The Future Fund Land Trust owns more than 4000 acres of land along the Floyds Fork. In partnership with Metro Louisville, The Parklands of Floyds Fork and 21st Century Parks assist in providing land for recreational space.
Overall contributions from the Forecastle Foundation have helped the Future Fund Land Trust save land along the Fisherville Connector, the two-mile stretch of land along Floyds Fork that is unprotected. The Future Fund Land Trust has been able to purchase, sign purchase agreements, or establish easements on three parcels, totaling 267 acres since the Foundation’s first contribution in 2017.
In 2020, The Forecastle Foundation’s contributions continued to help protect 31 acres of important land through acquisition that is crucial in completing the Fisherville Connector, this acquisition will protect over 1/2 mile of land along Floyds Fork.
About The Forecastle Foundation
The Forecastle Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization working to protect and connect the world’s natural awesome by educating the public and funding projects that help protect the world’s natural resources with a focus on biodiversity hotspots. To raise awareness and money, Forecastle Foundation partners with conservation organizations that are taking great strides to safeguard biologically-rich areas across the globe. These fragile areas play a vital role in regulating world temperatures and provide a number of necessities most Americans use on a regular basis, including food, medicine, paper, detergents, cosmetics, and countless other household products.
For more information about The Forecastle Foundation, please visit www.forecastlefoundation.org