American Friends of Canadian Conservation
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Mission Statement
American Friends partners with Canadian conservation organizations and American owners of ecologically and culturally significant lands in Canada to protect the natural lands, clean water, abundant habitat, quality of life and economies valued by the citizens of both our countries, and around the world.
About This Cause
American Friends of Canadian Conservation (formerly American Friends of Canadian Land Trusts) has a focused purpose and unique role —protecting ecologically and culturally important land in Canada, in collaboration with Canadian conservation organizations. We achieve our mission by: - Utilizing our bi-national favored tax status to make it legally and finally feasible to conserve priority properties owned by US taxpayers, who may be citizens of Canadian the US or other countries, and - Facilitating gifts of cash, securities and other forms of financial support from US taxpayers who want to support the important land and water protection work of Canadian conservation organizations, government agencies and First Nations From Prince Edward Island to British Columbia, Canada’s spectacular natural lands—seacoasts, forests, prairies, lakes, rivers, and islands— provide important ecological, economic, recreational, cultural, social and scenic benefits. These landscapes are defined by nature rather than political boundaries. But as with natural lands around the US and the world, Canada’s treasured landscapes -- particularly those within a day’s drive of population centers in the U.S and Canada -- are increasingly threatened. Demographics are causing big ownership shifts; as aging landowners sell their highly appreciate properties the new owners of these expensive properties are using them more intensively. U.S. taxpayers own a significant percentage of those priority conservation lands, for example: • 25% of Nova Scotia's coast is owned by non-Canadians, most of whom are US taxpayers • Up to 80% of certain areas within Lake Huron’s ecologically-significant Georgian Bay is owned by Americans • Americans own as much as 30% of private land in the beautiful Southern Gulf Islands in British Columbia Conservation science used by land protection professionals identifies protection of American-owned lands as critical for long-term conservation success in many parts of Canada. And while landowners from the U.S. are often interested in land protection, before the creation of American Friends in 2007, U.S. and Canadian tax laws were nearly insurmountable barriers to donations of land or conservation easements from U.S. taxpayers. American Friends removed those tax and legal barriers, encouraging and facilitating “cross-border conservation” – Canadian land protected by U.S. owners. Established by conservation advocates from Canada and the U.S., American Friends’ bi-national preferred tax status makes it financially feasible for US taxpayers to protect natural lands they own in Canada. The U.S. tax incentives for conservation are an essential supplement to Canada’s limited funding capacity. American Friends has the unique professional expertise needed to complete complex cross-border land transactions to permanently protect high priority Canadian properties owned by U.S. taxpayers. Since completing its first project in October 2011, American Friends’ collaborative approach and unique niche in land conservation has produced impressive results by tapping the conservation goals of U.S. taxpayers. In partnership with 10 Canadian conservation organizations, American Friends has completed 26 land projects, protecting close to 3,000 acres of important habitat located in five provinces. More than three dozen U.S. taxpayers were involved in these donations of land and conservation easements. Valued at more than US $16 million, land and easements donated to American Friends protect marine shorelines, pristine lakes, mature woodlands, world-class wetlands, habitat for endangered species and a wealth of recreational and economic values: Highlights include: • Nearly four and half miles of shoreline on Bras d’Or Lake, an inland sea on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, protecting rare barachois lagoons which are now stewarded by the Nova Scotia Nature Trust. • Entire islands within the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve of Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, Ontario • Over 1,200 acres at Delta Marsh, Manitoba, one of the largest freshwater wetlands in North America, globally known for its breeding and migratory habitat for wildlife, especially birds. Protected lands are now owned by Ducks Unlimited Canada. • Dramatic and pristine Seven Days Work Cliff, overlooking the Bay of Fundy, and the public trail around Grand Manan Island, New Brunswick. The Nature Trust of New Brunswick manages the property as a publicly accessible nature reserve. • St. John Point, Mayne Island - one of only seven undeveloped parcels over 50 acres in size, with more than a mile of water front, in British Columbia’s Southern Gulf Islands. The Capital Regional District will use the property as a regional park. These remarkable conservation results were possible because landowners from the U.S. wanted to permanently protect their cherished Canadian lands and American Friends made it legally and financially possible. Without American Friends and its special tax status, it is likely these lands would not have been protected. American Friends also strengthens the conservation movement in Canada through training and mentoring, combined with facilitating financial support from U.S. taxpayers. Generous donors, who are passionate about the future of Canada's natural lands, can give cash or securities or real estate that American Friends can use to make grants to qualified Canadian entities. The system is much like a donor-advised fund. Contributors make a grant recommendation, using a simple template form provided by American Friends, indicating which Canadian conservation organization they would like American Friends to support. Just in the past eight years, gifts from U.S. taxpayers have allowed American Friends to grant more than US$4.5 M to qualified Canadian charities with aligned conservation missions. Thank you in advance for considering participating in this program, and helping to advance protection of Canada's most special and threatened places.