2008 Annual Report
2008 Annual Report
Alaska Center for the Environment
Annual Report
2008
Alaska Center for the Environment
Overview
Alaska Center for the Environment (ACE) is a non-profit environmental education and advocacy organization, founded in 1971 and based in Anchorage. The primary goal of the organization is to achieve preservation of key Alaska wild places, sustainable use of Alaska’s resources, and the development of healthy Alaska communities. ACE is a membership organization and relies on the active involvement of its members for political and financial clout. ACE is funded primarily by its membership as well as through local and national foundations. The organization seeks to achieve its mission and goals through public education, grassroots organizing, lobbying and litigation - within the bounds of its 501(c)(3) non-profit status.
Board Structure
Alaska Center for the Environment is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors. Board members are all Alaska residents and possess work and life experience in business, education, law, policy, science, advocacy and related issues. The board supervises an Executive Director who supervises staff and is responsible for the organization's activities.
Vision
The natural environment is integral to Alaska’s history, politics, culture and quality of life. Alaskans depend on a healthy environment for subsistence, recreation, jobs, and peace of mind. As the state grows, it is essential that human development occurs in harmony with our natural environment.
Mission Statement
To enhance Alaskans’ quality of life by protecting wild places, fostering sustainable communities, and promoting recreational opportunities.
Core Values
A Advocacy
C Community
E Education
ACE’s Guiding Principles
· Be factual, relevant, credible, and effective in all communications and advocacy.
· Provide members with an opportunity to take action and get involved.
· Provide information about how individuals can make a positive difference through daily choices.
· Develop committed members as a primary means of achieving our mission- a large and active membership is the basis for grassroots effectiveness.
· Identify and support solutions to the problems facing Alaska’s environment.
· Work collaboratively and support colleagues and members. Maintain good working relationships internally and externally and build relationships for the long term.
· Recognize that financial solvency is essential to future success.
Current Programs
Sustainable Communities
Anchorage boasts a world-class park and trail system, an urban salmon run, stunning scenery and America's only urban nesting loons. Alaska Center for the Environment's Sustainable Communities campaign focuses on quality of life issues in and around the city. We believe that Anchorage should strive to live up to its natural settings, and keep the real Alaska alive and well in the place so many Alaskans call home. Working together, we can make sure that Anchorage is a model Alaskan city for future generations—and not just another repeat of the mistakes already make in the lower 48. ACE works to make sure that the many issues that affect citizens and neighborhoods are heard.
2008 Accomplishments:
1. Unanimous passage of the Curbside Recycling ordinance by the Anchorage Assembly
2. Withdrawal of the Airport's plans to build a runway that threatened the Coastal Trail
3. Preservation of 15 feet of a Coastal Trail easement threatened by private development
Forest Conservation
Alaska Center for the Environment's Forest Conservation Program, safeguarding Alaska's Chugach National Forest for future generations, advocates for well-balanced conservation management and sustainable use of our public resources. The program’s primary focus is to permanently protect special places in South Central Alaska’s backyard - the Chugach. The program also seeks to protect critical wildlife and salmon that thrive in these areas.
2008 Accomplishments:
1. Synthesized and refined the biological, economic and social data that has been compiled by the Chugach Alliance towards a 2009 course of action
2. Created a map of the proposal showing which places should be protected and how
3. Tracked and defeated SB 176/HB 256 which would have removed standards necessary for challenging future predator control programs
Oceans
Alaska's marine environment is home to an incredible bounty of marine life and a rich history of human cultures. Alaska’s oceans support world-class populations of fish, marine mammals, and birds, and are a major component of Alaska’s subsistence and cash economy. Despite this importance, much is still unknown about our marine environment, and it is vulnerable to pressures from pollution, climate change, and overfishing. ACE is working to build support among Alaskans for marine conservation, and to mobilize our members on marine issues that impact Alaska. The Oceans program has three primary outlets for ocean education: The Alaska Ocean Film Festival (winter), the Alaska Oceans Festival (summer), and ongoing community outreach. Rounding those efforts out with effective marine issue monitoring and responses enables the Oceans program to affect necessary changes on both the proactive and reactive fronts.
2008 Accomplishments:
1. The Alaska Ocean Film Festival reached twenty communities and nearly 3,000 viewers across the state
2. The 6th annual Alaska Ocean Festival saw 2008 attendance of over 7,500 Alaskans and was described by The Anchorage Daily News as “Alaska’s premier summer festival.”
3. The Alaska Ocean Film Festival education outreach component reached into the Lower Kuskokwim School District by simul-casting to ten Yup’ik villages via live video feed about marine issues
Trailside Discovery Camp
Established in 1982, Trailside Discovery started as a small summer camp serving 50 children out of facilities based at Alaska Pacific University in Anchorage. In 1997, Trailside Discovery commenced Winter Camp programming in December and March to coincide with the respective winter break and spring break schedules of the local school district. Twenty six years after our inception, more than 2,200 children (ages 4 -16) slogged through bogs, explored forests, treaded gently across trails, and learned about nature while being immersed in it as they attended Trailside Discovery Summer Camp 2008 sessions at both the Campbell Creek Science Center in south Anchorage and Spring Creek Farm in Palmer, a town in the Mat-Su Valley approximately 40 miles north of Anchorage.
2008 Accomplishments:
1. Enrollment for 2008 was the highest in Trailside’s 26 year history with a record breaking summer camp enrollment in Anchorage serving over 2,000 children.
2. A record expansion of our Spring Creek Farm camp with 5 weeks of programming including our first ever overnight camping trips heading out from our Palmer base camp to Eklutna Lake and Hatcher Pass, with 141 children attending versus 110 in 2007
3. New partnership between Trailside and SAGA/AmeriCorps resulting in creation of new outreach education specialist position responsible for conducting education programs in Title 1 schools throughout the year
Public Lands
Alaska Center for the Environment’s Public Lands program covers issues that face Alaska’s federal state, and borough lands; they are part of what makes the Alaska way of life special. ACE's goal is to ensure these lands are managed to protect fish and wildlife, wilderness, clean air and water, scenic beauty, recreation and subsistence. Continuing the work of the renowned Cliff Eames, the Public Lands program uses direct advocacy, a strong membership, and legislative measures to 'Keep Alaska wild.
2008 Accomplishments:
1. The only group in Alaska to follow northern boreal forest logging, ACE filed a lawsuit in Alaska Superior Court to challenge logging plans
2. ACE continued to work within a coal coalition towards halting development of the Chuitna Coal Mine which would be the first coal mine in Alaska to mine directly through salmon spawning habitat
Energy
In Alaska, the negative effects of climate change are threatening our very way of life: salmon streams are warming, forests are succumbing to increased infestation and fire, and our favorite winter recreation activities are threatened by increasingly unpredictable winters. Just as Alaska is ground zero for global warming, we can also be a leader for reversing the harmful causes of climate change. Global warming is a global problem that requires global solutions - which means taking positive steps at the personal, regional, and national level. This requires action on two fronts: minimizing extraction of carbon-based fossil fuels, and promoting renewable energy sources, energy efficiency, and energy conservation.
2008 Accomplishments:
1. The Energy Program was newly created in 2008, and is already making progress on numerous issues
GIS Mapping
ACE houses a GIS and cartography shop dedicated to conservation efforts in Alaska. The Conservation GIS Center assists with ACE’s work and collaborates with a number of other groups and individuals throughout the State to assist with issues on the local, regional, or statewide level, from shipping safety to renewable energy to habitat protection.
Juneau Watchdog
The Juneau Watchdog is a program of the Alaska Center of the Environment established to monitor the public policy process in Alaska, mobilize support for conservation bills and provide the necessary support to take action against bills that threaten Alaskan landscapes and communities. The Juneau Watchdog provides the Watchdog Weekly, a weekly report that follows conservation-related bills through the state legislature during the Alaska legislative session from January 20th - April 19th.
Financials
Budget To Actual Information
2008 Budget 2008 Actual YTD Variance YTD Variance
Income Items
Alaska Community Share $ 8,000 $ 1,589 $ (6,411) 20%
Auction $ 55,000 $ 50,222 $ (4,778) 91%
Field Canvass $ 50,000 $ 44,224 $ (5,776) 88%
Phone Canvass $ 45,000 $ 52,399 $ 7,399 116%
Earned Inc. $ 10,000 $ 4,248 $ (5,752) 42%
Gaming $ 60,000 $ 46,296 $ (13,704) 77%
Grants $ 400,000 $ 363,604 $ (36,396) 91%
Interest $ 4,000 $ 1,255 $ (2,745) 31%
Major Donor $ 50,000 $ 23,160 $ (26,840) 46%
Member $ 51,000 $ 34,528 $ (16,472) 68%
Merch. Sales $ 1,750 $ 952 $ (798) 54%
OH Income $ 19,000 $ 28,875 $ 9,875 152%
Raffle $ 10,000 $ 8,090 $ (1,910) 81%
Scholarships $ 10,000 $ 17,994 $ 7,994 180%
Special Events $ 37,000 $ 29,536 $ (7,464) 80%
Tuition Income $ 431,500 $ 451,337 $ 19,837 105%
Total Income $ 1,242,250 $ 1,158,309 $ (83,941) 93%
Expense Items
Accounting Fees $ 8,400 10,800 $ 2,400 129%
Advertising $ 3,500 9,689 $ 6,189 277%
Auction $ 12,000 12,339 $ 339 103%
Bank Fees $ 15,000 16,632 $ 1,632 111%
Communications $ 20,400 22,735 $ 2,335 111%
Contract Labor $ 4,565 5,100 $ 535 112%
Equipment $ 14,500 13,478 $ (1,022) 93%
Food $ 9,300 10,285 $ 985 111%
Health/Dental $ 55,880 45,549 $ (10,331) 82%
Legal Fees $ 8,000 5,578 $ (2,422) 70%
Liability Insurance $ 20,000 23,984 $ 3,984 120%
Lobby $ 1,100 120 $ (980) 11%
Merchandise Cost $ 900 3,499 $ 2,599 389%
Miscellaneous $ 5,081 1,954 $ (3,127) 38%
Newsletter $ 22,000 26,512 $ 4,512 121%
Overhead Expense $ 19,000 28,875 $ 9,875 152%
Payroll Gross $ 674,208 642,342 $ (31,866) 95%
Payroll Taxes $ 53,000 48,447 $ (4,553) 91%
Unemployment $ 3,020 111 $ (2,909) 4%
Workers Comp $ 18,000 23,342 $ 5,342 130%
Postage $ 10,100 11,411 $ 1,311 113%
Printing/Copying $ 22,040 25,433 $ 3,393 115%
Raffle Expense $ 1,646 3,422 $ 1,776 208%
Rent $ 109,150 113,627 $ 4,477 104%
Special Events $ 28,700 42,464 $ 13,764 148%
Subs/Dues $ 4,761 6,003 $ 1,242 126%
Supplies $ 13,100 24,589 $ 11,489 188%
Training $ 5,020 2,911 $ (2,109) 58%
Travel & Transportation $ 43,974 49,674 $ 5,700 113%
Total Expense $ 1,218,845 1,230,905 $ 12,060 101%
Ordinary Income $ 23,405 -72,596 $ (96,001)
Board of Directors
Karol Fink, President
Nutritionist
State of Alaska
Anchorage, Alaska
Board service since: 1/07
Martha Levensaler, Vice-President
Non-profit Consultant
League of Conservation Voters
Anchorage, Alaska
Board service since: 3/06
Denice Elison, Treasurer
Certified Public Accountant
Anchorage, Alaska
Board service since: 01/08
Amalie Couvillion, Secretary
Science Director
The Nature Conservancy
Anchorage, Alaska
Board service since: 1/07
Brendan Babb
Research Technician
University of Alaska Anchorage
Anchorage, Alaska
Board service since: 1/09
Clare Stockert
Development Director
Anchorage Library Foundation
Anchorage, Alaska
Board service since: 1/09
Mimi Hogan
Biologist (Retired)
US Fish & Wildlife Service
Anchorage, Alaska
Board service since: 1/04
Anne Gore
Alaska Science Education Manager
The Wilderness Society
Anchorage, Alaska
Board service since: 1/07
Kay Gouwens
Attorney
Anchorage, Alaska
Board service since: 1/05
Jenny Miller
Director
The Steve Nash Foundation
Anchorage, Alaska
Board service since: 1/07
Jeff Conaway
Geologist
USGS
Anchorage, Alaska
Board service since: 1/05
James Jackson
Attorney
GCI
Anchorage, Alaska
Board service since: 1/09
Staff
Toby Smith, Executive Director
Education: MBA, University of Maryland; B.S., Zoology, University of Maryland
Margaret Adsit, Energy Coordinator
Education: B.S., Environmental Science, Northwestern University
Butch Allen, Oceans Organizer
Education: B.A., Psychology, Hampden-Sydney College (Virginia)
Tom Burek, Environmental Education Director
Education: B.S., Park & Recreation Administration, Eastern Michigan University
Jessica Cler, Membership Director
Education: B.A., Political Science, University of Alaska Anchorage
Valerie Connor, Forest Conservation Director
Education: B.S., Environmental Planning and Management, University of California,
Alli Harvey, Legislative Organizer
Education: B.A., Urban Studies, Eugene Lang College the New School for Liberal Arts
Jessie Lazar, Membership and Canvass Coordinator
Education: B.A., Environmental Studies, Lewis & Clark College
Geo McCann, Outreach Director
Education: B.S., Biology, B.S., Psychology, University of Georgia
Doug Tosa, GIS Analyst
Education: B.A. Physical Geography, Northern Michigan University
