The Peregrine Fund
Landscape Stewardship Certificate of Appreciation for 2010
[Additional photo below award description]

THE PUBLIC LANDS FOUNDATION presents the Peregrine Fund with a Landscape Stewardship Certificate of Appreciation and this Citation.  The Foundation grants this recognition to honor private citizens and organizations that work to advance and sustain community-based stewardship on landscapes that include, in whole or in part, public lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

The Peregrine Fund has been working with a number of partners for over 20 years to restore the California Condor to Northern Arizona and Southern Utah in the vicinity of the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument and greater Grand Canyon region. 

Scott Florence, BLM’s Arizona Strip District Manager, in his nomination of the Peregrine Fund, stated, “It is safe to say that without the initiative of the Peregrine Fund, this project may have never happened.”

The California Condor, North America’s largest flying land bird, was nearly decimated with a population of only 22 condors by 1982.  The year 2008 marked a major milestone in Condor restoration. For the first time since 1987, more California Condors were flying in the wild than were being held in captivity for breeding purposes. 

In FY2008, there were 66 wild condors in Arizona, where the recovery project is focused, and more than a dozen awaiting release at the Vermilion Cliffs site. With huge effort by all partners under the leadership of The Peregrine Fund, a remarkable recovery is underway. 

Lead poisoning, from ingestion of spent ammunition is now the biggest threat to establishing a self-sustaining wild population.  In response to this threat, the Peregrine Fund has partnered with the Arizona Game and Fish Department and hunting organizations to offer hunters in northern Arizona a voluntary non-lead alternative to traditional ammunition in areas where they are restoring the California Condor. This same program is being expanded into Southern Utah this year.  The Arizona program has had a 90% voluntary compliance rate.

The Public Lands Foundation is pleased to present the Peregrine Fund with this Citation and a Certificate of Appreciation for invaluable contributions to the stewardship of America’s public landscapes.

/s/ Henri Bisson

___________________________                                                         September 15, 2010

Henri Bisson, President