The Frontera Land Alliance
JULY 2020 UPDATE

Latino Conservation Week was a new experience this year. Due to the pandemic, the Frontera Land Alliance participated by streaming live videos to having the public call in through Facebook to ask an expert a question.

We continue working with the City of El Paso on the conservation easement for what’s known as the Knapp Land located on the eastern slope of the Franklin Mountains in Northeast El Paso. The City of El Paso used open space funds from the 2012 quality of life bond to purchase the land from the family who had owned it for generations. By selecting a nonprofit land trust like the Frontera Land Alliance to hold the conservation easement on the land in perpetuity.

Gifts and grants from individuals, companies, foundations, and other organizations are always necessary to Frontera’s survival and much appreciated by our staff and the Board of Directors. With all of the challenges we have faced over the last few months, the impact of these gifts and grants has been greater than ever. Below is a list of the major grants we have received over the last twelve months. Thank you to these wonderful supporters!

Baker Glass and Jobe Materials have both extended their long-time sponsorship of the Frontera Land Alliance. Baker Glass has been El Paso’s locally-owned choice for auto, home, and business glass for almost 100 years. Jobe Materials L.P. has supplied ready-mixed concrete, construction aggregates, asphalt, precast/prestressed concrete products, concrete girders, transloading services, and landscaping materials for the west Texas and southern New Mexico region for more than 35 years.

The Discover El Paso Association supported Frontera and its Nature Discovery programs. Discover El Paso is a local nonprofit group dedicated to promoting El Paso, TX and highlighting interesting things. Both the Board of Directors of Discover El Paso and the Board of Directors of Frontera strongly believe that the more time people spend exploring and moving in our natural world, the better will be the health and quality of life that they’ll enjoy. Also, the more El Pasoans feel connected to nature, the more likely it is that they will become advocates for the land in which they live.

The El Paso Chihuahuas are working with Frontera to shoot short videos that will help describe our important work. Once complete, these informative videos will be highlighted on the Frontera website (www.fronteralandalliance.org) and shared with all Texans and New Mexicans who want to learn more about conserving their lands. The El Paso Chihuahuas are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres owned by the Mountain Star Sports Group, led by Josh Hunt (Chairman of the Board) and Alan Ledford (President.)

The El Paso Community Foundation continues to generously support Frontera and our programs from funding our conservation efforts and educational outreach to providing general operating and expert advice. The El Paso Community Foundation also manages a permanent endowed fund for the benefit of the Frontera Land Alliance. To make a gift specifically to our endowment, visit their website below:

The El Paso Electric Company has granted funds for the Frontera Nature Discovery Program! El Paso Electric has been one of Frontera’s best champions over the last five years, providing leadership gifts, arranging volunteer clean-ups and creating habitat for burrowing owls at the Wakeem/Teschner Nature Preserve of Resler Canyon. Jessica Christianson, Director of Sustainability at El Paso Electric, currently serves on Frontera’s Lands Committee.

The Hervey Foundation has contributed funds towards Frontera’s educational partnership with Coronado High School’s Project-Based Inquiry program. The partnership provides 200 ninth-grade students with hands-on learning regarding the local outdoor environment, and seeks to build a stronger understanding of nature, science, the community, and natural areas surrounding us. The program also focuses on the movement to make Castner Range a national monument. The Hervey Foundation was established by Fred Hervey, who served as Mayor of El Paso from 1951 to 1955.

The Land Trust Alliance, a national land conservation organization that represents more than 1,000 member land trusts (including the Frontera Land Alliance) and their 4.6 million supporters nationwide, is supporting Frontera in our efforts to grow our estate-planning program. This year’s grant will enable Frontera to design and print its first-ever estate-planning packet and offer its Board members and volunteers financial training. A public estate-planning workshop directed toward landowners, philanthropists, and others interested in preserving lands in West Texas and Southern New Mexico forever was originally planned for this fall, but is being moved to 2021 because of Covid-19. Watch your email for an invitation. The ScottHulse Law Firm, and especially Glenn Davis and Lauren Serrano from its Estate Planning, Probate & Asset Protection Division, have also kindly agreed to lend their time and expertise to this important endeavor.

The Wilma D. Moleen Foundation has generously supported Frontera’s mission and vision once again this year with a major grant toward our operations through JP Morgan Chase. Wilma Donahue Moleen was born September 25, 1925 in El Paso, Texas and lived in the city for more than 70 years. 

Mosaic has made an initial gift to the Frontera Land Alliance in support of our technological infrastructure. During this time of social distancing, the ability to communicate with our stakeholders in in new ways has been more dependent than ever on the technology our staff employs. Thankfully, Mosaic, an organization that works to amplify the power of the environmental field by bolstering the critical infrastructure that all movements need to succeed, has put its efforts behind Frontera. 

The Frontera Land Alliance participated in the Paso del Norte Community Foundation’s Annual Giving Day in November 2019, earning an $800 matching gift from Walmart. This gift was triggered by an anonymous “Giving Day” donation of $10,000 channeled through the El Paso Community Foundation.

Texan by Nature has recognized Frontera’s first conservation easement, the Wakeem/Teschner Nature Preserve at Resler Canyon, as an official TxN Certified Project. This certification acknowledges that the Wakeem/Teschner Nature Preserve provides meaningful conservation efforts involving and benefitting people, prosperity, and natural resources. In 2011, Mrs. Laura Bush founded Texan by Nature to unite conservation and business leaders who believe our state’s prosperity is dependent on the conservation of our natural resources.

The Texas Land Trust Council has agreed to help cover some of the transaction expenses the Frontera Land Alliance will incur as it works to place a permanent conservation easement on the Knapp Land in El Paso’s Franklin Mountains. The Texas Land Trust Council is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that builds and supports a strong, active coalition of more than 30 organizations (including the Frontera Land Alliance) working to conserve the lands and waters of Texas.

The Troller Fund at the El Paso Community Foundation has granted funds in support of the Frontera Nature Discovery Program. Over the last year, over 8,000 youth, adults, and seniors have participated in educational sessions, hikes, and other field programs through the Nature Discovery Program. The Troller Fund, a donor advised fund, was created by the family of aerospace engineer Theodore Troller, who was instrumental in developing the model block construction one-piece vaneaxial fan used in most commercial and military aircraft from 1946 to 1960.

The Frontera Land Alliance has received an unrestricted gift from the United Way of El Paso County through its workplace giving program. 

And to top it all off, Frontera received—in May—a $5,000 anonymous matching donation which invited Frontera’s individual supporters to contribute enough to equal the donated total. And by the beginning of June the matching funds were raised!

If you shop with Amazon, don’t forget to use AmazonSmile so that each time you shop you can help Frontera conserve water, wildlife and working lands as well as natural open areas. It is a very simple program to participate in, and it will not cost you a dime. Amazon will donate part of their profit on that purchase to Frontera. 

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