Southwest Crescent

From the high plateaus of Utah’s Uinta Mountains through the Greater Grand Canyon ecoregion to the Sky Islands of the borderlands, the Southwest Crescent is an 850-mile-long megalinkage of connected wildlife habitat in Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona and the Mexican states of Sonora and Chihuahua. The ecosystems of the Southwest Crescent are diverse, remote, and full of life. In its northern reaches, wildlife as varied as moose, pikas, and snowshoe hares roam forested mountains, while jaguars, prairie dogs, and Mexican wolves call the southern reaches home. The landscape includes globally significant, iconic places like the Transboundary Sky Islands, the Greater Gila Ecosystem, and the Grand Canyon. 

The equally diverse human communities of the Southwest Crescent cross international and cultural boundaries. Our strategies to enhance the protection and resilience of the Southwest Crescent are necessarily varied and in the context of place. We support diverse organizations and programs working closely with the constituencies they represent, collaborate with, or serve.

Our grantmaking strategies in the Southwest Crescent focus on the following places: 

• The National Forests in Utah
• The Greater Grand Canyon Ecoregion
• The Greater Gila Ecoregion
• The Transboundary Sky Islands 

Priorities:

• Remove or mitigate threats to ecosystem resilience throughout the Southwest Crescent.
• Advance permanent protection of prioritized landscapes.
• Ensure wildlife management policies are based on the best available science.
• Support people working together to protect the Southwest Crescent’s ecosystems and human communities.
• Protect and restore transboundary connectivity in the borderlands.