Press

January 29, 2001

Internet Users Click to Protect Rare Scotland Habitat with Europe's Largest Conservation Organization, and Develop Blight-Resistant American Chestnut Trees in Eastern U.S.

Ann Arbor, MI (January 29, 2001) - EcologyFund.com (http://www.EcologyFund.com), a leading click-to-donate Web site, has announced the addition of two projects, one in Scotland and one in Eastern United States, and a new, faster site design. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has partnered with EcologyFund to present their project to purchase adjacent land to the existing 21,000 acre Forsinard blanket bog nature preserve in the Flow Country of Caithness and Sutherland, in northern Scotland. The active blanket bog peatlands are globally rare and extremely vital to numerous 'red listed' birds including the golden plover, dunlin, and merlin. The American Chestnut Foundation (TACF) is a non-profit organization that has been working for the past 16 years to breed a blight resistant American chestnut tree. The foundation hopes to make a real impact on the future by returning groves of this majestic tree to eastern U.S. forests within the next 10-15 years. Both projects are displayed on the newly designed EcologyFund Web site, where Internet users can make a free donation of near 2000 square feet everyday.

Non-profit partners of EcologyFund list their projects on the innovative site that will celebrate its year anniversary on February 14, 2001. Users of the site who wish to make a free donation to any or all of the seven projects on EcologyFund simply click on the free donation buttons. Those who click on the Scotland project will donate 4 square feet of land. Those wishing to donate to save the American chestnut tree will follow links to sponsor sites thus earning the funds on behalf of the TACF to plant chestnut seedlings.

"These are exciting times at EcologyFund," EcologyFund founder Tim Kunin says, "We're proud to be working with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the American Chestnut Foundation. Though their efforts are specifically very different, they are both working to preserve irreplaceable resources that we will need for our global eco-system to stay healthy and vital for centuries to come."

About The Scotland Project
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (www.rspb.org.uk) operates over 140 nature reserves and is Europe's largest conservation organization. EcologyFund is funding the expansion of the Forsinard blanket bog preserve in order to protect and rejuvenate a very rare habitat that is important to several UK bird populations. Active blanket bog is a globally rare habitat for which the UK holds an international responsibility. Blanket bog is recognized as a priority habitat for nature conservation action under European law (EC Habitats Directive) and a number of worldwide environmental conventions.

About the American Chestnut Foundation
To make the return of the majestic American chestnut a reality, a group of prominent scientists established The American Chestnut Foundation in 1983 as a non-profit organization. The mission to restore the American chestnut as an integral part of the eastern forest ecosystem. Many animals use the trees as a source for food and shelter. Although it is expected that the entire breeding project will take 30-50 years, within 10 - 15 years the foundation expects to have the first line of highly blight resistant trees, which are on average fifteen-sixteenths American chestnut and one-sixteenth Chinese chestnut.

About EcologyFund
February 14, 2001 marks the one-year anniversary of EcologyFund.com. Over 100,000 visitors per month use EcologyFund to view Internet ad banners and make land donations. Since it's launch, users of the popular site have enabled the purchase of over 4,500 acres of threatened wilderness in the US, Canada, Mexico, Africa, Amazon Basin, Patagonia and Scotland. Currently, the Rainforest Trust and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds based in the U.K., the Wilderness Land Trust, The Wildlands Project, The Cascades Conservation Partnership, American Chestnut Foundation and Kentucky Natural Lands Trust based in the U.S., Pronatura of Mexico, the Nature Conservancy of Canada, and Fondo per la Terra of Italy are official partners of EcologyFund and have projects benefiting from the site.

Visitors to EcologyFund raise funds for land trusts by clicking on a "donate" button to see ad banners from site sponsors. The sponsors pay a per-view fee each month to the individual non-profit land preservation groups. One hundred percent of the sponsors' payments go to EcologyFund's non-profit partners. Each visitor currently can save 214 square feet of rainforest and wilderness land a day at no cost by clicking the donate buttons. The new design of EcologyFund, when paired with the recently upgraded server, makes the site easier to navigate and makes donations much quicker and easier.

EcologyFund is proud to currently have nine site sponsors: Novica, CharityMall, FinePrint.com, Caf� Canopy, Yacumama Lodge, Regis Corporation, University of Leeds, Red Jellyfish.com, and Wine Accents. The Environment News Service is an official partner of EcologyFund.com.

EcologyFund.com founder Tim Kunin is available for interviews: [email protected] or 781-461-6161.