Wildearth Guardians

“A draft of the 990 is sent electroncially to all board members for their review. Comments and corrections are strongly encouraged. In addition, the associate director and accountant review the draft in detail and discuss as required with the preparer.”

“In addition to requiring board members, staff and regular contractors to proactively notify the full board of any conflicts, all board members, staff, and regular contractors must sign an annual form which a) affirms that they have received a copy of the policy; b) read and understood it; c) agreed to comply with the policy; d) understood that wildearth guardians is a charitable organization and must engage in activities which accomplish one or more of its tax-exempt purposes; and e) list all relationships with wildearth guardians' vendors, service recipients, funders, employees and contractors. All potential conflicts are reviewed by the board of directors without the presence of the interested party.”

“The board of directors reviews and approves the executive director's annual salary, with no participation by the executive director or other interested persons. The executive director's salary is established using comparable data for similarly qualified persons in functionally comparable positions at similar nonprofits; consideration of roles and responsibilities of the executive director; and cost of living data. Comparable market data is obtained from salary surveys and form 990's filed by comparable not-for profit organizations. Discussions and decisions regarding the compensation are documented in executive committee minutes. The executive director also receives reimbursements for routine, reasonable, and documented expenses incurred during the year under an accountable plan. The executive director travels throughout our service area. The organization has a travel policy that caps reimbursement levels and requires low-budget travel.”

“A line item budget is approved by the board of directors annually. The board approves the overall salaries and benfits expenses. Discussions and decisions regarding the budget are documented in board meeting minutes. The executive director reviews and approves the salaries of other officers or key employees, with no participation by the interested persons, in accordance with with the annual budget approved by the board of directors. The executive director establishes salaries using comparable for similarly qualified persons in functionally comparable positions at similar nonprofits; consideration of roles and responsibilities of the officer or key employee; and cost of living data. Comparable market data is obtained from salary surveys and form 990's filed by comparable not-for-profit organizations. Jordan parry is listed as an officer due to form 990 definitions as the senior financial staff person; she is not an officer under state law.”

“We consider requests on a case-by-case basis.”

“Summary of accomplishments in 2022, guardians led transformative work in rewilding and decolonizing the american west. The wins we secured for climate sanity, biodiversity, and wildness at large came both in incremental steps and massive strides. Underlying them all is guardians' audacious spirit. We take on the campaigns that everyone knows are necessary but not many have the gumption to tackle-much less advance and win. In climate, our unrelenting legal advocacy saved 4 million acres of public lands from extraction and kept countless amounts of carbon in the ground. Our legal advocacy and mobilization of people is enabling the interior department to think more boldly about its climate responsibilities. Organization-wide, we mobilized 180,690 people to press for similar successes in all our work. We secured the first-ever statewide, public lands grazing permit retirement bill introduced in congress and passed out of a key senate committee. This bill is a politically pragmatic, socially just, and ecologically urgent way to address the need for fundamental change on policy that affects public lands, endangered species, and rural communities. In 2022, we challenged the outrageous brutality of wolf-killing plans in montana in state court. That lawsuit won a temporary reprieve for yellowstone's and montana's wolves for 13 days when a state judge issued an order that halted hunting and snaring of wolves in key areas. Sadly, it was only temporary. But the case is still alive, and we'll continue the campaign in 2023 and likely beyond. Winning comes in all shapes, sizes, and timeframes. Winning the guardians way also requires accepting that big, bold change means taking risks-and sometimes more than our share of thumps. We're not daunted. We're in it for the long run. Persistence pays off. Our numbers prove it. Keep it in the ground we're challenging the most powerful industry in the world-and we're winning. Our legal advocacy is shutting down oil and gas. Our mid-year win-a critical milestone and the largest legal settlement affecting fossil fuels on public lands in the history of the interior department-requires the bureau of land management to fully account for the carbon footprint of fossil fuel drilling on public lands and puts wind at the back of the biden administration's moratorium on oil and gas leasing. We're halting production in places like greater chaco, stopping the rosebud coal mine expansion, and challenging every lease, every permit, every pollutant. Every win against fossil fuels matters. Revealing the true cost of fossil fuels drives up leasing costs, so renewable energy is more attractive to investors. Trees of life no carbon-capture technology can hold a candle to mature and old-growth trees and forests. They're crucial to climate sanity. Recent research showed that trees larger than 21 inches in diameter make up about 3% of forests east of the cascades but store about 42% of the carbon. These biodiversity overachievers also contribute to water quality, fire resilience and healthy ecosystems, which is why the u.s. Forest service's decision to weaken protections of these climate forests cannot stand. We're in court to stop the logging of ancient pines in national forests and to reinstate the 21-inch rule protecting trees in eastern oregon and washington. President biden's earth day 2022 executive order to protect ancient forests gives us a legal toehold to curtail "cut-and-run" culture and instate protections nationwide. Let it flow you can't eat money and you can't drink the paper water rights are printed on. Which is why the whitney creek dam project is absurd. In 2022, the bureau of reclamation announced the first ever water shortage in the colorado river to meet existing demands. Still, aurora and colorado springs are proposing a dam to divert water the colorado river doesn't have to give to front range cities. We're fighting this and all proposals that violate our rivers advocacy motto: no new dams or diversio”