Your Vote can Change the World.
Quarters for Conservation is an exciting initiative to greatly enhance our wildlife conservation work. Through the collection of quarters, we’ll provide funding for new and existing wildlife conservation projects. This program provides an opportunity to engage our staff and our community in the effort while also significantly expanding our contribution to wildlife conservation in our region and around the globe.
How it Works
- Funding is allocated to biodiversity conservation.
From the fees you pay to the Zoo, we will allocate the following amounts to conservation projects:
- $0.25 from each admission fee
- $2.50 from each family membership
- A portion of each education and animal program
- Learn about each project and vote for the project you'd like to fund.
On every visit, you'll receive a "quarter" token that enables you to vote for a conservation project that inspires you. Learn all you can about the six projects we’re supporting this year, because your vote can change the world. Your vote is important and helps us determine how much funding each project receives. Project information and the voting stations are the entry plaza near the admissions booth. Additional votes can be made with real quarters - 100% of any added contributions will go toward the voted project. Total contributions are calculated annually from May through April.
Projects that will receive 2010-2011 funding:
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Help Protect Wild African Vultures.
African vulture populations are in jeopardy. They are declining due to powerline collisions, poisoning from consuming medicated cattle carcasses and lack of adequate food. Vultures play a vital role in the environment by cleaning up carcasses and preventing the spread of disease. Quarters for Conservation supports The Vulture Programme’s field research, rehabilitation and release projects to safeguard a future for Cape Griffon Vultures.
Learn more at www.vultureconservation.co.za/. Discover how you can help save vultures and take action!
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Help Rescue Amphibians in Panama.
Frogs and salamanders are dying around the world. Habitat loss, pollution and the spread of chytrid fungus threaten almost half of all amphibian species. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is a founding partner of an international conservation effort to prevent amphibian extinctions in Eastern Panama. Funding from Quarters for Conservation supports efforts to rescue amphibians, develop a cure for chytrid and return vanishing amphibians to nature.
Learn more at www.amphibianrescue.org.
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Help Raise and Protect Wild African Penguins.
Black-footed penguins and other South African Coastal birds are threatened by commercial fishing, human disturbance and oils spills. The South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) works to protect and rehabilitate South Africa’s seabird populations. Quarters for Conservation funds will support their efforts to rescue, hand raise and release orphaned and abandoned chicks back into the wild.
Learn more at www.Sanccob.co.za
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Help Protect Wild Snow Leopards.
Poaching for wildlife trade and retaliatory killing by herders threaten snow leopards’ survival. The International Snow Leopard Trust (ISLT) has created innovative programs to help communities protect their livestock from snow leopards, provide alternative income and reduce unsustainable hunting of snow leopard prey. Funding from Quarters for Conservation will support ISLT’s grassroots efforts to develop and implement community snow leopard conservation plans.
Learn more at www.snowleopard.org.
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Help Save Wild Amur Leopards and Tigers.
Poaching for wildlife trade and habitat destruction are pushing Amur leopards and tigers toward extinction. The Amur Leopard and Tiger Alliance (ALTA) is working with local communities to protect the few remaining cats in the Russian Far East. Quarters for Conservation funding will support ALTA’s anti-poaching teams and livestock reimbursement program, helping ensure future generations of these endangered cats.
Learn more at www.amur-leopard.org.
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Help Wild Orangutans and Their Forest Habitat.
Clearing of forests in Borneo & Sumatra for exotic wood and palm oil plantations is continuing to devastate orangutan habitat. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is focusing on this issue and everyday ways people can help reduce the rainforest destruction. Funding from Quarters for Conservation supports our efforts to inform people with our Palm Oil Awareness campaign to help protect wild orangutans’ remaining habitat.
Learn more about the Palm Oil Crisis.
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Ongoing flagship conservation programs that will receive funding in 2010-2011:
- Black-footed ferret
- Wyoming toad
- Mountain tapir
- Mexican gray wolf
- African elephant
- Okapi
- Pawnee Skipper Montane butterfly
For more ideas about how you can make a difference in safeguarding our planet's wildlife and wildplaces, see the informative graphics about each project located throughout the Zoo. Maybe you and your family and friends will get inspired to take some conservation action to have a real impact. Thank you for caring!
Through Quarters for Conservation, you'll be directly
supporting critical conservation projects every time you visit the Zoo!
supporting critical conservation projects every time you visit the Zoo!
2009-2010 Quarters for Conservation Outcome
Since the beginning of the program in the spring of 2008, Quarters for Conservation has cultivated hundreds of thousands of dollars with guests voting one quarter at a time, that went to fund designated conservation programs both regionally and globally. The dollar amount collected for the just completed second year of the program, which runs annually May through April, is $102,709. Of this amount, 50% is designated for on-going flagship conservation programs at the Zoo. The other half is earmarked for the six Quarters for Conservation programs that guests have been voting on for the past 12 months. An additional $5,624 in specific donations was donated to the program aside from the voting kiosks, bringing the grand total of funding for the six 2009-2010 programs to $57,052.
Here’s how the money raised for the six Quarters for Conservation programs was distributed based upon your votes:
- Endangered Wild Orangutans and their forest habitat: $13,689
- Native Skippers in Colorado: $10,804
- Wild Andean Bears in Ecuador: $9,788
- Bats in Colorado and throughout North America: $8,669
- Amphibians in Panama: $7,305
- Wild African Vultures: $6,797
