LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
The year 2004 marks the 13th anniversary for Sierra Biodiversity Institute. We started in 1991 as a non-profit scientific organization providing mapping and analysis expertise in support of federal legislation to protect biodiversity, old-growth forests, and roadless lands in the Sierra Nevada. Our clients and supporters were national conservation organizations, foundations and corporations: National Audubon Society, Sun Microsystems, Inc., ERDAS Inc., Environmental Systems Research Institute, The Wilderness Society, Sierra Club, Patagonia Inc., and Western Ancient Forest Campaign, among others. In 1992-1994, at the request of several US House of Representatives Committee Chairmen, we co-authored a report to Congress on recommended interim management for national forests east of the Cascade Crest in Oregon and Washington. Supported by the W. Alton Jones and Bullitt Foundations and the Pew Memorial Trusts, we worked as a team with the Ecological Society of America, American Ornithologists Union, The Wildlife Society, Society for Conservation Biology and the American Fisheries Society. In 1995-96, under contract with the office of the President, University of California, we supervised and managed the GIS team for the Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project. In 1996-97, under contract with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, we worked on three missions to India over two years. Based in Dehra-Dun we provided advanced training and technical support to the Wildlife Institute of India (analogous to the US Fish and Wildlife Service). From 1998-99 we served as principle GIS consultants to the US Forest Service Sierra Nevada Framework planning project. The US Forest Service remains our largest client today.
SBI's clients and funders have changed over time. SBI began with primarily foundation support providing technical assistance and scientific guidance to local, regional and national conservation organizations. Today, our primary clients and cooperators are federal agencies, county governments, and private third party firms that share our basic goals of public interest application of GIS technology and science to conservation at all scales, local, regional and global.
Looking to the future, SBI will extend its cooperative programs to encompass new organizations and regions, with a major new focus on the geography of air pollution in the US--and its serious consequences for human health.
Eric Beckwitt
