EcoFlight

EcoFlight builds momentum for conservation and environmental justice initiatives across the Western US by providing educational flights in small aircraft to policymakers, Tribes, environmental advocates, and other stakeholders, inspiring inclusive, solutions-focused dialogue.

Flight is a platform to elevate conservation campaigns and underrepresented narratives, and to provide opportunities for stakeholders on all sides of an issue to build relationships in a unique and meaningful way through the shared experience of flight. Overflights provide a powerful communications and advocacy tool to build relationships, and create communications content such as photos, video and earned media to support science-based conservation missions.

EcoFlight has built strong partnerships with political leaders, Native Nations, and media publications to help advance protections for important rivers and public lands throughout the West, ensuring critical wildlife corridors remain unfragmented, safeguard against degradative and irresponsible extractive operations, protect key carbon storages to mitigate climate change, and educate the general public on the pressing environmental issues of today.

With over twenty years’ experience flying for conservation, EcoFlight strategically fills seats on the plane with key passengers, and groups traditionally underrepresented in environmental management including Native American Tribes, Latinx communities, and other marginalized groups.

From the seat of a small, single-engine airplane, passengers will see first-hand the scenic beauty of a watershed or a forest, and will gain a deeper understanding of how it connects to a larger web of life, or see how threats from energy development might impact the area and surrounding communities. Passengers will share the exciting and intimate experience of flying in a small airplane, seeing the landscape from the unique aerial perspective. It is from this shared experience and perspective, that passengers will find a commonality and a place from which to work together.

Flights are offered at no charge; EcoFlight is funded entirely by grants and donations.

As one of the only conservation aviation groups, EcoFlight's small and nimble team has a widespread reach. EcoFlight's professional pilots provide provocative, educational overflights of pressing land-scape based issues. The aerial perspective, along with EcoFlight's ability to unite diverse parties, creates a space for solutions-based dialogue in the cockpit, amplifies a diverse array of conservation campaign's. Having over twenty years of experience in conservation aviation, EcoFlight's strong relations with key stakeholders, political leaders, and our 400+ partner groups, and media publications helps advance key protections for public lands and critical waterways throughout the West.

It is imperative that a broad and diverse population is engaged in public lands and environmental management, to both demonstrate political support for good policies, and to ensure those policies are representative of the true population of the US. For just environmental policies and protections to stand the test of time, they must have buy-in and support from diverse stakeholders and constituencies from the outset. EcoFlight's overflight programs are an effective advocacy tool, used by conservation and environmental justice advocates to engage policy makers and collaborate with new allies and new perspectives. Flying together in a small airplane builds relationships, trust, and positive experiences, all of which are the foundations of long-term coalition-building and successful environmental outcomes. These foundations strengthen partnerships and shared values that lead to lasting support for good environmental policies, and put communities in better positions to defend landscapes, and ensure clean air and water.