Jeff Bezos and Fiancée Lauren Sánchez Are Donating $60M to Restore Land Across US

Paul Tudor Jones, Lauren Sánchez and Jeff Bezos pictured on Oct. 19. Yvonne Tnt/BFA.com

Billionaire Jeff Bezos is making progress on the decade-long climate pledge he first made in 2020. Alongside his fiancée Lauren Sánchez, the Amazon (AMZN) founder earlier this week unveiled a $60 million grant to help restore 1.6 million acres of land across the U.S. The donation comes from the Bezos Earth Fund, a climate commitment Bezos initially established in 2020 that is expected to dole out a total of $10 billion for environmental solutions by the end of this decade.

The grant will aid the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) as it protects and improves the management of land across grasslands in the nation’s Northern Great Plains and longleaf pine forests in the Southeast U.S. “America’s landscapes are treasures that reflect the very heart of our country,” said Bezos in a statement. “By restoring these grasslands and forests, we’re safeguarding their natural beauty for future generations.”

The Bezos Earth Fund has previously provided NFWF, the country’s largest conservation foundation, with $90 million in funding to restore some 2.7 million acres. Its new grant will build upon that to help 80 to 100 different local projects across more than a dozen U.S. states focused on supporting at-risk species and ecosystems throughout the next two years.

According to the billionaire’s philanthropic organization, these projects will range from boosting populations of black-footed ferrets and gopher tortoises, planting native trees and grasses, and prescribing burning in longleaf forests. “This new phase of work with NFWF will help bring life back to vital U.S. landscapes, said Sánchez, who serves as vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund, in a statement.

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