CHICAGO -- The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has granted The Field Museum $5 million to strengthen and broaden the Museum's work in conservation. The MacArthur Foundation's generous grant is a testament to the Museum's successful track record of working with the Foundation to study biodiversity and put that knowledge into action on behalf of the environment.

"With this grant, the MacArthur Foundation is supporting both an important Chicago cultural institution and a global conservation leader," said MacArthur President Jonathan Fanton. "Known locally for its public exhibitions, The Field Museum conducts biodiversity conservation work around the world, helping to discover new species and create new national parks. We are pleased to support and help build this outstanding local and international institution."

Together with the MacArthur Foundation, The Field Museum has helped create 25,000 square miles of new national parks and protected regions in Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia, discover over 150 new species of plants and animals, train more than 15,000 students, scientists, land managers and non-governmental organization leaders in conservation science, and implement new models for conservation action that empower local people to become active stewards of their own natural and cultural resources. The Foundation and Museum are currently working together in four biodiversity hotspots in six countries.

Eighty percent of the MacArthur grant will support two scientific positions in the Museum's Environment, Culture and Conservation (ECCo) Division one position in conservation ecology and the other in community outreach. The remainder of the funds will be used to support Dr. Steven Goodman, a Field Museum Biologist and one of the world's premier experts on Madagascar's diverse and understudied biodiversity.

Created in 1996, ECCo's strength lies in its nontraditional approach to conservation that trans
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Contact: Greg Borzo
gborzo@fieldmuseum.org
312-665-7106
Field Museum
14-Sep-2006