Conservation Resouces

Your Vote can Change the World.

Quarters for Conservation (Q4C) is an exciting initiative that greatly enhances 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 contributions to wildlife conservation in our region and around the globe. Every vote matters!


How Q4C Works:

  1. 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
    • $1.25 from each individual plus membership
    • $2.50 from each family or higher membership
    • A portion of each education and animal program

  2. Learn about each project and vote for the project(s) you'd like to fund.

    On every visit, you'll receive a "quarter" token. Use the token you receive, or your spare change, to show your support for the conservation projects that inspire you. Your vote helps determine how much funding each project will receive from Quarters for Conservation. Project information may be found below on this page, and on the voting stations. The voting stations are located inside the entry plaza, just past the admission 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.

  3. Want to do More?

    Throughout the zoo, you'll find signs that list more ways to support these conservation efforts. Below, there are online resources to learn more included with each project overview. Discover all you can about the six projects we're supporting this year and share the information with your family and friends. Thank you for joining our efforts, together we can change the world!

Share


Projects that will receive 2013-2014 Q4C funding:


Help Protect Amur Leopards & Tigers.

Amur tigers and leopards are two of the most endangered big cats on the planet. Poaching for wildlife trade and habitat loss are the main threats to both species. Tigers and leopards play an important role in maintaining healthy ecosystems and prey populations. Their natural habitat is home to more than 100 other endangered species. Protecting these cats also helps protect the important biodiversity in this area of the world. Quarters for Conservation supports Amur Leopard and Tiger Alliance’s (ALTA) efforts to reintroduce the Amur leopard while promoting co-existence between cats and humans in the Russian Far East.

Discover: Ways You Can Help
Learn more at the Zoo: Visit Asian Highlands
Learn more online: www.altaconservation.org

Help Rescue Frogs in Panama.

Up to half of all the world’s amphibian species are in danger of disappearing forever. A key cause of extinction is a fatal chytrid fungus spreading around the world. Chytrid travels quickly; in about five months it can wipe out 80% of all frogs and salamanders in its path. Chytrid is now spreading to the mountains of Eastern Panama. Up to 50 speicies in the his area are at grave risk of extinction as the fungus advances at more than 20 miles per year. Quarters for Conservation helps rescue and breed frog species at risk of extinction. It also supports research to find a cure for chytrid in the wild.

Discover: Ways You Can Help
Learn more at the Zoo: Visit the Aquatics Building
Learn more online: www.amphibianrescue.org

Help Raise and Protect Wild African Penguins.

Black-footed penguins and other South African coastal birds are threatened by commercial fishing, oil spills and human disturbance, including egg and guano collection. Penguin populations continue to decline as a result of these threats. In 2010, they were listed as an endangered species by the International Unions for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Quarters for Conservation supports the South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds’ (SANCCOB) efforts to rescue, hand raise and release orphaned and abandoned penguin chicks back into the wild.

Discover: Ways You Can Help
Learn more at the Zoo: Visit African penguins at the Aquatics Building, or check out Penguin Art
Learn more online: www.sanccob.co.za.

Help Protect Mexican Grey Wolf.

Wolves play an important role in keeping deer and elk populations at healthy levels. The Mexican grey wolf is the most endangered subspecies of wolf in the world due to past predator extermination programs. Through captive breeding, Mexican wolves are being brought back from the brink of extinction and released back into the wild in Arizona and New Mexico. Due to conflicts with cattle and other livestock operations, they face removal from the wild or are shot illegally, making their future very uncertain. Quarters for Conservation supports the Mexican Wolf Conservation Fund’s efforts to reduce livestock/wolf conflict by implementing non-lethal deterrents, funding a range rider program to monitor wolf packs.

Discover: Ways You Can Help
Learn more at the Zoo: Visit Wolf Woods in Rocky Mountain Wild
Learn more online: http://www.mexicanwolf.fws.gov

Help Protect Greenback Cutthroat Trout.

Colorado’s state fish is at risk. Less than four miles of Colorado Springs’ Bear Creek is home to the world’s only pure population of greenback cutthroat trout. Sediment from nearby trails and slopes erode and fill the creek, degrading the trout’s habitat and endangering the survival of this species. Quarters for Conservation funds supports the Rocky Mountain Field Institute’ s efforts to protect this last remaining population of greenback cutthroat trout and improve its limited habitat by removing damaging sediment, preventing erosion and restoring creekside vegetation.

Discover: Ways You Can Help
Learn more online: Rocky Mountain Field Institute - Bear Creek Watershed, Pikes Peak

Help Protect Wild Orangutans and Their Habitat.

Clearing of forests in Borneo and Sumatra for non-sustainable palm oil plantations and illegal logging is destroying orangutan habitat. When the forests are cut down, orangutans lose their homes and food. Unfortunately, many starve while others are orphaned, displaced or killed. Quarters for Conservation supports Cheyenne Mountain Zoo’s effort to lead a national sustainable palm oil awareness campaign to help protect wild orangutans’ remaining habitat.

Discover: Ways You Can Help
Learn more at the Zoo: Visit the Action Station in Primate World, or check out Orangutan Art
Learn more online: Palm Oil Crisis

 

Other ongoing flagship conservation programs that may receive funding:

For more ideas about how you can make a difference in safeguarding our planet's wildlife and wild places, 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!



Past Quarters for Conservation Project Summaries by Year

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. Discover below how this program has grown!

expand

2012-2013 Quarters for Conservation Project Summary

The dollar amount collected for the just completed fifth year of the program, which runs annually May through April, is $118,352. 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.

Here’s how the money raised for the six Quarters for Conservation programs was distributed based upon your votes:

  • African Elephants & Rhinos: $13,811 or 22%
  • African Penguins: $12,722 or 21%
  • Orangutan/Palm Oil: $11,622 or 20%
  • Panama Amphibians: $7,214 or 12%
  • African Vultures: $6,808 or 11%
  • Colorado Migratory Birds: $8,897 or 14%

Total distributed $61,077


expand

2011-2012 Quarters for Conservation Project Summary

The dollar amount collected for the just completed fourth year of the program, which runs annually May through April, is $130,500. 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.

Here’s how the money raised for the six Quarters for Conservation programs was distributed based upon your votes:

  • Amur Leopards/Tigers: $15,716 or 23%
  • African Penguins: $15,955 or 23%
  • Orangutan/Palm Oil: $10,018 or 15%
  • Panama Amphibians: $8,911 or 14%
  • African Vultures: $9,358 or 13%
  • Gibbons: $7,472 or 11%

Total distributed $67,430


expand

2010-2011 Quarters for Conservation Project Summary

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 third year of the program, which runs annually May through April, is $110,367.75. 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.

Here’s how the money raised for the six Quarters for Conservation programs was distributed based upon your votes:

  • To help save wild Amur leopards and tigers:  $9,070
  • To help protect wild African vultures:  $7,655
  • To help raise and protect wild African penguins:  $11,882
  • To help rescue frogs in Panama:  $8,422
  • To help protect endangered wild orangutans and their forest habitat:  $12,521
  • To help protect wild snow leopards:  $17,666

Total distributed $67,215


expand

2009-2010 Quarters for Conservation Project Summary

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

Total distributed $57,052


expand

2008-2009 Quarters for Conservation Project Summary

On April 30th, 2009, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo finished its exciting first year of the Quarters for Conservation program, which dedicates a portion of the fees you pay for Zoo admission, memberships and classes to wildlife conservation. That means every time you visited the Zoo this past year, you helped expand conservation efforts in our region and around the globe. Approximately $100,000 was raised through this program; 50% of which goes to support the Zoo’s ongoing conservation programs. Here’s how the remainder of the funds raised were distributed based upon your votes:

  • Endangered Snow Leopards in Central Asia: $14,212
  • African Lion Conservation in Kenya: $9,007
  • Wild Orangutan Survival in Borneo: $8,980
  • Endangered Colorado Butterflies: $8,256
  • Andean Bear Conservation in Ecuador: $7,230
  • Mantella Frog Conservation in Madagascar: $6,148

Total distributed $53,833



These projects are putting these significant funds to work to save species in peril of extinction.
Thank you for making this possible for the future of wildlife and wild places.

Every Vote Matters.