2 Top Ecology Groups Combine Forces

Two of the nation’s leading conservation organizations Tuesday put into effect a major restructuring of top management under interlocking boards as a first step toward consolidating their policies and projects.

The affiliation of the World Wildlife Fund-U.S. and the Conservation Foundation stopped short of a full merger, but the practical effect was described as the same. Together, the organizations have an annual budget of $16 million.

Russell E. Train, who has been president of World Wildlife Fund-U.S., became chairman of the boards of both organizations. William K. Reilly, who has been president of the Conservation Foundation, became president of both groups. Each group’s directors now have seats on both boards. All management, fund-raising and other operations will be combined in a single headquarters in Washington.

Range of Expertise

Train and Reilly described the reorganization as an attempt to bring each group’s specialties to bear on complex environmental issues requiring a broad range of expertise. In addition, both groups expect to enter into joint ventures overseas as equal partners.

At the same time, the organizations will continue to pursue some separate projects.

The Conservation Foundation is primarily an environmental policy studies group dealing with U.S. domestic issues. The World Wildlife Foundation-U.S. emphasizes international projects to preserve plant and animal life.

“Neither organization needed to affiliate in the sense of having to do so lest it founder financially,” Reilly said in a telephone interview. “These are vigorous, successful organizations that believe they can be more effective if they are able to draw on the skills of the other’s staff.”

Called a Natural Fit

Train, in a separate interview, said, “The fit is very natural. . . . We have long felt the need for more involvement in U.S. domestic issues and, likewise, in terms of our programs and projects abroad we have strongly felt the need for the kind of social scientist expertise that the Conservation Foundation provides.”

The consolidation comes at a time when environmental leaders from other organizations are increasingly discussing the need to avoid duplicating efforts. Earlier this year, Sierra Club Executive Director Douglas Wheeler called for the nation’s leading environmental groups to concentrate their energies in the areas in which they are strongest.

But although there have been joint meetings to map strategy for specific environmental objectives--such as support for extending the federal Superfund program to clean up toxic waste sites--the Conservation Fund and the World Wildlife Fund-U.S. are the first major groups to integrate their efforts.

Source of Funds

Both the 175,000-member World Wildlife Fund-U.S., with an annual budget of $12 million, and the Conservation Foundation, with a $4 million budget, receive substantial sums from major foundations and corporations. (The Conservation Foundation is not a membership organization.) In addition, the World Wildlife Fund-U.S. said 70% of its budget is raised from individual contributions.

The World Wildlife Fund was founded in 1961 and has 23 national organizations. Prince Philip of Great Britain is president of the World Wildlife Federation-International. The Conservation Foundation, a nonprofit environmental research organization, was founded in 1948 and is known for its authoritative and widely quoted reports on the state of the environment, including studies of toxic substances and water resources.