Greetings

Welcome to the Images for Conservation Fund Newsletter! Since this is our first issue, we begin with some introductory remarks about ICF and recap the top stories of the past year.

Who Are We?

Images for Conservation Fund (ICF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization committed to wildlife habitat conservation through sustainable development using the power of nature photography.

What Does That Mean?

ICF is organizing and promoting the Nature Photo Tourism Industry, where private landowners lease photographic settings on their land to amateur and professional nature photographers. This benefits landowners with a sustainable wildlife-based revenue source, and benefits nature photographers with unprecedented access to private land and top quality photographic facilities.

Most importantly, this industry benefits wildlife by making habitat conservation a financially viable use of land.

The potential is truly significant. According to U.S. Fish & Wildlife, there are about 14,000,000 Americans who hunt and who spend a total of $625,000,000 per year on leasing private land. U.S. Fish & Wildlife also estimates that there are 26,000,000 people in America who photograph wildlife each year. That's almost twice the market potential. And in many cases, nature photography can compliment an existing hunting program by using the months outside of hunting season.

We are promoting this industry by educating landowners, marketing to photographers, and producing nature photo competitions, including the world�s first Pro-Tour of Nature Photography. Like the PGA Masters of golf, the Pro-Tour is a traveling championship event series that brings together some of the top professionals in the world. Each of the photographers will be teamed up with a major landowner in the Pro-Tour�s featured region, and the photographer-landowner teams will compete for significant cash prizes.

Charter Sponsors of the Pro-Tour
Our sincere gratitude goes to the following corporations and individuals for enabling us to produce the world's first Pro-Tour of Nature Photography. Thank you.

AEP Texas www.aeptexas.com
Lower Colorado River Autority (LCRA) www.lcra.org
The Loring Cook Foundation
Copy Zone www.copyzone.net
John & Audrey Martin
Howard & Millicent Mason
George & Claire Vaughan
Roger Zessin

Pro-Tour Charter Sponsorships begin at only $1,000 and have some great benefits. Become a Charter Sponsor today! Call John Martin or Sam Mason at (956) 381-1264

Endorsements

Thanks to the following organizations for their endorsement of the Pro-Tour and ICF's conservation goals (visit www.imagesforconservation.org for a copy of each endorsement):

* The Conservation Fund
* Conservation International
* Environmental Defense
* The Nature Conservancy
* North American Nature Photography Association
* Texas Parks & Wildlife
* Texas Travel Industry Association
* Texas Wildlife Association
* Wildlife Habitat Council

Publicity and Fundraising

The two key elements for the Pro-Tour's success are publicity and fundraising. We have received coverage in PhotoMedia, Texas Monthly, Texas Co-op Power and Texas Parks & Wildlife magazines, Austin National Public Radio (KUT), the Hill Country Sun newspaper, the Environmental Defense newsletter, and The Nature Conservancy of Texas' website. We are grateful for the publicity we have received already, but much more is needed to bring fundraising success. Our Executive Summary and full Media Kit are now available on the ICF homepage: www.imagesforconservation.org
* If you or someone you know can help with Pro-Tour publicity or fundraising, please contact Sam Mason today at (956) 381-1264.

Charter Membership
You now have an opportunity to make a powerful and lasting impact on wildlife conservation in North America. From now until April 1, 2006, ICF is offering Charter Memberships for only $100. As a Charter Member, you will be a founder of the Pro-Tour and the Nature Photo Tourism Industry. Visit www.imagesforconservation.org/support.html for details, or call us at (956) 381-1264.

ICF MEMBERS IN THE NEWS

Daniel J. Cox Photos in National Geographic Magazine
Congratulations to Pro-Tour photographer Daniel J. Cox, who has several photos, including the cover (shown here), in the February 2005 issue of National Geographic. This is his second cover photo for the venerable magazine, which has a circulation of over 5 million! For more info about Dan Cox, visit: www.naturalexposures.com (Dan Cox photo by Jim Mahoney)


Rolf Nussbaumer Wins Valley Land Fund Contest
Pro-Tour Photographer Rolf Nussbaumer won First Grand Prize in the 2004 Valley Land Fund Wildlife Photo Contest, becoming the only person in history to win it twice (he also won the contest in 2002). Even more amazing is that this Swiss-born talent had never photographed Texas wildlife before 2002! His photos and other award-winners can be seen at: www.valleylandfund.com www.valleylandfund.com and Rolf's website is www.rolfnussbaumer.com (Photo by Ruth Hoyt)


Pro-Tour Photographers in Outdoor Photographer Magazine
Pro-Tour photographers Dave Welling and George Lepp are frequent contributors to Outdoor Photographer magazine. Mr. Welling authored an article on nature photo competitions, including the Pro-Tour. Look for Mr. Lepp�s "Tech Tips" column.

Outdoor Photographer: www.outdoorphotographer.com
Dave Welling: www.agpix.com/davewelling
Geroge Lepp: www.leppphoto.com

ICF Youth Director Wins BBC Photo Contest
Gabby Salazar, Youth Director on the ICF Board, earned the coveted title of �BBC Young Photographer of the Year 2004.� Gabby, 17, won the world-renowned competition with this photo of a Green Anole taken in Weslaco, Texas. (Gabby Salazar photo by Paul Salazar)




OTHER ICF NEWS


Pro-Tour Receives 95 Landowner Applicants
Major landowners of the Texas Hill Country demonstrated outstanding interest and support for the 2006 Pro-Tour event. In fact, a total of 95 landowners applied to participate! Altogether, they represent more than 274,000 acres in 17 of the 19 eligible counties, each ranch having 500 or more acres of wildlife habitat. �The ICF Board and Staff are delighted at this enthusiatic response,� said John Martin, ICF Chairman. �It shows how many Hill Country landowners are inspired and motivated by photography for conservation and want to be a part of it.� With the help of the Nature Conservancy and Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, ICF will select 20 landowners to participate in the 2006 Pro-Tour. The 20 finalists will be announced by August 15, 2005. In the future, ICF will also produce photo competitions that are open to all landowners and photographers. (Photo by Larry Ditto)


2006 Pro-Tour on Track for Success
The inaugural Pro-Tour of Nature Photography is coming to the Texas Hill Country in April 2006. It promises to be a resounding success, with 20 highly accomplished nature photographers, 20 major landowners, and three world-class nature judges. The Pro-Tour judges are: Rosamund Kidman Cox, longtime editor of BBC Wildlife magazine; Stephen B. Freligh, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Nature's Best magazine (www.naturesbestmagazine.com); and world-renowned nature photographer Art Wolfe

The Pro-Tour will be a landmark event to promote sustainable conservation incentives through nature photo tourism. For more information, including biographies on photographers and judges, visit www.imagesforconservation.org/protour.html


Images for Conservation Fund
Leadership

From left: Bob Petersen, Vice-Chair; Katharine Armstrong, Director; John F. Martin, Chairman. Photo by Sam Mason

ICF has assembled an outstanding Board of Directors and Hill Country Advisory Board. For portraits and biographies of Board, Advisory Board and Staff members, visit: www.imagesforconservation.org/abouticf.html

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
CHAIR, John F. Martin -- Financial Planner (Retired), A.G. Edwards & Sons
VICE-CHAIR, Bob Petersen -- Dell Executive (Retired); Hill Country Ranch Owner
VICE-CHAIR, Connie Bransilver -- Nature Photographer
SECRETARY & TREASURER, Carol Rausch -- Assistant to the President, U.T. Pan American
Katharine Armstrong -- Former Chair, Texas Parks & Wildlife Commission
Thomas D. Koeneke -- Partner & Attorney-at-law, Ellis, Koeneke & Ramirez, L.L.P.
Edward H. Mu�oz -- Principal, Mu�oz Investment Banking Group
Dr. Miguel A. Nev�rez -- President (Retired), University of Texas Pan American
Roberto Zambrano -- Director, CEMEX; Chairman, Pronatura Noreste
Roger A. Zessin -- Senior Vice-President, A.G. Edwards & Sons
YOUTH DIRECTOR, Gabby Salazar -- Student, Guilford College; Nature Photographer

ADVISORY BOARD
CHAIR, Bob Petersen -- Dell Executive (Retired); Texas Ranch Owner
Katharine Armstrong -- Former Chair, Texas Parks & Wildlife Commission
Dayna B. Cartwright -- Editor & Publisher, Texas Hill Country TravelHost
David Barr Dunham -- Associate Publisher, Texas Monthly
Larry A. Jones -- Corporate Communications, AEP Texas
Dr. Wallace Klussmann -- Director (Retired), Texas A & M Wildlife & Fisheries
David K. Langford -- Former CEO, Texas Wildlife Association
Stan Meador -- Co-owner and Tourism Director, X Bar Ranch Nature Retreat
Shelly Plante -- Nature Tourism Coordinator, Texas Parks & Wildlife Department
Melinda Taylor -- Ecosystems Program Manager, Environmental Defense
Claire Vaughan -- Texas landowner; San Antonio Committee Chair

STAFF
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, Sam Mason
CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP, Herm Wille

Thank you for reading. Feel free to call, write, and get involved!

Sincerely,

Sam Mason
Executive Director
Images for Conservation Fund
[email protected]
(956) 381-1264

August 1, 2005