Maine, to which BCI’s founder has family ties dating back to childhood, has a special place in the history of the American environmental movement. Three portions of Maine have drawn the particular attention of conservationists, and BCI’s own funding priorities in the state reflect that long tradition. One focal area is the rugged Maine coast, where donations by wealthy landowners were instrumental in creating Acadia National Park in 1916. The second is the North Woods, a vast and sparsely populated expanse of forests, mountains, lakes and rivers that has attracted outdoor recreationists since the 1800s and is home to Baxter State Park, one of the most pristine protected areas in the eastern United States.  The third is the Cobscook Bay region, encompassing a long beautiful multifaceted shoreline with numerous islands and various rivers and streams.  It's located in easternmost Maine.

BCI’s dedication to the conservation of sensitive areas of South Carolina and Georgia has grown out of the founder’s longstanding love of kayaking the rivers and coastal waters of these neighboring southeastern states. The pristine blackwater rivers of the Lowcountry are part of a rich and unique ecosystem, flowing through deciduous hardwood forests of bald cypress and tupelo gum before reaching a coastal landscape of salt-marsh estuaries and barrier islands. In South Carolina particularly, projects supported by BCI have taken advantage of a distinctive local tradition of conservation activity, rooted in the support of many large private landowners and sporting enthusiasts.

Patagonia is one of the world’s last and most celebrated wild places, embracing an extraordinary variety of landscapes including snow-capped volcanoes, lush temperate rainforests, vast open steppes, turquoise rivers and lakes, and glaciers and icefields. For more than a decade BCI has supported a large number of land conservation and wildlife and habitat-protection initiatives in both Chile and Argentina. Increasingly its focus is on the expansion of existing publicly owned preserves and the creation of private ones that can be donated to the host governments for management as national parks—the gold standard of conservation.

Offering spectacular opportunities for outdoor recreation such as kayaking, beloved by BCI’s founder, the vast wilderness of British Columbia and Alaska also presents a special challenge for conservationists. While seemingly pristine, natural treasures such as the temperate rainforests, abundant wildlife, and legendary salmon runs are under constant threat from extractive industries including logging, mining, and oil and gas extraction. BCI has concentrated its funding in this legacy geography on the protection of Alaska’s 17-million-acre Tongass National Forest (the largest national forest in the nation) and British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest, home to the legendary white Kermode or “spirit” bear.

BCI has focused its efforts in Africa on the great nature reserves and grasslands of Kenya and Mozambique. Along with the protection of elephant populations in Mozambique’s Niassa Reserve, BCI’s activity here is centered on support for the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in central Kenya, and the Northern Rangelands Trust, which works to protect wild areas in several parts of the country. Lewa, considered a model of community-based conservation and responsible tourism, is rich in wildlife, including rhinoceros, elephants, giraffes, impala, and more than 400 bird species. It is on the “Green List” of successful protected areas of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).