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Paul Simon Donates Net Proceeds Of Over $1.1M To Environmental Organizations In San Francisco & Maui, Following Outside Lands

Simon Headlined Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco and Performed Two Nights at Maui Arts & Cultural Center in August 2019 to Support Biodiversity Conservation

Environmental Non-Profits San Francisco Parks Alliance, Friends of the Urban Forest, The Auwahi Forest Restoration Project, and Kua‘āina Ulu ‘Auamo (KUA) Receive Major Donations

Outside Lands’ location in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, combined with the shared environmental initiatives of the Festival producers provided Simon the perfect opportunity to focus on this vital cause – selecting Friends of the Urban Forest and San Francisco Parks Alliance (in partnership with San Francisco Recreation & Parks) as two local organizations working to protect natural resources and invest in the community.

Likewise, with the Maui concerts, Simon designated the Auwahi Forest Restoration Project on Maui, led by his friend, biologist Dr. Art Medeiros, as well as Kua‘āina Ulu ‘Auamo (KUA) which works to advance community-based natural resources management across the Hawaiian archipelago. Hawaii is universally regarded as a “biodiversity hotspot” by conservationists, as it’s one of earth’s most biologically rich, yet threatened, regions.

To learn more about these organizations, please visit their websites below.

San Francisco Parks Alliance (SFPA) https://sanfranciscoparksalliance.org

SFPA champions, transforms, and activates parks and public spaces throughout the city through innovative partnerships with community groups, city government and local business. SFPA believes that building these partnerships to support parks and open spaces leads to stronger, more cohesive communities, greater physical and mental wellness, and a more sustainable, equitable urban environment. To reach these goals, the Parks Alliance helps community members form park groups around their parks, open spaces and recreation centers. Founded in 1969, SFPA is also the fiscal sponsor for nearly 100 small grassroots non-profit groups in the city.

Friends of the Urban Forest (FUF) – https://www.fuf.net/

FUF’s mission is to promote a larger, healthier urban forest as part of San Francisco’s green infrastructure through community planting, tree care, education, and advocacy.  FUF helps individuals and neighborhood groups plant and care for street trees and sidewalk gardens in San Francisco. This “green infrastructure” improves the city by beautifying neighborhoods, cleaning the air, and reducing polluted stormwater runoff. Since 1981, FUF has brought communities together to plant more than 60,000 trees, totaling almost half of the city’s street tree canopy.

The Auwahi Forest Restoration Project – http://www.auwahi.org

The Auwahi Forest Restoration Project, in collaboration with volunteers and private landowner `Ulupalakua Ranch, works to protect and restore tracts of highly endangered dry forest at Auwahi as biological and cultural sanctuaries. Within these ‘green squares’ now visible on GoogleEarth, non-native species cover has declined from 87% to 2%, while native species cover has increased from 20% to 98%. Perhaps even more significant, after an absence of hundreds of years, two-thirds of Auwahi’s tree species have begun naturally establishing seedlings within the forest sanctuaries. The project operates on the principles that the involvement and support of local communities are essential elements of durable land stewardship and can play a vital role in preserving Hawai’i’s critically endangered biocultural resources.


Kua‘āina Ulu ‘Auamo (KUA) – http://kuahawaii.org

KUA builds local capacity for community-based management of natural and cultural resources, supporting community-based organizations in identifying their own resource management goals and developing the expertise, knowledge, and skills necessary to accomplish these goals. Combining effective traditional and contemporary resources management methods, communities are restoring their traditional role as caretakers of the lands and waters of their places. KUA is committed to nurturing connective spaces where a growing network of communities can incubate ideas, pursue joint-strategies, learn from one another, and leverage shared strengths.

ABOUT OUTSIDE LANDS

Since its inception, Outside Lands has evolved into a beloved San Francisco tradition and boom for the Bay Area, as thousands of fans from around the world flood the iconic city for an incomparable weekend in one of the world’s greatest green spaces. Outside Lands is simultaneously a true destination festival and a celebration of the region’s best.

ABOUT PAUL SIMON
During his distinguished career spanning six decades, musician and songwriter Paul Simon has produced timeless masterpieces, such as Bridge Over Troubled Water, Still Crazy After All These Years, and Graceland, all of which garnered GRAMMY Album of the Year.

Simon was awarded the inaugural Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, which recognizes the profound and positive effect of popular music on the world’s culture. Simon is also a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors, and, in 2006, was named one of Time magazine’s “100 People Who Shape Our World.”

Paul Simon’s varied philanthropic work includes the co-founding of the Children’s Health Fund, which donates and staffs 53 mobile medical units that bring health care to low-income children and their families around the United States, providing more than 3 million doctor/patient visits since its inception in 1987.

In June 2017, net proceeds from Simon’s month-long U.S. concert tour were donated to benefit the Half-Earth Project, an initiative of the E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation. During Paul Simon’s Homeward Bound – The Farewell Tour in 2018, he left a financial gift in each city he visited on tour, benefitting local youth and environmental organizations.

In a letter to fans announcing his Farewell Tour and retirement from touring last year, Mr. Simon said, “After this tour, I anticipate doing the occasional performance…and to donate those earnings to various philanthropic organizations, particularly those whose objective it is to save the planet, ecologically.”