The "Honoring the Past - Protecting the Future" Campaign Committee celebrates passing the $2.6 million mark. Pictured standing from left is Paul Roth, Mary Lou Bailey, Cheryl Giattini, Rick Siders, Chip Lesch, Philip Puschel and Janie Howland. Kneeling is Bill Fenniman and Patti Sousa.

The Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation’s “Honoring the Past – Protecting the Future” $5.3 million campaign to acquire the Bailey family homestead has passed the $2.6 million mark.

“We are very pleased to be almost halfway to our goal,” said Erick Lindblad, SCCF executive director. “The momentum generated by the unprecedented $500,000 Shipley Foundation Challenge Grant has been very gratifying.”

The purchase of the Bailey property will preserve a wildlife corridor that connects Pond Apple Park by the Sanibel & Captiva Islands Chamber of Commerce to land by Dixie Beach Boulevard owned by SCCF and then through the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge all the way to Wulfert Road.

SCCF announced the campaign to purchase the 28.3-acre Bailey Family Homestead this past October. The Shipley Challenge Grant has a March 31 deadline and the purchase option for the Bailey homestead has a June 24, 2011 deadline.

The $5.3 million fundraising campaign has four components:

• Acquisition of the 28.3-acre Bailey Homestead for $4 million

• Restoration of the Bailey Family Home as a place to tell the Bailey family history and as a Center for Conservation History. The initial restoration costs, included in this campaign, total $225,000, not including the sweat equity of SCCF’s volunteer carpenters, the Hammerheads.

• Wildlife Habitat Restoration. Consistent with earlier land acquisitions, SCCF needs to raise an additional 10%, or $400,000, to support the initial restoration and ongoing management of the land in perpetuity.

• SCCF’s conservation work for the islands. The last component supports the quality work being done in all program areas and addresses SCCF’s operating expenses, specifically those not covered by grant monies and other income generated by SCCF staff. To balance the annual operating budget, $675,000 must be raised as part of this campaign.

SCCF is dedicated to the conservation of coastal habitats and aquatic resources on Sanibel and Captiva and in the surrounding watershed through environmental education, land acquisition, landscaping for wildlife, marine research, natural resource policy, sea turtle conservation and wildlife habitat management.

Tax-deductible contributions to the campaign can be made online at www.sccf.org or by calling Erick Lindblad at 427-2329 or Cheryl Giattini at 395-2768.