Field Notes: a first letter from American Friends

Dear friend,

This is the first Field Notes from the American Friends of Israel Nature and Heritage Foundation.

We were founded so people in the United States can take part, with a tax-deductible gift, in protecting Israel’s wildlife, landscapes, and heritage sites. We are a separate U.S. charity. We are not the Israel Nature and Heritage Foundation, and we are not the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. Our board decides each grant. The work is carried out in Israel. We raise the support here.

This letter will come only a few times a year. It is not a fundraising list. It is a way to stay close to the work.

Returned to the sea

Every year, injured sea turtles wash ashore along Israel’s coast. At the rescue center they are treated, rehabilitated, and — in most cases — returned to the water. A gift here pays for veterinary care, the pools, and a safe release. When a turtle goes back in, the work is quiet. The result is not.

Stone that still holds a story

In national parks and nature reserves stand ancient synagogues and mosaics — among them Hamat Tiberias, whose floor is the earliest mosaic of its kind found in Israel. Time, weather, and visitors wear them down. Conservation keeps the stone readable for the next person who walks in.

The next generation in the parks

Education is not a side program. Classes and youth groups go into the parks to learn the land by being in it — Ametz Kita and the wider work of bringing young people into nature. People who love a place when they are young are the ones who protect it later.

That is the pattern we will keep writing about: wildlife brought back, heritage kept standing, and children taught to care for both.

If you want the next letter, you are already in the right place. If someone you know would care about this work, they can subscribe at afinhf.org/newsletter.

With thanks,
American Friends of Israel Nature and Heritage Foundation

P.S. We work through our partners in Israel. American Friends raises the support. They do the work from the Mediterranean to the Negev.