Mission: Sustainable Northwest brings people, ideas, and innovation together so that nature, local economies, and rural communities can thrive.
Results: Played a key role in the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement, an historic settlement that is good for fish and farms, and will lead to the largest dam removal in U.S. history.
Recently launched Sustainable Northwest Wood, the only wood distribution center on the west coast focused exclusively on local and sustainable wood.
Created and continue to coordinate the Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition, the most effective advocate in the country for rural natural resource policy that supports community-based land stewardship.
Target demographics: Rural community leaders, businesses and organizations committed to community-based land stewardship.
Programs: Forests: decades of fire suppression and litigation over logging have left degraded forests and dying towns. There is an urgent need to increase the pace and scale of restoration projects, and create jobs that make our forests resilient to the increasing threat of abnormal wildfire, insects, and disease. Sustainable northwest has changed the conversation to jobs for the environment by bringing people together to create durable solutions that restore our northwest forests.
water: the competing needs of our cities, agriculture, fish, and energy production have led to water scarcity and pollution in the pacific northwest. Efforts to address water challenges in rural areas are often hampered by planning, financial, and social barriers. Historically, the response has been conflict, litigation, and emergency assistance. This has left our water-dependent ecosystems and communities imperiled.
rangelands: decades of fire suppression have allowed western juniper to overtake rangelands, using precious water, and destroying habitat for sage grouse and other wildlife. By sustainably harvesting western juniper we are restoring rangelands to their natural state, and returning more water and a healthy wildlife habitat to the high desert.
I am a tribal member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs of Oregon. I am curious on what kind of sustainable you do for protecting the herbs, huckleberries and other edible foods that are growing on the Reservations. I know, we are called "stewards of the land" where we are chosen by the Elders to go dig our roots, and pick the Huckleberry that are part of our "sacred foods" to all the Native People of the NW tribes. We have four sacred foods that are seasonal. First, salmon, second is the deer/elk and then, our roots and huckleberries as well as the chokecherries. These are what helps us heal, that is chosen for us to provide for the winter. And that this is what is nutritional, has proteins, and vitamins, and a lot more healthy to our Indian people.
I've known Sustainable Northwest since it was founded, and worked with it while I was running another conservation group over the past decade and more. I was honored to join the board more recently.
Sustainable Northwest coordinated the selection process for Central Cascades Geotourism MapGuide published by National Geographic. The staff members were organized, efficient and helped highlight natural-resources related businesses as authentic features of our Central Cascades Landscape.
I helped with their annual fundraiser and saw a wonderful cross section of people from rural and urban areas in support of sustainability. It was great to see such a wide variety of people supporting the same cause, and it was a fun and lively event!
I really appreciate how this organization works with communities to craft solutions that work for people, nature and wildlife. They don't work in a vacuum and decide what is best for others.
