EcosystemNews
Northwest
Issue 58 Summer 2004
15 Years of Keeping the Northwest Wild
BELLINGHAM: 1208 Bay Street, #201
NWEA staff
Jodi Broughton
Business and development director
Paul Balle
Corporate gifts director
Fred Munson
Deputy director
Seth Cool
Conservation associate
Rose Oliver
Office manager and event coordinator
Chris Dillard
Web site contractor
Hudson Dodd
Outreach and volunteer coordinator
Demis Foster
Ancient Forest Roadshow project director
Christie Raschke
Membership associate
Pat Roberts
Accountant
Joe Scott
International conservation director
Mitch Friedman
Executive director
Regan Smith
Conservation associate
Joseph Losi
Leadership gifts director
Barb Swanson
Conservation associate
Lisa McShane
Community relations director
Dave Werntz
Science director
The Cascades Conservation
Partnership staff
Jim Armstrong
Eastside director
Pat Powell
Lands specialist
Dave Atcheson
Campaign director
Charlie Raines
Lands and public funding director
Molly Harmon
Outreach assistant
Jen Watkins
Westside outreach coordinator
NWEA board of directors
Mark Skatrud
president
Emily Barnett
Christine Nasser
vice president
Kristen Boyles
Jeffrey Jon Bodé
secretary
Mitch Friedman
Tom Campion
treasurer
SEATTLE:
Erin Moore
Communications coordinator
Kenan Block
William Donnelly
Alex Loeb
INTERNET:
Bellingham, WA 98225
360.671.9950
360.671.8429 (fax)
3414 1/2 Fremont Ave. N.
Seattle, WA 98103
206.675.9747
206.675.1007 (fax)
www.ecosystem.org,
[email protected]
Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
protects and restores wildlands in the Pacific Northwest and supports
such efforts in British Columbia. NWEA bridges science and advocacy,
working with activists, policy makers, and the general public to
conserve our natural heritage.
Contents
From the development director
3
NWEA in brief
NWEA sues for bears, old growth, and
wildlife protection Œ Kettle Range wilderness Œ
I-90 bridges Œ Mountain caribou update Œ
Washington Invasives Coalition Œ
Stop that Commerce Corridor!
4-7
Feature: Celebrating 15 years of NWEA
8-23
How we keep the Northwest wild
A NWEA timeline
Stories from staff and field
Inside NWEA
Jammin’ for Salmon thank yous
Volunteer appreciation
Anniversary event: a wild time had by all
Interns in the spotlight
23
24
24-25
26
Jasmine Minbashian
Nancy Ritzenthaler
Jo Roberts
Tim Wood
Cover
Newsletter covers selected from 15 years of NWEA publishing:
front page, spring of 1992 through spring of 1998; back page,
summer of 1998 through spring of 2004
Northwest Ecosystem News (formerly Northwest Conservation) is
published quarterly by NWEA as a benefit to members. It is printed in
vegetable inks on Vanguard Recycled Plus: 10% hemp/flax, 90% postconsumer, processed chlorine-free paper. Visit our website at
www.ecosystem.org/newsletters.html for a complimentary copy,
or see page 27 to join Northwest Ecosystem Alliance.
Published June of 2004
Erin Moore, editor ([email protected])
Proofreading by Hudson Dodd
NWEA’s quarterly newsletter is offered as a PDF online at
www.ecosystem.org/newsletters. We also publish two
electronic reports:
ecosystem e-news
An informal and upbeat monthly look into NWEA, laid out
for web-style viewing. To subscribe, please email
[email protected].
WildNorthwest
NWEA’s periodic, text-based action alert gives you the
power to take action. Email [email protected] with the
subject line subscribe wildnw to subscribe.
From the development director
Journey Ahead Brings Challenges and
Change for Conservation
I
remember the day I decided to return to school. I was taking kids backpacking
in British Columbia in the summer of 1993. Nine high schools girls and I had
stopped for a snack while hiking down a logging road to get to our pickup spot,
when we were interrupted by a logging truck barreling around the corner. We
were mentally crushed to think about the very forest we hiked through a week
earlier being logged. The rapid liquidation of our Northwest old-growth forests
was already on my mind, but this incident really motivated me. I started an
environmental studies program at Western Washington University the next fall.
If anyone would have told me then that I’d someday be the business and
development director for a conservation organization with a budget of over $1
million, I would have laughed aloud. Even now, an environmental policy degree
seems inadequate preparation for a person in my position. But, applying a lesson I
learned from biology class, I’ve found that the ability to change and adapt is key
to survival. Northwest Ecosystem Alliance has been an excellent role model in
this regard.
I started laying out the Northwest Ecosystem Alliance newsletter in 1998 as a
part-time contractor. But my participation with the organization increased
dramatically after Mitch Friedman and the NWEA board took a huge risk and
struck a deal to buy 25,000 acres of the Loomis State Forest. Mary Humphries,
development director at that time, recruited me as part of a team that was supposed
to raise $13 million to save a place I’d barely heard of and never seen.
My excuses were abundant. “You want me to call people and ask for money?
Encourage a room full of people to give more to this cause than they’ve ever
given before? But, that’s crazy. I don’t know any fundraising techniques!” I
pictured it like taking a calculus test—but even scarier.
With less than seven months to raise these funds, I challenged myself to do
something I had never done before, just as NWEA itself was doing. And, to my
surprise, I found that meeting with someone who also cares about forests, water,
and wildlife and asking her for a substantial gift was not nearly as difficult as
taking a calculus test. Asking for financial support was really just developing a
relationship with a NWEA member, finding a connection through a cause we both
believed in, and creating an opportunity to make a difference.
You, our members, continue to inspire us to think big and take risks. I went
from a crash course in fundraising 101 to directing all of our development efforts.
NWEA proved successful in raising funds for the Loomis and has continued to test
new tactics, form new partnerships, and expand programs where there are new
opportunities.
I hope you’ll participate in the next 15 years of our journey with us, as we
change and adapt to find the most innovative opportunities to solve the
challenges facing the Northwest’s wildlands and wildlife. Thanks for your
support—you are an integral part of keeping the Northwest wild.
Jodi Broughton at Hart’s Cove, Oregon.
Andy Wickstrand
It takes a lot of courage to
release the familiar and seemingly
secure, to embrace the new.…There
is more security in the adventurous
and exciting, for in movement there
is life, and in change there is
power. —Andy Cohen
Note: Mitch Friedman is on sabbatical and
will return next issue.
Jodi Broughton
Keeping the Northwest wild
Summer 2004
3
news
nwea news in brief
Northwest Ecosystem
Alliance and Defenders of
Wildlife went to federal court
June 3 in an effort to prevent
the extinction of the North
Cascades population of grizzly
bears. The US Fish and Wildlife
Service estimates that the
western Washington grizzly
population could be as low as
five animals.
“Extinction is often a
quiet process that occurs in a remote valley with no fanfare or
announcement. We don’t intend to sit on our hands while the
only remaining population of West Coast grizzlies in the lower
48 quietly disappears from the face of the Earth,” says Joe
Scott of NWEA.
The lawsuit charges that the Interior Department has not
implemented the North Cascades Recovery Chapter which was
completed in 1997. The Recovery Chapter is the roadmap by
which the US Fish and Wildlife Service accomplishes grizzly
recovery in the North Cascades ecosystem, which is one of six
official grizzly bear “recovery zones.”
Marbled murrelet populations still declining
In May a panel of leading scientists reported that the
marbled murrelet, a small seabird that nests in old-growth forests along the Pacific Coast, might be gone from Washington,
Oregon, and California in a few decades. The scientists maintain that all the factors causing the murrelet to be listed as a
“threatened” species in 1992 are still driving it rapidly toward
extinction. More than a quarter million acres of murrelet oldgrowth nesting habitat has been destroyed by logging over the
last decade; 80% of the habitat destruction occurred on state
and private lands. Nest predation, oil spills, and gill netting also
continue to harm murrelets.
After the timber industry questioned the new findings and
attacked the scientists as biased and unworthy, the Bush
administration decided to delay a decision on whether the
murrelet should retain federal protections. That decision is now
due in August.
I-90 Wildlife Bridges Coalition
After The Cascades Conservation Partnership concludes at
the end of this year, its advocacy efforts will live on as the
I-90 Wildlife Bridges Coalition works toward a proposed I-90
upgrade between Hyak and Easton. Core groups in this effort
include some of the steering committee groups of The
Partnership, and among the growing number of endorsing
organizations are the Nature Conservancy of Washington,
4
Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
Grizzly. John Hechtel
Saving grizzly bears
Outdoor Research, and Defenders of Wildlife. NWEA is
administering the coalition.
The case for excellent wildlife passage on this stretch of
I-90 is easy to make, as it’s an extension of the arguments for
strategic land acquisitions we’ve made since the launch of The
Partnership. Cascades wildlife populations must stay connected
to remain viable, and the Snoqualmie Pass area is the narrow
part of the hourglass—special treatment is required. The
tremendous public and private investment in habitat north and
south of the freeway over the last few years reinforces the call to
do right by wildlife while making travel safer and more efficient
for people.
The Washington State Department of Transportation will
release a draft environmental impact statement in September.
To be notified of public hearings and other opportunities to
comment, or to request a static-cling I-90 Wildlife Bridges
window decal, contact Jen Watkins at 206.675.9747 x203.
The web site is www.i90wildlifebridges.org.
The Cascades Conservation Partnership has raised $72
million to date, protecting checkerboard lands in the Central
Cascades. Appropriations bills for land acquisition for next year
have been stalled by Congress’s delay in resolving overall budget
numbers. The Washington State delegation continues to hear
from supporters,
who are urging a
$3.4 million
appropriation to
acquire the four
remaining squaremile sections under
option near Salmon
la Sac. —David
Atcheson is director
of The Partnership
Lake Whatcom Plan tabled until September
In early April the Board of Natural Resources (BNR) tabled a
decision on how much logging to allow on the 15,707 acres of
state forest land in the Lake Whatcom watershed. Numerous
officials from Whatcom County and Bellingham, including Sen.
Harriet Spanel, Mayor Mark Asmundson, County Executive Pete
Kremen, County Council Chair Dan McShane, and School Board
member Elaine Lynch, asked the BNR to protect Lake Whatcom
by eliminating logging and road building on unstable slopes and
by giving authority to the proposed Lake Whatcom Interjurisdictional Committee of citizens and technical experts hired by
local governments to review state logging sales around the lake.
BNR members expressed concern about reduced revenues
and about a possible precedent set by this case; but the
Bellingham Herald came out with a strong editorial in support of
www.ecosystem.org
in brief
NWEA’s position that the Landscape Committee should be given
strong authority to review logging proposals. The Board expressed
an interest in taking this up again at their September meeting.
However, they are long past the legislative deadline for action of
June 2001, and it’s unclear whether local governments will
continue to wait patiently if they stall past September.
NWEA sues to protect old growth and wildlife
On April 14, NWEA and several other conservation groups
filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Seattle to challenge the
Bush administration’s elimination of rules in the Northwest
Forest Plan that protect wildlife that live in old forests. The socalled “survey and manage” rules, which required the
government to protect sites occupied by certain rare and
nwea news in brief
sensitive wildlife that live in old-growth forests, were dropped
in March so that more old forests on federal lands could be
logged without constraints. Most of the “survey and manage”
species serve critical ecological roles that boost forest
productivity and provide resilience and resistance to natural
disturbances.
NWEA also joined several fishing and conservation groups
on May 27 in a lawsuit aimed at protecting salmon and trout
habitat on federal lands. In March, the Bush administration
dropped rules that require the government to “maintain and
restore” ecological functions in streams that support imperiled
salmon and trout. The rule was dropped after federal courts
halted plans to log old-growth forests on unstable slopes
above productive trout streams. Rather than comply with the
rule, which is necessary for the recovery of endangered fish
populations, the Bush administration dropped it so that
logging plans can move forward more rapidly.
Wilderness protection in northeastern Washington
create enough
opposition to kill
legislation that is
supported by a
majority of voters.
Wilderness
is the strongest
and most durable
wildlands conservation law because it purposefully restricts human uses to impermanent and non-mechanized forms. Wilderness is a place where time and space and our
place in it are at a different scale, where wildlife thrives because it
is safe and whole. Wilderness is nature as nature intended.
Many in Ferry County support wilderness
The “good old boy network” gets much of the blame for driving
the opposition to wildlands preservation, but really it’s not that simple.
There are third-generation men and women in rural Ferry County—
where the majority of the US portion of the Kettle River Range lies—
who strongly support wilderness preservation. It’s not having one’s
ancestors buried in the local cemetery that makes the difference.
A small but vocal group of anti-wilderness partisans has worked
to create distrust and political rifts in rural and urban communities.
Political forces organizing public opposition to wilderness are the
same as those that profit from logging, mining, and livestock grazing
on those same lands.
Public opinion polls tell us that protecting wilderness is a strong
American value in both rural and urban areas, yet it’s not an issue
that most voters use to determine their candidate of choice. As Kettle
Range activists learned in 1984, perception, however erroneous, can
Keeping the eastside wild
The Wilderness Act turns 40 years old on September 3, 2004.
This year also marks the twentieth anniversary of the Washington
Wilderness Act. The battle for lasting protection goes on as one
generation passes the torch to the next. Then as now, it is critical
that we recognize how much has changed, and how much will change
in the coming decades and the impact these changes will have on
plants, animals, and people.
Kettle Range Conservation Group and Northwest Ecosystem
Alliance have worked for years to protect the last wild forests in
Washington state. Preserving Washington’s wild forests is a matter
of life and death to fish, wildlife, and native plants. It’s our obligation
as stewards to ensure its survival.
Tim Coleman ([email protected]), executive director of
Kettle Range Conservation Group (509.775.2667), lives in Republic,
Washington.
Kettle Range. Tim Coleman
In 1976 a group of impassioned northeastern Washington forest
conservationists created the Kettle Range Conservation Group to
campaign for Congressional wilderness designation of the Kettle River
Range in the Colville and Okanogan National Forest. The Okanogan
Highlands is a critical wildlife migration corridor between the Rocky
and Cascade Mountains, a mountainous transboundary ecosystem
that is home to grizzly bear, lynx, wolverine, and moose.
But in 1984 Congressman Tom Foley removed the Kettle River
Range and other eastern Washington wildlands from the final House
version of the Washington Wilderness Act. Foley’s actions were
devastating. Hundreds of miles of roads were subsequently built in
the Kettle Range and tens of thousands of acres of roadless wild
forests logged. In response, local activists began aggressively
challenging timber sales across the region, and with few exceptions,
stopped those that threatened roadless areas and ancient forests.
Keeping the Northwest wild
Summer 2004
5
news
nwea news in brief
Mountain caribou update
Volunteer opportunity Help research Canadian wood products
Northwest Ecosystem Alliance needs your help in
determining where Canadian lumber products—much of it
from old growth logged in caribou habitat—are sold. We
need you to travel to lumberyards and home improvement
stores to survey the dimensional lumber inventory,
recording brand names and noting types of products,
using a form we provide. Our target area is western
Washington, from Everett to Centralia. To help, contact
Seth Cool at [email protected] or 360.671.9950 x16.
6
Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
Fisher reintroduction update
NWEA’s work (together with the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife) studying the feasibility of reintroducing fishers to Washington continues to move slowly, with a lot
of work still to be accomplished before we see fishers released in
Washington. Recently completed mapping work concluded that
the Olympic Peninsula has the largest area of contiguous, high
quality fisher habitat available for reintroduction. If fishers are
reintroduced to our state, it would likely be on peninsula.
Most recently, the draft feasibility report was given to the
fisher science team and North American fisher researchers for
review and comment. After the final report is completed, the
WDFW director must approve the next stage of the implementation process. Implementation might include full National Environmental Policy Act review (depending on release sites), release
process design (including capture, transport, veterinary care, and
housing before release), and public outreach.
The Doug: On the road for old growth
The Ancient
Forest Roadshow
began its first
roadshow segment,
a tour of the
southern United
States, on April 14
in Portland,
Oregon. “The
Doug” is probably
the first outreach
staffer to work for
NWEA that was neither living nor human (though we can’t verify
this). It is quite likely that its size and age, 7 feet in diameter,
1,000 pounds, and 420 years old, is also unprecedented in NWEA
staff history.
The Doug has traveled 2500 miles and has already been seen
by tens of thousands of people across the southern US. With a
few words from a Roadie (one of the crew members hauling the
Doug), or a glance at the Roadies’ web logs on the website
(www.forestroadshow.org), Americans can learn the devastating
impacts of the Bush administration’s policies on ancient forests.
The Roadies’ experiences, with nearly every person they’ve met
on the road, has been a unifying one: regardless of a person’s
background or politics, people realize they are all part of the story
of this tree and its amazing history. The Doug is us and it is not an
exaggeration to say that our outreach partner, the Doug, works the
hardest of all of us, in solemn silence, a witness to history.
If you want to volunteer to work a leg of the tour as a
Roadie, contact Todd Carey at [email protected] or
Hugging the Doug. Ron Rundus
At the Canadian Consulate in
Seattle in April, protesters in mountain
caribou costumes called attention to
the clearcutting of endangered species
habitat in British Columbia. And at
least 2,000 people responded to our
action alerts by sending comments asking for more protection
of mountain caribou and less logging of old-growth in the
interior temperate rainforest of BC. Canadian politicians are
mulling over a decision. You can help by reminding BC
Premiere Gordon Campbell that mountain caribou and their inland
rainforest habitat should be protected for future generations. Please
visit www.mountaincaribou.org to take action.
“These animals need a break; caribou numbers are
dropping fast,” says Joe Scott, who leads the fight at NWEA to
protect mountain caribou. “The BC government’s scientists
have repeatedly warned that logging is the biggest problem.”
Logging giant, Canfor, also took notice of the vocal public
response, recently announcing they will place a temporary
moratorium on planned logging operations in caribou habitat.
We hope that other companies currently logging in mountain
caribou habitat will follow in Canfor’s footsteps.
On the US side of the border, we have learned that
snowmobiling is rampant inside the caribou recovery zone in
the Idaho Panhandle National Forest, where old growth
provides important feeding and shelter areas for mountain
caribou, which are listed as “endangered” under the
Endangered Species Act. The Forest Service has not been
effective at solving the problem, even though there is ample
scientific evidence that the smell, sight, and sound of
snowmobiles frighten caribou. Snowmobile presence may be a
factor that causes herds to vacate prime habitat.
As part of the Mountain Caribou Project, NWEA will
continue our efforts to make sure that the habitat on both
sides of the border is protected.
www.ecosystem.org
206.675.9747 x206. Meals and lodging are provided. Also, you
can tell Todd about any events coming up in your area that
the Doug can attend.
Another tour began in June in the Northwest with the
next Doug and it’s a whopper: 8 feet in diameter, 4,000 lbs,
and 500 years old. Though we would give anything to have
this tree alive and standing again in its former forest, it will
serve appropriately as another silent but potent objection to
the threats to our remaining ancient forests, and what we
stand to lose if something isn’t done to protect them.
The Roadshow needs help to help the Doug rolling; please
call 206.675.0646 or visit our web site to make an online
donation, www.forestroadshow.org/donate. —Ron Rundus is
webmaster for the Ancient Forest Roadshow
Big road, bad idea: Commerce Corridor
Plans are in the air for a privately owned and operated,
500-foot-wide “Commerce Corridor” stretching along the
foothills of the Cascades, from the Canadian border in the
north to Lewis County in the south. This fantasy of sprawl,
paved farmland, and fragmented habitat, complete with a
new, six-lane highway, appears to be gaining momentum
and, if successful, would change forever the face of western
Washington. The first public comment opportunity on the
plan was June 24 in Whatcom County in Van Zandt.
The second chance to speak out is in King County:
Friday, July 16, 2004, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
at the Bellevue Permit Office (WSDOT)
10833 Northup Way NE, Bellevue, WA
You can also contact Barbara Ivanov at the Washington
State Department of Transportation, [email protected]
or 360.705.793. For more, go to www.wsdot.wa.gov/freight/
CommerceCorridorFeasStudy.htm.
Scotch broom is just one example
of the many plants, animals, and
insects that people have introduced
to the Northwest. Other plants, such
as Japanese knotweed and English
ivy, invade pristine areas. Insects such
as the Asian longhorn beetle have
been contained in Washington state
thus far, but if on the loose could
ravage our prized forests.
Invasives can spread even faster
in water. About 80 invasive species
have already been introduced into
Puget Sound, and we’ve been relatively lucky so far compared
to other areas. For example, San Franscisco Bay is now home
to over 240 nonindigenous species—mainly due to the many
international ships that dump ballast water—and in some parts
of the bay it is difficult to find native species.
Global trade has increased the spread of invasive species,
and as a trade center, Washington state is particularly vulnerable. Invasive species have the potential to ruin agricultural
crops and commercial and sport fisheries. They compete with
natives and can create monocultures that ruin habitat even in
wild areas. Invasives make up the second largest threat to
aquatic and terrestrial global biodiversity after habitat loss;
400 of the 958 species listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act are at risk primarily because of
competition with and predation by non-indigenous species.
The good news is that we know the best way to fight invasive species is to stop introducing new ones. By working together, we can minimize the introduction of new invasives as
well as slow the spread of those already introduced. Over time,
and with good coordination, we can also restore infested areas.
Eight groups, including NWEA, have come together
this year to form the Washington Invasive Species
Coalition. We’ll be working to stop the introduction of
terrestrial invasive species from plant nurseries and aquatic
invasives from ship ballast water, while helping establish a
state coordinating council for invasives. For more information,
please contact Seth Cool at [email protected].
Scotch broom. Britton and Brown 1913
in brief
nwea news in brief
Announcing the Washington
Invasive Species Coalition
Mount St. Helens protected from road
One always forgets the extent of Scotch broom’s reach in
Washington until it blooms in yellow profusion every spring.
This foreign plant is abundant in the Northwest. Humans have
planted it along roads and in gardens, and have unknowingly
distributed seeds, which hitchhike on vehicles and heavy machinery.
Scotch broom does more, though, than invade roadsides and
cause itchy eyes and runny noses. Invasive plants like Scotch
broom get loose in the wild and crowd out native plants. Over time
this can significantly reduce wildlife habitat.
In March, Governor Gary Locke vetoed a section of the state
transportation budget that would have provided funding to
study an extension of state Route 504 near Mount St. Helens.
Gifford Pinchot National Forest officials had opposed the road
study as a waste of money, and NWEA and other organizations
urged people to write Locke in opposition to the plan.
NWEA members also helped resoundingly defeat a similar
road plan for St. Helens last year. We trust this spells the demise
of this recurring bad dream for the national monument.
Keeping the Northwest wild
Summer 2004
7
15 years of Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
Fifteen Years of Kee
A NWEA
Timeline:
What We’ve Done Together
The limited space available for a timeline
barely scratches the surface of all the work a
forest advocacy organization does. A single
list can scarcely record the countless
volunteers, interns, and staff of NWEA who
have worked thousands of hours on hundreds
of projects building protection for the greater
Northwest habitat and wildlife. What we can
do is focus on the highlights.
A look at NWEA by the numbers is
revealing. Northwest Ecosystem Alliance has
protected (since 1997 and on the westside
alone) 165,000 acres of forest, and in total,
nearly 290,000 acres of wildlands. It has been
party to 44 lawsuits, and won 74% of those.
In partnership with our allies, we have raised
$88 million for direct land preservation.
Thousands of NWEA members have
supported us over the years, financially,
spiritually, and in kind.
The following brief timeline lays out
NWEA’s major accomplishments over time:
1989, Greater Ecosystem Alliance is
founded in Bellingham, “to promote the
protection of biological diversity through the
conservation of large ecosystems, focusing
on the greater Olympic, North and Central
Cascades, and Columbia Mountain
ecosystems.” Holds its first annual “Stump
Stomp” dance marathon
1989, launches the Ancient Forest
Rescue Expedition, touring a section of a 700year-old Douglas-fir log around the country
to introduce Americans to the clearcutting
of their national forests and to sound the call
for protection of old-growth forests. The
expedition is run four times through 1992.
1989, hosts an “Understanding Ancient
Forests” workshop and seminar
1989, begins designing recovery
programs for gray wolf and grizzly bear in WA
continued page 10
8
N
orthwest Ecosystem Alliance, first conceived as Greater
Ecosystem Alliance, started as many activist nonprofits start,
driven by a grand vision and moved forward by volunteer
power on a shoestring budget. Founder Mitch Friedman, trained as a
zoologist and grounded in conservation biology, wanted to protect
and restore big areas connected together across the US and Canadian
border, to create functional wildlife habitat and wildlife passages. No
other group then was working at that level in the Pacific Northwest.
Before founding Greater Ecosystem Alliance in 1989, Mitch was a
frontline activist and member of the local Earth First!, participating,
for example, in one of the first tree-sit actions in 1985 in the Millennium Grove in the Willamette National Forest in Oregon. In a speech
he gave a decade later at the 1996 Ancient Forest Activist Conference
in Ashland, Oregon, at the time of the Salvage Rider, Mitch saluted
the role that civil disobedience has played in the history of the
ancient forest protection movement, but went on to say how that
tactic had evolved, and how he had evolved in his own thinking.
In 1988…I looked left and right and saw the same people
sitting next to me on the logging road [protesting] that I had
seen the week before…I started to wonder why the scientists in
Audubon, and the little old ladies in tennis shoes, weren’t
sitting next to me on the logging road....And I started to think
that there would be better ways to convey our message to the
public, which poll after poll shows supports our issues. Don’t
take offense if you like to feel kind of cutting edge and radical,
but what we stand for [protecting our ancient forest heritage] is
mainstream.
People may argue today whether NWEA is either too mainstream
or still too radical. It’s a weird sort of either/or, and labels only go so
far. Verbs, telling what we do, are far more descriptive than mere
labels. NWEA researches, strategizes, creates, convinces, inspires,
and makes happen. We invoke bold and innovative strategies, and
use common sense, science, a love of wildness, and the power of our
members to find new and collaborative ways to protect the
Northwest’s wildlife and wildlands. All this, on a landscape where
nature knows no borders.
It’s been 15 years since the birth of NWEA, and along the way
many people have shaped the organization and the work it has done.
Their stories in this issue of Northwest Ecosystem News best tell the
tale of a dynamic and broad band of people who still believe
passionately in keeping the Northwest wild.
Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
www.ecosystem.org
15 years of Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
ping the Northwest Wild
Stories from the field
Keeping Life’s Fabric Intact
Mitch Friedman founded Northwest Ecosystem Alliance in 1989 and has served as
executive director since its inception. He is a long-time resident of Bellingham.
For me, the journey of NWEA boils down to the simple fulfillment of an
idea—saving large wild places for large wild animals.
The origin of that idea was a single lecture during my senior year at the
University of Washington, in 1985. I was a young student in zoology, an Earth
First! activist, and an inspired nature lover from birth, just gaining the personal
tools and power to pursue my dreams and demands. The curriculum of a 400level survey ecology course called for a lecture in island biogeography from
Gordon Orians, Ph.D., a luminary name in the field of ecology.
Dr. Orians’ lecture described the findings of cutting edge research, that
national parks in the US and Canada were experiencing local extinctions of
species in direct proportion to their size (the smaller the park, the higher the
number of extinctions). Additional research predicted that even the world’s very
largest parks, those of East Africa, would not be large enough to sustain their
largest native mammal species.
That caught my attention. It wasn’t enough to save the last of the best
habitat, or to nurture a love of real wilderness. I realized that my wildlife heritage,
the most inspiring wild creatures in the nation and world, were at risk far beyond
the scope of current conservation actions.
That single lecture led me to co-write and edit a book in 1988 on sciencebased actions needed to save the North Cascades Ecosystem, and to help found
NWEA (at that time GEA—Greater Ecosystem Alliance) shortly thereafter.
The journey since has involved countless successes, failures, people, and
adventures. But for me it all traces back to that beginning. Northwest Ecosystem
Alliance is about more than saving places and creatures, it’s about keeping the fabric
of life intact. That idea keeps my fire burning bright, and always will.
Ancient Forest Rescue Expedition reaches out to
the nation—and the next generation—in 1991.
Daniel Dancer
“Dream We Did, and Dream Big”
Mary Humphries spent seven years working at NWEA, first as office manager and
later as development director. She currently serves as senior fundraising associate
at Training Resources for the Environmental Community, and lives in Bellingham.
I remember the early days at GEA well—Mitch and I huddled over antiquated
computers, answering the one and only phone, working determinedly and exchanging few words. The walls were a stale beige and the hideous green carpet
was worn and stained. Not exactly the kind of place to inspire dreams of saving
old-growth forests, majestic creatures, and vast stretches of untouched wilderness.
Yet dream we did, and dream big! What’s more, lots of people shared GEA’s
vision and were willing to put money on the table. In the early days, a check of
$500 from a donor was cause for celebration—we’d open a beer and toast the
donor’s generosity. Slowly, over time, more and more people joined NWEA’s
ranks, which, for example, grew ten-fold from 1991 to 1996. They were attracted
Keeping the Northwest wild
Mary and Mitch in spring of 1991.
NWEA archives
Summer 2004
9
NWEA Timeline
1990, issues a special report on the
Greater North Cascades Ecosystem
1990, appeals Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie
National Forest Plan for its failure to protect
old growth and roadless areas
1990, hosts an “Old Forests and New
Forestry” seminar featuring forest ecologist
Jerry Franklin
1990, with others petitions to list fisher
as an endangered species in the Northwest
1991, sponsors “Of Wolves and
Washington,” a public symposium on wolf
recovery
1991, begins the listing process to
achieve Endangered Species Act protection
for the Canada lynx
1991, spearheads the Wild Salmon and
Trout Alliance, a conservation/sportsfishing
coalition working to protect wild salmonid
runs and their habitats
1991, starts work to protect the Loomis
State Forest from logging
1992, launches a regional biodiversity
initiative for the transborder Columbia
Mountain ecosystem; GEA’s mission is
amended to “protecting the wildness and
diversity of transboundary areas of British
Columbia and the Northwest states”
1993, Loomis Forest is added to the
North Cascades Grizzly Recovery Area in the
federal Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan
1993, together with the Cascades
International Alliance, proposes a North
Cascades International Park
1993, with others organizes an Ancient
Forest Celebration in Portland on the eve of
President Clinton’s Forest Summit, attracting
70,000 people to hear Carole King, Neil
Young, David Crosby, and others
1993, recruits a Russian Far East
Representative to advocate for boreal
conifer and birch forests and wildlife
1994, releases a conservation plan for
the Canadian portion of the Columbia
Mountains Ecosystem
1994, puts forth its own grizzly bear
recovery program to encourage the
government to raise its sights for recovery
continued page 12
10
to the organization’s bold and visionary approach to saving large landscapes, and
they respected NWEA’s willingness to take risks and do the unthinkable at times.
One of its greatest accomplishments—a made-for-Hollywood David-andGoliath tale—was of course protecting 25,000 acres in Washington’s Loomis State
Forest in 1999. I remember well the NWEA board meeting at which the decision
was made to raise an astronomical sum of money—something like $15 million. I
recall thinking that Mitch and the board must be delusional—NWEA had never
raised more than $100,000 from donors, and here we were contemplating a sum
150 times that amount. But raise it NWEA did.
As it turned out, passion, sincerity, and commitment to saving this last best
habitat for lynx in the lower 48 states struck a deep chord in the hearts of
thousands of Washingtonians. People discovered that together they could accomplish something much bigger than themselves; something in which they could
take pride—a legendary legacy for both wildlife and people.
I have no doubt that NWEA will continue to shape the history of wildlands
protection in the Pacific Northwest. Why? Because the organization has discovered that its people—rich, poor, rural, urban, single, or married—truly make the
difference. Yes, NWEA’s staff works hard, and yes, the board is diligent in discharging its responsibilities; but a handful of people is not enough to make what I
will call “landscape history.” Frontline folks can only flex their muscles if there is
support and dedication from a supporting cast of thousands. So let’s celebrate NWEA’s many successes during the
course of its brief 15 year history, never forgetting that
members’ contributions and their willingness to stand firm
in the face of sometimes daunting odds made it all possible.
First Meeting Mitch
Mark Skatrud, current board president, has been with NWEA since 1991. He is a
wildlife tracker and carpenter by profession. Mark is leaving later this summer to
live in New Zealand; he will be sorely missed.
In spring of 1991 I had been invited to the local food co-op in Tonasket for a
gathering of the few forest activists in the north Okanogan. Being fairly new to
the forest activist scene, I felt out of place among the half dozen or so older,
seasoned activists gathered to listen to someone who had come over from
Bellingham to meet us. I guess I had gone more for the camaraderie and support
so lacking among forest activists widely scattered across the largest county in the state.
A bright young man, full of enthusiasm and vision, brightened up the dark
basement of the co-op that day. He talked about grizzly bears and the need to
protect wide expanses of wildlands. He had a vision for the North Cascades from
I-90 into Canada that all of us at that meeting agreed with strongly, though none
of us alone had either the organizational skills or the commitment to quite see
how to get there. Mitch Friedman had both the vision and the ability.
Mitch, still in his mid-20s, came across to me as a person born to lead and
support those of us on the dry side of the Cascades who were often forgotten by
westside conservation organizations. He included us in this vision of a “greater
ecosystem.” Mitch was offering us help, as well as asking for help. From this
meeting, Mitch and I started the collaboration that led to our writing the first
petitions to list the Canada lynx in our state and under the Endangered Species
Act. The lynx was listed as endangered in 2001.
Thus started the long relationship between Friends of Loomis Forest and
Northwest Ecosystem Alliance, and between two good friends and colleagues.
Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
www.ecosystem.org
NWEA archives
15 years of Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
15 years of Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
Living on Volunteer Time
Lillian Ford was office manager and then fledgling development director of the
new-born NWEA. She lives with her husband and baby daughter in Venice,
California, where she works as an environmental planner and “misses the rain.”
When I first came to GEA, in early 1992, we worked out of an old doctor’s
office on the third floor of the Bellingham Herald building. I sat in a glassed off
reception area that we affectionately called “the cage”—Mitch’s office must have
been the examination room because there was a sink in it.
The funky surroundings were matched by a funky staff—Mitch’s tinted glasses
and gold earring made him look like an extra from Starsky and Hutch; I dressed
out of dumpsters and thought bras and deodorant were tools of The Man; and
Evan, with his sweater vests and curly brown hair, seemed homesick for The
Shire. The exception was our mapping assistant Michelle, a straightforward
outdoors type who resisted the urge to slip me some of her mother’s Mary Kay
personal hygiene products. We relied on her and our many volunteers to give us a
veneer of respectability.
In fact, we relied on volunteers for just about everything. These were the days
of low-budget, low-tech operations before e-mail and websites and mailing
services. Our only way to reach the membership was to wedge as many volunteers
as possible onto the office floor and trolley in boxes of newsletters, reams of
fliers, and rolls of labels for them to piece together by hand. These smudged and
crouching saints worked for little more than a thin slice of pizza, topped only
with tomato sauce and green peppers since I was a vegan. No beer, only tap water
from spotty plastic cups fished out of Mitch’s sink.
I took part in what were euphemistically called mailing “parties” but I was
being paid a good salary: $12,000 a year, the most I had ever earned. But of
course we weren’t there for money or snacks, we were there to help the wild
things and we rarely lost sight of our purpose. My first day at work, a bald eagle
flew right by the window.
“Wow, Mitch,” I said, “do you always see eagles in Bellingham?”
“Just out of this window,” he said, smiling. I imagine Mitch still sees eagles
out the window, but not through those funky shades. And the volunteers now, I
hope, get beer with their pizza.
Making Forest Protection Fashionable
Tom Campion has been an activist since the late ’70s when he helped appeal the
Fly timber sale in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. Founder and
president of Zumiez, a chain of teenage lifestyle clothing stores focusing on snowboarding and other self-propelled sports, Tom serves as board chair of the Alaska
Wilderness League, and has served as board treasurer for NWEA since 1991.
From the get-go I’ve passionately supported NWEA. Our approach is
refreshing, presenting out-of-the-box solutions to problems. In the early years we
were always broke, yet we always found the money to do the job. We never said,
“we can’t do it,” instead taking the great leap of faith. Sure enough, supporters
came out for us. Even today, we never have money sitting in the bank; we use it
to fight battles strategically, reacting quickly to situations and creating new
campaigns as needed. We get things done, and done well, on a very tight budget.
I stay on the board because NWEA is the most effective group working on
forestry issues in Washington state. NWEA is also one of the only conservation
groups today working on key, transboundary issues. We are different from all
Keeping the Northwest wild
NWEA staff, 1994 (left to right): Mike Lolley,
Evan Frost, John Klak, Susan Snetsinger, Mitch
Friedman, Lillian Ford, Matt Norton, Michelle
Peterson. NWEA archives
“I know that, back in the office, in the
rush of the average day, I often forget that
my allegiance is to toothy 10-foot-tall
monsters and 45-mph mountaintop winds,
and not to the principles of efficient recordkeeping or professional photocopying
standards. This is a shameful circumstance,
but also understanable. My cultural memory
tells me that the wilderness is so huge and
powerful I can confidently take it for
granted, I know that it will be there, at least
longer than the 6:10 Fairhaven will be at the
bus stop.
“Nonetheless, as we go about our daily
work in this airtight third-floor office and
do what we can to serve the Wild with our
science and our strategy, I hope the posters
on the walls and some loyalty, remembered
or chosen, will keep our heels dug in on the
side of our oldest kin.”
—Lillian Ford, printed in Northwest
Conservation, Fall 1993
Summer 2004
11
NWEA Timeline
1995, changes its name to Northwest
Ecosystem Alliance, broadening its mission
“to protect and restore wildlands in the Pacific
Northwest and support such efforts in BC,
bridging science and advocacy, and working
with activists, policymakers, and the general
public to conserve our natural heritage”
1995, launches a nationwide “Endangered Salmon Adventure,” with a 25-footlong fiberglass salmon, to raise awareness
about imperiled species and threats to the
Endangered Species Act
1995, sues to have hound hunting and
bear baiting outlawed in the North Cascades
Grizzly Bear Recovery Zone
1996, in a precedent-setting move,
NWEA bids on the Thunder Mountain timber
salvage sale in the Okanogan National Forest,
building public awareness of the Forest
Service’s money-losing timber sale program
1996, members of Western Washington
University’s Western Endangered Species
Alliance—assisted by NWEA—occupy Rep.
Norm Dick’s office to protest the Salvage
“logging without laws” Rider
1996, helps pass Initiative 655 banning
bear baiting and hound hunting of bear,
cougars, and bobcats in Washington state
1996, publishes report, “Arid Lands of
Eastern Washington: Biology, Ecological
Condition, and Conservation Strategies”
1997, helps design the Cispus Adaptive
Managment Area plan, protecting old growth
and roadless forests in the Gifford Pinchot
National Forest
1997, sues to protect lynx under the ESA
1998, reaches precedent-setting
agreement with Washington state to raise
money to permanently protect state trust
lands in the Loomis Forest
1998, with others, sues the Office of the
US Trade Representative for violations of
National Environmental Policy Act and ESA
arising from the Softwood Lumber Agreement between the US and Canada
1998, documents state failures on Forest
Practice Rules, filing suit against Washington
state to improve environmental safeguards
for logging on state and private forest lands
continued page 14
12
other groups because of our strategies, and because of executive director Mitch
Friedman, an astute thinker and keen strategist. Over the years I’ve also watched
key people in the organization, directors like Joe Scott, Dave Werntz, and Fred
Munson, grow to become effective leaders in their own rights.
I served on the steering committee during the Loomis Forest Fund campaign.
This was at the height of tech boom, and NWEA found a way to bring a whole
new kind of person into the battle. We made the Loomis hot as an issue, and the
campaign was effective at least partly because it got to be very fashionable to
support the forest. And that has been good for the environmental movement.
I am passionate about the outdoors anyway, but making the environment
work—protecting parks, wild open spaces, and a
diversity of wildlife—is great for business. Extractive
businesses usually require some form of subsidy to
continue to exist. Ethical businesses, however, can
profit from environmental protection; it’s the only way
to look at things.
Audubon Richochet
After spending 15 years as a full-time forest activist, Bonnie Phillips returned to
school two years ago to get her master’s degree in environmental studies at The
Evergreen State College. She is chair and founding board member of the Olympic
Forest Coalition, whose mission is to protect and restore the Olympic Peninsula’s
forest ecosystem.
I first met Mitch Friedman in 1987 when he, along with Dana Lyons and
George Draffan, came to Pilchuck Audubon Society’s summer educational
campout and gave an Earth First! slideshow on the ravages of clearcut logging.
Mitch and George swayed us with photos and words, and Dana, of course, with
his music. A friendship began.
Less than two years later, sometime in early 1989, I found myself sitting in a
conference room in a public meeting place in Everett, Washington, with Mitch
and others, to discuss the founding of a new organization that would actually
tackle the complicated issue of protecting ecosystems. No surprise: Mitch was the
driver of this movement and of our new name, the Greater Ecosystem Alliance.
1989 was a pivotal year in the forest protection movement. In February,
Judge William Dwyer enjoined all timber sales in spotted owl habitat from being
sold; Congress intervened and forced the plaintiffs to release two-thirds of the
sale volume under the injunction. Because Pilchuck Audubon was a plaintiff on
the lawsuit, we got the job of choosing sales. I turned to Mitch for help. As we
went to the offices of the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest for information,
the agency was leery of why we would want this former Earth First!er with us.
Well, we knew—it wasn’t just about owls in isolation from the ecosystems where
they lived.
Cut to a scene in Eugene, Oregon, that November. Two days before plaintiffs
had to negotiate a giveaway of timber, over 100 Audubon chapter representatives
met to discuss ecosystems (different from the older, but still prevalent view, of
choosing “special places” for protection) and Mitch was right there with the
major ecosystem white paper, that time representing North Cascades Audubon
Society. It didn’t take long, of course, for GEA to take hold and be an entity of its
own high standing. But I do remember Mitch making his transition from Earth
First! to Greater Ecosystem Alliance via Audubon—and we were glad to have
him!
Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
www.ecosystem.org
Sally Hewitt
15 years of Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
15 years of Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
Still Fighting the Battles
Joe Scott, NWEA’s international conservation director, worked for years as a grizzly
bear activist before joining the GEA board in 1993. He served as board president
from 1995 to 1997, when he joined NWEA staff. He lives in Bellingham.
Fifteen years ago NWEA was spawned as GEA at the drive-in in the back seat
of an old VW bus; George HW Bush was in the White House working against the
environment. Today, NWEA at 15 has overcome its humble beginnings as the love
child of conservation biology and grassroots activism, and it’s now sporting
around in a hybrid Prius. But there’s a George Bush still in the White House, and
he’s launched countless rollbacks of environmental protection.
The more things change, eh? NWEA at least has come a long way indeed.
After the name change and the departure forever of the VW bus, the organization
sort of entered the mainstream. It grew up (in a manner of speaking) and had
children of its own (like Little Loomis and Petey Partnership). Oh, don’t get me
wrong, visitors can still be greeted by barefoot staff and dogs charging through
the halls, but the collective NWEA—the sum of all the parts—has gotten rid of its
stiff legged gait and learned to coordinate its newfound muscle.
Meanwhile in the parallel universe of Washington DC, our Orwellian leaders
have led us ahead to the past, with a Healthy Forest Initiative guided by logging
big, old trees; a Clear Skies program defined by rewarding polluters; and wild area
management marked by drilling those public lands senseless.
It seems strange that with all the great work NWEA and its supporters have
done, we’re still fighting the same battles that we fought in the old days—particularly the one to save old-growth trees. Many of us more naïve types had always
thought that the Northwest Forest Plan and a growing public awareness of our
natural heritage would finally help guide the country out of the dark ages of oldgrowth logging and species obliteration. I guess we all misunderestimated the
sophistication of some of the dinosaurs of DC in the art of deceit, the undermining of democracy, and the desire to enrich their buddies. I guess there’s much
work yet to be done in the next 15 years, and I think we’re up to the task.
Singer/songwriter Dana Lyons on the Ancient
Forest Rescue Expedition, 1990. Steven Reynolds
Humble Beginnings
“Wild” Bill Henkel is back in Bellingham with his son Miles, after several years in
Oregon and Idaho, during which time he achieved a master’s in creative writing.
I started working on the GEA newsletter in 1993 on a $500 budget, an IBM
286, and a mandate from Mitch to produce something that our readers could
digest during those blessed few moments each day they perched on their
porcelain throne.
Short. Sharp. Action-oriented.
Back then I was working on my master’s in environmental writing, covering
parades and car wrecks for the Skagit Valley Herald, and cranking out incomprehensible fiction on the side. I was thrilled by the assignment. But I was a hopelessly wordy guy.
So we fell short of Mitch’s mandate. Scientists mostly wrote like scientists.
Novelist wannabes mostly wrote like novelist wannabes. But occasionally we hit
the mark. I was especially taken by our interviews, how close to the bone it felt
when people just spoke their mind. Bonnie Phillips-Howard. Doug Peacock. Reed
Noss. Terry Tempest Williams. I remember being amazed at the number of swear
words Harvey Manning managed to fit into a 2-page interview.
There were lessons, too. Lessons in the power of the written word. Mitch had
Keeping the Northwest wild
1995 cartoon by Chad Crowe. NWEA archives
Summer 2004
13
15 years of Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
NWEA Timeline
1998, sues the federal government to
follow the Northwest Forest Plan and protect
old-growth wildlife
1999, launches Loomis Forest Fund
Campaign, raising $16.7 million dollars in
less than a year to protect 25,000 acres of
critical lynx habitat in the Loomis Forest
1999, with others files the Pelly Petition,
calling on Canada to pass endangered
species legislation
1999, petitions to list the western sage
grouse of the Washington shrub-steppe
ecosystem
1999, Judge William Dwyer rules in
favor of NWEA and others saying the federal
government failed to protect wildlife on
national forests as required in the Northwest
Forest Plan
1999, celebrates 10th anniversary with
first annual Jammin’ for Salmon event
2000, inititates The Cascades Conservation
Partnership to purchase and protect private
“checkerboard” forest lands connecting the
Alpine Lakes Wilderness with Mount Rainier
2000, Canada lynx listed as threatened
across its lower 48-state range
2000, NWEA helps promote a bill that
would end old-growth logging in the Pacific
Northwest
2000, Washington legislature passes a
bill introduced by citizen activists to protect
Lake Whatcom with a Lake Whatcom forest
land management plan
2000, launches initiative to protect state
lands on Blanchard Mountain near
Bellingham
2000, organizes the first Washington
State Trust Lands Conference
2000, in partnership with the state,
implements the Rare Carnivore Remote
Camera Project to document the presence
of carnivores in the North Cascades
2001, thanks to NWEA, Canada’s Snowy
Mountain Provincial Park, just north of the
Loomis Forest, is formally protected
2001, helps lauch the Northwest OldGrowth Campaign
continued page 16
14
me write an article on Congressman John Miller’s hijacking of the term
“Cascadia.” So, being a professional journalist, I dutifully gathered five facts,
three quotes, penned a few biting paragraphs, threw in a satirical comic strip, and
declared “print it!” to my staff of one. Two weeks later the Congressman’s office
called. He wanted to meet to discuss my opposition to Cascadia. Did it matter that
I didn’t know a damned thing about it? Anyway, I’d like to imagine I wasted just
enough of the Congressman’s time to keep him from laying waste to yet another
25 acres or so of wild land he would have razed whilst we were having breakfast
discussing Cascadia.
Jeez, it was only 1993. But “those were the days” when sweet Lillian Ford
managed the office, Evan Frost did the conservation biology, and a German intern
named Holger Sandman wrote English better than the rest of us combined. I
remember the wormwood smell of the Herald Building’s third floor, the wafting
syrupy industrial smell of the GP plant next door, the dull throbbing of mainstream journalism below, and the feel of a clandestine operation above, a ragtag army studying our spread of Mylar maps,
perched on the edge of reclaiming some vast wild territory—
and indeed we were.
British Columbian for the Greater Ecosystem
Candace Batycki lives in Nelson, BC, where she is BC Endangered Forests Program
director for ForestEthics and serves on the board of the local community radio station.
A born and bred British Columbian, I go back with NWEA to the days of
Greater Ecosystems. In fact I live in one: my home bioregion is the Columbia
Mountains Greater Ecosystem. Made up of three ranges (the Monashees, Selkirks,
and Purcells) the Columbia Mountains start in the inland temperate rainforest of
British Columbia and stretch down into Washington, Idaho, and Montana. The
Columbia is a land of long, deep, cold lakes and diverse mountain forests of cedar
and hemlock, pine and larch, spruce and fir. We’ve got two international grizzly
bear recovery zones and a goodly portion of the world’s only mountain caribou.
And for 15 years NWEA has been there for this region, when most other folks
couldn’t see past the west side/BC coast.
It’s easy to forget that only a dozen years ago most conservationists were
unfamiliar with the now-gospel ideas of conservation biology, including how to
design a buffered and interconnected reserve system. In 1992 GEA hired conservation biologist Evan Frost to design such a system for the Columbias, and me to
help gather the necessary data on the BC side and promote the project and its
underlying concepts in BC. This was also pre-GIS (gasps from the audience!). We
coordinated volunteers to laboriously hand-color dozens and dozens of forest
cover maps so we could see easily where the old-growth still was. Evan and I
spent many months hauling enormous map rolls around, talking up the approach
with scientists, activists, media, government, and volunteers. And I made a secret
list of places to visit, as green and blue pencil crayons revealed remote valleys yet
untouched by development.
Evan and I had a few good field days, as well as some disappointments. I
recall driving on what the maps showed as a road that ended on the edge of the
International Selkirk Grizzly Bear Recovery Zone. But the damn road kept going
and going. We climbed up onto a good view site and shared a few tears at this
incursion into what we had hoped was a big expanse of unroaded wilderness.
Six months into our project the BC government declared a massive land-use
planning exercise for most of our study region. Although flawed due to its
Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
www.ecosystem.org
15 years of Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
arbitrary 12 percent cap on new set-asides, the process did result in a
number of new protected areas being declared two years later. Throughout the process Evan and I kept up our outreach and scientific work,
explaining constantly why 12 percent was not enough, and conferring
with regional environmental non-governmental organizations on
priority areas for protection.
This story has a (somewhat) happy ending. That damned road now
snakes alongside the Midge Creek Wildlife Management Area, and ends
at the edge of West Arm Provincial Park. Like most of the 1994 protected
areas in the Columbias, it’s not everything we wanted. But as Joe Scott
will tell you, we ain’t done yet. NWEA is still actively campaigning to
protect the Columbias, side by side with my organization ForestEthics
and other regional partners. Thanks, NWEA, and here’s to another 15 years.
Fin: Whirlwind Tour for Salmon
Brian Vincent was conservation director at NWEA from 1995 to 1997.
He lives in California these days, where he works for animal rights.
Eric Wittenbach and I pulled into Missoula close to midnight,
exhausted from a non-stop drive from Seattle, hauling Fin, a 25-foot fiberglass
salmon, on a boat trailer to Missoula, our first stop on a whirlwind tour across the
US to raise awareness about the plight of imperiled species and to generate
opposition. A noble cause, but all Eric and I could think about was finding a safe
spot to park Fin for the night and catching some ‘zzzs before showcasing the
giant salmon the next day. As we looked for a good parking space, I turned into
what was a dead-end road. As I attempted to turn the rig around, I heard a loud
“snap”! Never having driven a vehicle pulling a trailer before I had torqued the
trailer too far and broken the hitch that attached it to the van.
At that moment it looked like the Endangered Salmon Adventure, instead of
being a swimming success, was going to be a flop. As luck would have it though,
we called on a couple of local environmentalists the next morning who put us in
touch with a sympathetic welder. He had the trailer fixed by 11 o’clock the next
morning and Fin was parked in Missoula’s Caras Park by noon, attracting the
local press and residents.
Over a period of 20 days in 1995, Fin, the big fish, Eric, and I visited 29
cities in nearly 20 states, from Montana to New York. The 1995 “Endangered
Salmon Adventure” sponsored by the Northwest Ecosystem Alliance took Fin to
county fairs, aquaria, zoos, daycare centers, schools, universities, parks, shopping
malls, and even the steps of the US Capitol. Fin and her message of protecting
biodiversity received extensive media attention appearing in numerous newspapers, including the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Baltimore Sun, and
many local press, as well as on local television and NBC’s Nightly News.
Wherever Fin went people took notice. She even received support from some
unlikely folks. A logger at a rest stop in eastern Washington gave us the thumbs
up after speaking with us. In a small town outside Cheyenne, a rancher saw Fin
outside a restaurant where Eric and I were dining, came into the establishment to
inquire who was towing the fish, and then paid for our dinners.
Elderly women, toddlers, construction workers, and businessmen turned their
heads when Fin arrived. The curious crawled into the 1,300 pound salmon’s
mouth to see a mural of endangered species and hear tapes of natural sounds such
as the rush of a river. Nearly all who visited with us said they supported the
Endangered Species Act and thanked us for spreading the word.
Keeping the Northwest wild
Greater Ecosystem Alliance view of the Pacific
Northwest by ecosystem
Fin swims into Bellingham. Gillian Vik
Brian Vincent at the Sugarloaf timber sale
protest in 1995. E Faryl
Summer 2004
15
15 years of Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
2001, starts its “Grove Guardian” citizen
activists program to adopt and monitor
65,000 acres of timber sales
2001, publishes “Trampling the Trust,” a
report on the Washington State Department
of Natural Resources grazing program
2002, holds Restoring Our Roots rally
in Seattle attended by 3,000 people to protest
the Healthy Forests Initiative
2002, files suit to stop Lock and Swell
timber sales on the Gifford Pinchot National
Forest which target roadless old growth
2002, with others blocks spraying of
pesticides in eastside national forests
2002, produces “Greening the Trade in
Trees,” a report on changes needed to Canada/
US trade policies to protect forest habitat
2002, files suit to list western gray
squirrel as threatened
2003, starts collaborative work to steer
Forest Service toward restoration of young,
managed tree plantations on Washington’s
national forests
2003, begins partnership with
Washington State Department of Fish and
Wildlife to reintroduce the fisher
2003, convenes scientific forum on
young stand management
2003, The Cascades Conservation
Partnership celebrates raising $16 million in
private funds and $56 million more from
Congress, protecting 35,000 acres of critical
habitat in Washington
2004, with allies kicks off the Mountain
Caribou campaign to protect the animal and
its old-growth habitat in British Columbia
2004, rolls out the Ancient Forest
Roadshow, touring across the nation huge
slabs of Douglas fir trees recently cut on
public lands in Oregon
2004, files suit against Bush
administration to abide by the Northwest
Forest Plan and protect fish habitat and rare
plants and animals
2004, files lawsuit to force
implementation of recovery plan for grizzly
bears in the North Cascades, building on two
other suits for the bear, the first filed in 1993
16
Flashback to Western Endangered Species Alliance
Jeanette Russell works today as grassroots coordinator for the
National Forest Protection Alliance (www.forestadvocate.org)
and lives with her husband, Matthew Koehler, also a forest
activist, in Missoula, Montana.
Interning at NWEA was a life changing experience, one of
those rare times when everything matched perfectly—the energy
on campus, the politics of the 1995 Salvage Rider, and the
freedom of Fairhaven College, where I received a BA in forest advocacy.
I can attribute the start of my 10-year career as an forest organizer to the
experience gained at NWEA with Mitch Friedman and Brian Vincent. Through
their leadership I discovered my talents as an organizer, cofounding at Western
Washington University one of the most effective student groups in the nation, the
Western Endangered Species Alliance (WESA).
This is something I allow myself to brag about without restraint; WESA was an
organizing machine. We regularly had 30 to 50 people show up to weekly student
meetings. At congressional town meetings, Rep. Jack Metcalf often formally
allocated time for us to speak because he knew at least 30 students would be at
each one. Representative Norm Dicks, cosponsor of the Salvage Rider, flew out
from DC to meet with our student group because of the media we generated
around a WESA lock-down in his office concerning his policies. Yes, we rocked,
and even got applause from others for it. A major part of our success was the
strategic direction and mentoring provided by NWEA.
A tribute to our effectiveness, seven students from our group were immediately
hired by national and local environmental groups. I was the only woman from the
entire West Coast accepted into Greencorps Field School for Environmental
Organizing. I later worked as regional organizer for the Native Forest Network in
Missoula with the daunting role as the first paid regional organizer for the
Campaign to End Logging on Public Lands.
I can’t tell my story without going back to the glory days of NWEA. Long live
NWEA! Long live our wild forests!
A Bid for Forests at Thunder Mountain
Evan Frost is now a consulting biologist with Wildwood Environmental Consulting.
He lives in Ashland, Oregon.
I spent seven years working as NWEA’s conservation biologist, living first in
Bellingham and later in Twisp. The number of timber sale environmental documents I had to review is too painful to recount. I also oversaw the development of
science-based proposals for protecting enough land in the North Cascades and
Columbia Mountains ecosystems to sustain biodiversity in these rich and beautiful areas.
But my strongest memory from my time at NWEA was our crazy effort to
outbid the timber companies for the right to log—or not log in our case—the
Thunder Mountain timber sale.
I was well familiar with Thunder Mountain, in the heart of the lynx habitat
Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
www.ecosystem.org
NWEA archives
NWEA Timeline
Fin, created by artists with Wild Olympic Salmon, was such a hit on the road
that she would migrate again from her home on the Washington coast. In 1996,
NWEA staff drove her east for a second tour. As before, crowds gathered, smiled,
gave the thumbs up, and reminded NWEA that Americans overwhelming support
endangered species protection.
15 years of Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
commonly called The Meadows. It’s part of the Okanogan National Forest, and a
stone’s throw away from the Loomis State Forest. In the heavy fire season of
1995, about 10,000 acres of lodgepole pine forest burned there. Of course the
Forest Service moved quickly to sell timber from the burned area. I tracked their
planning and environmental review process—which was poor, in typical Forest
Service fashion.
When the final EIS came out, we wanted to appeal it. It was clear that the
logging would have no environmental benefits but would do substantial damage
to this roadless habitat. This was in the days before the Forest Service claimed
that every logging project would benefit “forest health,” and the agency was
honest enough to make no such claim here. The only benefit the public stood to
get was the log revenue.
But our hands were tied. Shortly before the EIS was released, Congress passed
the infamous Salvage Rider, also known as Logging without Laws. We had no
legal standing to oppose the timber sale.
I remember briefing Mitch and everyone on a staff conference call. I described
the situation and our inability to act. And I added that an additional insult was
that the timber market was so weak, and this timber sale so unattractive, that to
attract any bidders the Forest Service had to mark down the opening bid amount
to an insane $8 per thousand board feet (about $25 per truck load). I said it was
possible that even at that price, nobody would bid.
Then Mitch laughed. He said, “Somebody’s going to bid. Us.”
The rest is history. No, we weren’t awarded the timber contract. Yes, the sale
did eventually get logged. But along the way we made national headlines, raised
conservative Republican allies in Congress and elsewhere, and built public awareness
and opposition to the Forest Service’s money-losing timber sale program.
As Mitch put it, “The Forest Service manages our public lands like a good old
boys club. A checkbook won’t get you in; you need a chain saw.”
Magic Movement for the Loomis Forest
Following the Loomis Forest Campaign, Fred Munson, NWEA’s current deputy
director, served as the first director for The Cascades Conservation Partnership. In
the 1980s and ’90s he worked masterminding campaigns for Greenpeace. He and
his family live in Ballard in Seattle.
In 1998, Mitch Friedman was looking for someone to direct the fundraising
effort to protect 25,000 acres of the Loomis State Forest. In the job interview I
asked an obvious question: So how much money do we need to raise? The
answer—“somewhere between $10 million and $30 million dollars”—would have
sent any rational person screaming from the room. Luckily for me, I decided to
stay and take on the challenge.
We worked hard at that campaign! But ultimately it was the good will of our
donors, and some magic, that helped us protect the Loomis. Two of those magic
moments are worth recounting.
Early in the campaign we held a chichi donor appreciation event at the World
Trade Center in downtown Seattle. I arranged for the mayor of Seattle to speak
and a TV personality to be master of ceremonies; we even had an ice sculpture of
a lynx on the buffet table. This was all a bit much for an ex-Earth First!er like
Mitch, who needed reassuring that this was how it was done. Something about
that night’s event ended up inspiring one of our donors so much that he walked
over to Mitch at the end of the evening and pledged $2 million worth of stock.
That was a bit of magic at work!
Keeping the Northwest wild
NWEA spearheaded the coalition effort that
saved the Loomis Forest in perpetuity. Bill Pope
Summer 2004
17
15 years of Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
Another piece of magic transpired months after we had finished raising the
$13.1 million we’d been told was needed to purchase the timber rights and protect
the Loomis. The State Board of Natural Resources had raised the price on us by
$3.4 million. Outraged, we quickly got the news to the press. The next day,
meeting in the office trying to figure out what in the heck we were going to do,
we got a phone call from Paul Allen’s foundation. Reading about our plight on
the front page of the newspaper, they’d decided to give us the $3.4 million needed
to finish protecting the Loomis Forest! That’s the kind of magic day you never
forget. I think the only day I ever laughed harder or smiled bigger was the day I
found out my wife, Laurie, and I were having twins.
Outreach Both Challenging and Fruitful
Sawmill Creek old growth saved by The
Partnership, another NWEA brainchild coalition.
Dave Atcheson
Heidi Eisenhour now divides her time between working as Development Coordinator for the Northwest Maritime Center capital campaign in Port Townsend and as
business manager for her husband, David, a sculptor. David helped prepare the
first Doug slab for its Ancient Forest Roadshow this summer.
Where did it all start? My love for Northwest Ecosystem Alliance began in
1999 when I worked as government relations staff for The Nature Conservancy of
Washington and began sitting in on meetings of the Loomis Forest Fund capital
campaign. Eventually this led me to a staff position with The Cascades
Conservation Partnership, a campaign that equaled (and some may argue eclipsed)
previous efforts in the annals of regional conservation. A letter signed by nearly
70 scientists said that The Partnership addressed the major ecological problem of
maintaining landscape connectivity in the Washington Cascades. That was something I wanted to be a part of and for three challenging and fruitful years was.
As outreach director for The Partnership I had the privilege of meeting
residents and electeds on both sides of the Cascade crest, talking to them about
the dwindling thread that held the Cascades together from north to south and our
plan to weave some reinforcement in the fabric of this ecosystem’s connectivity.
It was the vision of the leaders of NWEA and the groups’ partners, including
Mitch Friedman, Fred Munson, Charlie Raines, Bill Pope, and Tom Campion, that
brought the goal into focus. I was honored to be part of the small team that
helped bring this vision along. Together, we drew 17,000 supporters. We raised
over $72 million in public and private dollars and protected nearly 35,000 acres.
But, the work is not done. There are highways (I-90 for example) to bridge, trails
to restore, and streams to protect. But without the audacity and earnestness of
these leaders and the tight staff team they assembled, it is clear that the region
would hold a lot less hope for the future of Washington’s Cascades.
Members as Friends and Allies
Christie Raschke has a degree in environmental
science, and started at NWEA as an intern working
on forest policy issues. She is currently studying to
get her teacher’s certificate with a focus on chemistry.
One of my early memories at NWEA is opening
big piles of mail after we’d just sent out a mailing. It
was my first look at who our members are. Those
envelopes were filled with more than generous donations. On many occasions
people would write words of encouragement on the envelope or response form—
18
Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
www.ecosystem.org
Sally Hewitt
To learn more about what the Ancient
Forest Roadshow is up to, go to
www.forestroadshow.org
15 years of Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
things like, “Thank you for your wonderful work,” “Keep up the good work,” and,
“You folks are great—real movers and shakers.” I already knew that I was working
for an organization that gets the job done—and after seeing responses like these I
knew that our membership knew it too.
Over the past few years I have seen this organization change and grow. My
job changed from part-time data entry to a full-time position as membership
associate, in charge of the NWEA database. I’ve seen us move from a place where
five people shared a single office to a space that fits our needs and makes us feel
more like a connected family. And I’ve seen the generosity of our members grow,
not just in dollar amount but in creativity. People are now giving to us in lieu of
giving a gift to someone during the holidays. Couples ask friends and family to
send us donations rather than buy them wedding presents. And we still get
wonderful notes filled with words of encouragement.
Having the support of our members isn’t just about money. It’s about giving
us the voice we need to make a difference. It is knowing that we have allies to
bolster us when times are hard, and friends with whom we can celebrate success.
How the Lynx Changed My Life
Paul Balle, NWEA’s corporate gifts director, left the corporate software world in
August 1999 to throw himself into conservation issues. He lives with his wife,
Donna, in Carnation.
After ten rewarding (and sometimes chaotic) years at Microsoft, I was looking
for a major change, when one day in 1999 I saw a poster advertising an oncampus lunch featuring the effort to protect the Loomis State Forest. The
presentation, hosted by Jeff Stewart, opened my eyes to many things, including
the plight of the threatened Canada lynx in their Washington habitat, and the fact
that I could have a significant impact on the future of our forests and wildlife;
exciting for someone who grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, where mountains
are non-existent and wildlife is hard to find.
Donna and I decided to make the largest donation of our lives to protect
several acres of the Loomis. And that’s where I started thinking that I had perhaps
found a new career direction. I had begun volunteering with Northwest Ecosystem
Alliance, when one summer day in 2000—while a group of us were canoeing Lake
Ozette—Heidi Eisenhour, The Cascades Conservation Partnership outreach director,
casually asked what I wanted to do with my life, suggesting there were
fundraising positions available at The Partnership. The rest, as they say, is history.
In the end, I spent over three years working with donors at Microsoft,
Starbucks, Adobe, and Expedia, helping raise $1.7 million for The Partnership—
and I couldn’t have done it without the help of fellow donor and star volunteer,
Jeff Stewart (my conservation mentor!), as well as Mary Humphries, then development director, and many others at Northwest Ecosystem Alliance.
As gifts director, this is the first job I’ve ever had where people have actually
thanked me for doing what I do. I have met caring, committed people who could
only give a modest donation—but they decided to do that for two years on their
credit card in order to have a greater impact and protect more Cascades lands.
And I’ve also met folks who have given incredible lump-sum donations that I
could never dream of giving, who later increased their gifts in $10,000 increments
to help us protect more land threatened by logging and development.
It feels great knowing that I’ve been able to help protect beautiful forest lands
and the critters that live there, in a job I never dreamed I would have.
Keeping the Northwest wild
Canada lynx. Friends of Loomis Forest
Summer 2004
19
15 years of Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
The Joy of Conservation Giving—and Asking
NWEA’s leadership gifts director, Joseph Losi—former director of corporate support
for KPLU and “crazed mountain biker”—lives with his sons Nick and Jake in
Seattle’s Queen Ann neighborhood.
Juvenile northern spotted owl. Grant Wiegert
Asking for money for conservation is both simple and complex: Simple
because most people believe in the need to conserve nature and wildlife; complex
because building relationships with people takes time, and explaining ongoing
protection versus immediate protection is challenging.
A recent interchange with a potential supporter, Bobbie, illustrates this well.
Our contact had started months earlier with an introductory letter and follow-up
calls from me, yet there was little doubt I was on the verge of becoming just
another “telemarketer.” So after the greeting on my most recent call I offered the
truth: “I know that I’m likely one call away from being a real pain in the butt.”
Thankfully, Bobbie chuckled; the ice was broken and now we could talk.
Many people like Bobbie gave generously to land acquisition projects led by
The Cascades Conservation Partnership, and to the preceding Loomis Forest Fund.
Buy the land, save the land; urgent problem, tangible solution. Simple. But the
Cascades ecosystem is much larger and the problems facing it more complex than
just clearcutting or development. Also, supporting ongoing protection programs,
the kind that NWEA labors over daily, feels much less immediate to many people.
Interpreting for people how NWEA’s program work fits together is also challenging, since we work on such a plethora of issues: national forests, state lands, and
wildlife, in western and eastern Washington state and in British Columbia.
Fortunately, Bobbie, and most everyone else, shares a hope for the future. A
2004 survey of over 2000 registered voters, compiled by Decision Research of
Washington DC, found that fully “90% of voters are responsive to the view that
they owe it to their children and grandchildren both to be good stewards of the
environment and to avoid causing species to go extinct.” People understand that
saving trees saves all that goes along with forest: land, water, air, and wildlife.
Time and again I meet wonderful people and witness the joy that comes from
generous giving to an effort that will have a marked effect upon the lives of many
here in the Northwest. Add “joyous” to “simple and complex” to describe my work
fundraising for conservation. Together, with core values of responsibility, patience,
trust, pragmatism, science, collaboration, and relationship, we can work together
to protect the lands we love. Yep, Bobbie and I will be having coffee in a couple
weeks. Cross your fingers.
Fired Up to Lobby on the Hill
Barb Swanson is conservation associate for NWEA working on eastside forest
protection and fire ecology. She lives in Bellingham.
To learn more about Northwest
Ecosystem Alliance programs, go to
www.ecosystem.org/projects
20
“How will I recognize you?” I asked.
“Oh, don’t worry about that. I’m over six-feet tall and 300 pounds, you can’t
miss me,” Derald bellowed with a chuckle.
And so began my adventure with Fire Marshall Derald Gaidos, lifelong
resident of Kittitas County, Washington.
With Derald dressed in dungarees, button-down shirt, and his signature red
suspenders, we embarked on a lobby trip to Washington DC to convince Congress
that in response to the threat of wildland fire, communities should be protected,
not forests logged as promoted in the Healthy Forests Initiative. We wanted to
help Congress see the commonsense need to fund the protection of people living
Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
www.ecosystem.org
15 years of Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
near national forests, by reducing the flammability of homes adjacent to wildfireprone ecosystems.
For Derald, this was much more than a mere lobby trip, it was his first trip
away from the Pacific Northwest, and his very first time to fly in a plane. However, with his easygoing, humorous disposition, our work on “the Hill” was great,
and Derald proved to be quite a trooper. Any seasoned lobbyist will warn you to
wear comfortable shoes and be prepared to do a lot of walking. The long, marbled
floors of Congress can be hard on the body. Even more so for a guy Derald’s size—
especially since he was scheduled for knee surgery in the next month. Derald took
it all in stride, slogging along to the various offices for meetings.
And when he spoke in meetings, people listened. With his country-boy
charm, sense of humor, and straightforward manner, Derald commanded the
attention of everyone he spoke to, regardless of party lines. No eyes glazed over
or glanced at the clock with Derald in the room.
The DC adventure wasn’t simply limited to our lobby work. DC is a mecca of
international cultures and there were many ethnic restaurants to choose from. The
first night we ate Ethiopian food—an exotic choice for anyone, particularly a small
town fellow like Derald. But Derald was open to the strange and new experiences DC
had to offer. He dug right in, but shook his head the entire time, declaring that he
didn’t dare tell his young daughters he ate dinner with his hands.
The next evening when asked what he might want to eat for dinner, Derald
replied with a smile, “Anything that requires a fork!”
Collaboration Story: There’s a Reason He’s Called Red
Regan Smith is conservation associate for NWEA working on westside forest
protection and collaborative work. She lives in Bellingham.
Recently a reporter from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer called me with an
interest to write a story on the Gifford Pinchot Collaborative Group. It was the
ten-year anniversary of the Northwest Forest Plan on April 13, and the progress
of the Collaborative Group was an excellent anecdote to demonstrate the potential of the Plan, despite the criticism and rollbacks recently enacted by the Bush
administration. Eager to share this story, I agreed to pull together a few members
from the group and accompany the reporter on a field trip to look at the Cat
Creek Thin, our collaborative restoration project.
The field trip was going well, with several us, including our most colorful,
resident old-timer, Red Rogers, in attendance. Red has roamed the forests of the
Gifford Pinchot for ages, hunting elk, deer and turkeys, and earning a good living
as a logger. In his early years, he operated steam-driven logging machinery, and I
tease him that he never did get all that hot air out of his system. Red has watched
the rise and fall of the timber industry in his town, and has lived through both
the prosperity and the poverty. Randle was once the second largest timber producing community in the country, falling just behind the town of Packwood, a
mere 15 miles up the road. Red has taken to calling me “sis” and I like to think
that we have somehow spanned the five decades that separate us to reach an
understanding and respect for each other’s points of view.
However, Red wouldn’t be Red without some mischievous antic up his sleeve,
and so it was that day in the field. Around lunch time, we all agreed that the
Grove of the Matriarchs, an ancient cedar grove rising elegantly beside East
Canyon Creek, would be the perfect picnic spot. As I sat amiably chatting with the
reporter about the joys and challenges of collaboration, Red took an ax out of his
truck and began chopping off bark from a 500-year-old Doug fir.
Keeping the Northwest wild
Ellen Trescott, Red Rogers, and John Squires of
the Gifford Pinchot Collaborative Working Group.
Regan Smith
Summer 2004
21
15 years of Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
For more on the collaborative effort
spearheaded by Northwest Ecosystem
Alliance, visit www.ecosystem.org/
nationalforests/collaboration
“Indeed,” I was confiding to the reporter, “the collaborative group has all
agreed that old growth is off the table.”
Meanwhile, Red was stacking the foot-thick bark chunks into the classic tepee
formation, and paused only to ask me if I had a lighter. Someone found one, and
within minutes, our peaceful old-growth picnic had a bonafide, roaring, oldgrowth-bark bonfire. As Red sat down contentedly, I had to laugh at the nervous
glances the reporter kept throwing at that fire, and Red’s declaration that “mother
nature would put that fire out,” we didn’t need to. But the true joy of working in
collaboration with diverse interests is that every outing is an adventure, a step
towards solidarity and another stitch to heal the wound caused by past decades of
refusing to sit down and talk with one another.
Keeping NWEA a Healthy Population
Pat Roberts, NWEA’s accountant, worked for many years at Whatcom County Big
Brothers, Big Sisters. She lives along Lake Samish with her husband, Mike.
Pine martin, closely associated with mature and
old-growth forest. Washington Department of
Fish and Wildlife
22
“Where did the money go?” It’s the question I answer most in my position as
accountant for Northwest Ecosystem Alliance. The emotional context depends
upon who’s asking: the IRS, our donors, the board of directors or, from across the
hall, the executive director, Mitch Friedman.
“Where did the money come from?” is another. The most crucial question
(substitute the word “stressful,” if I have to be the one to ask it) is “Where is the
money coming from?”
I fully admit to practicing defensive accounting. (Some staff here might call it
“offensive” when I let loose with a barrage of reports!) In my 25 years as an
accountant I’ve had to watch too many worthy organizations disappear from the
scene; nonprofits in general lead a precarious life.
Northwest Ecosystem Alliance is a wild and beautiful animal. It’s my job to
monitor the status of this critter. I am happiest when I can report that we have a
stable population, and significantly less so if I have to announce that our numbers
(in the literal sense of the word) are declining. My mission is to ensure we don’t
become a listed species—or, worse yet, that we aren’t added to the growing number
of nonprofits that have become extinct.
The money, of course, comes from the generosity of our donors. Thank you!
We couldn’t exist without you. Another part of what I do is to make sure that
we’ve spent it on what you’ve directed us to. We don’t “make free” with your
money. Money is our most limited resource; and I guard it closely.
Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
www.ecosystem.org
15 years of Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
Jammin’ for Salmon and Love of Community
Rose Oliver is NWEA’s office manager, and works on special events, outreach, and
volunteer organizing. She lives in Bellingham.
Some of my fondest childhood memories are of evenings spent playing
musical chairs and dancing the night away at the Marblemount Community Hall.
Everyone who was anyone in upper Skagit would attend, in fact there were nights
that the chairs would line up the entire length of the hall with over 100 contestants scrambling and screaming for a spot to sit. The magic that emanates from an
evening spent with your family, neighbors, and friends is evident and most
powerful. This love for community functions has been with me ever since, which
is why I was thrilled when asked to organize our annual fundraiser in Bellingham,
Jammin’ for Salmon.
Jammin’ for Salmon brings the community together not only for good times
and great music, but also to educate and mobilize people to take action for the
wildlands they love. This year I wanted to take it one step further in the hopes that
those attending would sense the connectivity within our community and experience a bit of the magic.
I invited the children at the event to participate in a theatrical performance
which delivered our message of ecosystem well-being. For the first few hours the
kids crafted salmon, bear, and tree hats, then local storyteller Brian Flowers
gathered them up to prepare for the show. Those who wanted to were given lines
to read and the others silently played the parts of the hats they’d made. When the
children took their places, I noticed that all attention was focused on the stage.
This was the only time in the history of Jammin’ for Salmon that the entire crowd
fell silent; and I must say, that once the children started to speak, magic filled the air.
Children acted out a story onstage at Jammin’ for
Salmon, NWEA’s annual Bellingham member event.
Oliver Ross
We’d like to send out a heartfelt thanks to all of our wonderful sponsors
and local businesses and community members who donated to our Jammin’ for
Salmon raffle; this year’s raffle was the best ever. The event netted $7,500 for
NWEA. The first Jammin’ was held at NWEA’s 10th anniversary; it is our big
yearly community party for Bellingham. Thank you, Bellingham!
Sponsors
Raffle donations
Doug Nesbit
Barstop.com
Bellingham Weekly
Boundary Bay Brewery & Bistro
Camp Fire Boys and Girls
Cascadian Farms
Community Food Coop
Epic Events
Hardware Sales
KUGS 89.3
Mallard Ice Cream
Mt. Baker Vineyards
Northwest Recycling
Author Carol Reed-Jones
Masseuse Mauri Jeffries
Masseuse Cheryl Roberts, LMP
Photographer Paul Anderson
Blue Moon Vintage Clothing
Café Akroteri
Community Food Co-op
Fairhaven Bike & Mountain Sports
Northwest Computer Supplies
Johnson Outdoors
Living Tree Paper Company
Paris Texas Clothing
Pepper Sisters Restaurant
The Old Town Cafe
The Temple Bar
Ralf’s Brezen Bavarian Originals
Whatcom Children’s Museum
Keeping the Northwest wild
Summer 2004
23
inside NWEA
NWEA Anniversary Celebration
After visiting the Nocturnal House, where they
watched bush babies and armadillos and looked for
“Fatty,” the slow lorus, children saw wallabies and
emus, and learned about wolves, porcupines, and
grizzly bears at NWEA’s Anniversary Celebration at
the Woodland Park Zoo. Rose Oliver
Wild Animals
“This was truly a great event. A great auction, wonderful party, and good
speakers. Probably the best fundraiser I’ve been to.” —a satisfied NWEA supporter
On June 3rd at the Woodland Park Zoo, Northwest Ecosystem Alliance held a
15th Anniversary Celebration, where supporters of the Loomis Forest and Cascades
Conservation Partnership campaigns got to catch up and renew their involvement
in Northwest Ecosystem Alliance. The 305 guests at the event helped NWEA raise,
after costs, more than $50,000 for our work protecting Pacific Northwest forests
and wildlife.
Longtime members as well as new supporters of NWEA first mingled on the
sunny patio with wine and appetizers while bidding on more than 130 silent
auction items. Children had their faces painted with visages of wild animals and
encouraged their parents to bid on some amazingly lifelike animal puppets. During
dinner, table guests bid on native plant centerpieces, and each table competed for
best dessert during the “dessert dash.” After dinner, the children were escorted on a
private zoo tour; they then relaxed with coloring time during an icecream sundae bar.
Back inside the Rainforest Pavilion, NWEA founder and director Mitch Friedman
Volunteer thanks
Special thanks to the many on this list
who helped make our 15th anniversary event
at the Woodland Park Zoo June 3 a smashing
success! Paul Reed, Jennifer Knight, and Lynda
Kamerrer were the shining stars for the
auction portion of the event.
The NWEA staff thanks all of our
volunteers who dedicate substantial
time and energy to Northwest
Ecosystem Alliance. We couldn’t keep
the Northwest wild without you.
24
Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
Steve Abercrombie
Mike Adams
Paul Anderson
Lindsey Antos
Elaine Babby
Paul Balle
Paul Bannick
John Barnard
Emily Barnett
Chris Beamis
Keri Bean
Kenan Block
Jeffrey Jon Bode’
Janice Borrow
Jim Borrow
Kristen Boyles
Jennifer Brana
Paul Brookshire
Peggy Brown
Clint Burt
Kate Burton
Joni Cameron
Tom Campion
Todd Carey
Jonathon Cerar
Ant Chapin
Andy Chinn
Mark Christiansen
Barbara Christensen
Terry Clark
Michael Colfer
Chelsea Combest
Carrie Cooper
Craig Cooper
Amy Dameron
Sidonie DeCassis
William Donnelly
Jamie Dulfer
Ben Eilers
Todd Elsworth
Andrea Faste
Doris Ferm
Scott Fields
Demis Foster
Keith Fredrickson
Dawn Gauthier
Stacey Glenewinkel
Darcy Goelz
Don Goodman
Natala Goodman
Jennifer Harmon
Mary Kay Harmon
Steve Harper
Ryan Harried
Doe Hatfield
Stephen Hatfield
Paul Hezel
Michael Hinkel
Eric Hirst
Roger Hull
Roger Iverson
Cindy Jackson
Sego Jackson
Carol James
Amber Johnson
Lynda Kamerrer
Andrew Kirkby
Jennifer Knight
Peter Kobzan
Michael Koenen
Henry Lagergren
Sandi Lauer
www.ecosystem.org
Laura Livingston
Alex Loeb
Corey Long
Beth Louden
Sue Madsen
Tess Mahoney
Andrew McCoy
Megan McGinty
Tom McNeely
Rebecca Meredith
Kaitrin Millar
Jasmine Minbashian
Tina Mirable
Andrew Morgan
Daniel Morgan
Devon Musgrave
Christine Nasser
Blair Nelson
Jordan Norris
Zoe O’Neill
Nikken Palesch
Thomas Palm
Pete Palmer
Sue Parrot
John Pearch
Phil Perdue
Selah Prather
Tom Pratum
Letha Radebaugh
Kathryn Ravenwood
Paul Reed
Wendy Reilly
Alan Rhodes
Susan Rhodes
Nathan Rice
Nancy Ritzenthaler
Jo Roberts
Melissa Roberts
Marissa Rosati
Oliver Ross
Elizabeth Rothman
Ron Rundus
Ann Russell
Matthew Scholtz
Jared Scott
Travis Scott
Scott Shaffer
Jessica Shepherd
Michael Shepherd
Mark Skatrud
Alicia Smith
Alan Soicher
Betsy Statler
Jeff Stewart
Will Sumner
Shelley Sutton
Sean Sweeney
Lucy Uhlig
Marc Uhlig
Denise Urness
James Varner
Jeannine Wallach
Bjorn Wanwig
Chris Warner
Jen Watkins
Alex Wenger
Ken Wilcox
Stephanie Williams
Kathy Wilson
Steve Wilson
Laura Wolf
Tim Wood
inside NWEA
and Wild Times
and conservation legend Brock Evans emphasized that “endless pressure, endlessly
applied” is the only way to make real change. Brock Evans, one of the primary
protectors of Washington’s North Cascades National Park and Pasayten Wilderness
Area, gave an inspiring talk about Washington’s impressive conservation history
and the important challenges yet to be met. Following the speakers, auctioneer
Larry Taylor was a hit, leading the enthusiastic crowd in bidding on 20 live
auction items, as well as in bidding to fund NWEA’s conservation programs.
Hats off to Molly Harmon for her coordination of this event! And many
thanks from everyone at NWEA to the selfless and good-natured help of the 50
volunteers, both in Bellingham and Seattle, who made the evening possible.
A special thanks to our table captains, who recruited and hosted our guests.
Thank you Kristen Boyles and Trenton Cladouhos, Kenan Block and Kristin Hyde
Block, David Bradlee and Kathryn Gardow, Tom and Sonya Campion, Mark
Christiansen, Gordon Davidson and Caroline Feiss, Tim Greyhavens, Anne and
George Mack, Lisa and Dan McShane, Arvia Morris and Peter Clitherow, Fred
Munson and Laurie Valeriano, Jo Roberts, Christine and Leonard Rolfes, Kristen
Rowe-Finkbeiner and Bill Finkbeiner, Nancy Ritzenthaler and Al Odmark, Nancy
and Dana Quitslund, Richard and Polly Saunders, Joe Scott, Steven and Etta Short,
Stephanie Solien and Frank Greer, Jeff Stewart and Tammy Steele, Sonya Stoklosa,
Liann and Steve Sundquist, and Tim Wood and Anne McDuffie.
inside NWEA
Mitch Friedman addresses supporters on June 3:
“You make us who we are.” Rose Oliver
All Hats Off to Molly Harmon
It takes high-power organizational
skills to pull off a big event; and at
NWEA’s June 3rd anniversary gathering,
special event coordinator Molly Harmon
was the woman behind the success.
Molly grew up in Medford, Oregon,
surrounded by beautiful country. Yet, she
says, it was during college in Missoula,
Montana, and backpacking in the
Bitterroots that her love for the outdoors
blossomed. Today her chief sports interest
is road riding, a passion for cycling that
grew after she rode from Fairbanks to
Anchorage—along the way seeing a lot
of moose. “Moose are still my favorite
animal,” says Molly, “gorgeous, and so
tremendously powerful.”
In Montana she studied and then
taught early childhood education. A
move to Seattle in 1999 caused her to
shift tacks. After a retail gig or two, Molly
landed a job at REI’s flagship store, first
as a receptionist, followed by two years
as outreach coordinator for the Puget
Sound area. While still at REI she began
volunteering with The Cascades
Conservation Partnership. REI was
changing, though,
and Molly says she
left, “needing a
new direction,” a
path she is still on,
she says, “thanks
to her current coworkers” at The Molly Harmon.
Partnership. In due Dave Wilton
time, Molly was hired to coordinate the
NWEA anniversary event.
She continues working with The
Partnership through August. And then?
“I’m a wandering spirit,” said Molly, “Over
the years I’ve visited North Africa, eastern
Europe, Spain, England, and Ireland,
among other places. But I really want to
stay in the outreach field. The
environment, as well as human rights, are
a passion for me. Both keep me connected
to the general public and working oneon-one, at a level where you can see
change happen. I plan to follow my nose
to keep working for the things I love.”
Molly Harmon lives on Capitol Hill
in Seattle with her boyfriend Dave and
their five bikes.
Keeping the Northwest wild
Northwest Ecosystem Alliance warmly thanks
the sponsors of our 15th anniversary event:
Premier Graphics
Wineglass Cellars
Goose Ridge Estate Vineyards
New Belgium Brewery
Whole Foods, Seattle
Martha Kongsgaard and Peter Goldman
Greg and Carol James
Alex Loeb and Ethan Meginnes
Linda S. Park, Ph.D.
Ellen Ferguson
Peggy Printz
We also thank the Woodland Park Zoo,
catering crew, and staff, for the opportunity
to hold the event at the Rainforest Pavilion.
And a special shout out to our wonderful
zookeeper for leading the children’s “zoofari”;
it was a visit to be remembered.
Summer 2004
25
inside NWEA
Spotlight on Interns
Darcey Goelz
Kate Burton
A senior at WWU’s Huxley College
of Environmental Studies, Kate is
working with NWEA Conservation
Associate, Barb Swanson, on our forest
watch program. She works with US
Forest Service officials to monitor
projects on national forest lands,
keeping our records up to date and
writing and researching comments/
scoping letters for proposed projects in
the Wenatchee and Okanogan National
Forests. “I pursued this internship
because of the opportunity for handson experience. I was very interested in
a program out of West Texas, that
would have paid me well, but I thought,
‘How could I stay in Texas for three
months?’ Working for NWEA allows me
to meet people who are passionate and
informed about the Northwest.”
What are her impressions of the
NWEA phenomenon? “I have been
impressed with how many projects we
respond to and the expansiveness of
our study areas. At my first meeting
with Barb, she told me that everything
should be based on science, which
thrilled me. Admittedly, I love my
charismatic megaflora and megafauna,
but I also love advocacy based on facts
instead of propaganda.”A Seattle
native, Kate’s a tidepool fan…and a
dancer. “Outside of stimulating my
mind with soil science and geomorphology, I have been a dancer for as
long as I can
remember, so I
dance whenever
I can. When I
can’t do that or
practice yoga, I
dream about my
future travel
destinations.”
Darcey Goelz came to NWEA to get an internship
experience in grassroots organizing—and she’s gotten
that, for sure! This is not an internship for college credit;
Darcy “decided that I wanted to know more about public
organizing before I went too much further through
school.” Darcey has been working with outreach/volunteer coordinator, Hudson Dodd, and special events
coordinator, Molly Harmon, to plan and execute NWEA’s
15th Anniversary celebration. She first learned about NWEA from a lobbying
class hrough Western Washington University’s Huxley College, where she is a
sophomore political science major. “We came to interview Lisa McShane and I
found the organization’s goals and activities to be something I would like to
support…a few weeks later I was at work!”
Darcey has been pleasantly surprised to learn how much people are willing to
donate their time, energy, and money to an environmental nonprofit. “You always
hear that the environmental movement is just a small, powerful group, but there
are actually so many who care; they are amazing.” In her spare time, Darcey
enjoys horseback riding, snowboarding, showing and breeding golden retrievers,
and spending time with her boyfriend, who’s enrolled at WSU, and her family in
southwestern Washington. “As beautiful as Bellingham is, there is nowhere in the
world like the Long Beach Peninsula. With the Columbia River, Pacific Ocean, and
Willapa Bay all at your doorstep, and not a Walmart in sight, there is nothing so
beautiful and relaxing.” It’s that kind of bonding with a place that makes so many
of us into conservationists.
Sidonie DeCassis
Sidonie DeCassis is another intrepid soul who sought out NWEA as a place to
gain valuable experience as an intern, without a school requirement. She’s a
freshman at WWU, where she plans to pursue a double major in environmental
studies and journalism. She chose NWEA because, “Since I was very young, I’ve
always tried to find effective ways of balancing activism with policy.” Sounds like
a good fit for NWEA, which she first learned about from the admissions
coordinator at WWU’s Fairhaven College.
“NWEA has an interesting dynamic,” observes Sidonie (Sido for short). “It’s a
quiet, yet active office. The staff makes it easy to absorb lots of varied
information. I feel like I’m perpetually gaining a better understanding and overall
concept of grassroots networking.”
Sido grew up in the Midwest. “Chicago was my ‘school year’ home, and a
little town in Wisconsin—Rice Lake—was my summer home. Leaving [Chicago] in
January was rather depressing because it was a time when I felt I had a particularly strong community of friends. When I moved here I knew only one person on
the entire West Coast. I like Chicago because it’s a bustling cosmopolitan center.
Bellingham provides me with that touch of wilderness that makes civilized society
a bit more bearable.” Again, sounds like a good fit for NWEA!
To intern at NWEA or to volunteer, contact Hudson Dodd, volunteer and
outreach coordinator, at [email protected] or call 800.878.9950 x26.
26
Northwest Ecosystem Alliance
www.ecosystem.org
Who we are
Keep it wild! Visit www.ecosystem.org
Northwest Ecosystem Alliance protects
endangered species by protecting
the places where they live.
We believe it is our responsibility to leave
the next generation a living legacy.
By conserving wildlife habitat, we provide
clean water and air for the Pacific
Northwest and ensure there is a safety net
to prevent extinction.
Since 1988, Northwest Ecosystem Alliance (NWEA)
has worked to protect the Northwest’s wildlands and wildlife.
Our strength lies in mobilizing people to demonstrate support
for science-based solutions, working to protect threatened
species such as the lynx and salmon.
At the forefront of regional conservation issues, NWEA
seeks new solutions to old problems. In 1999 we led the
successful campaign to protect 25,000 acres in the Loomis
State Forest, the best lynx habitat in the lower 48. Raising
nearly $17 million in little more than a year for this effort
inspired new momentum for conservation in the Northwest.
Dynamic programs and coalition efforts
We are proud to be leaders in coalition efforts such as
The Cascades Conservation Partnership and the Ancient Forest
Roadshow, along with our ongoing dynamic program work:
ΠSafeguarding our national forests and Pacific Northwest
mature and old-growth forests
ΠReforming management of Washington state trust lands
ΠProtecting Canadian wildlands and transborder wildlife
Œ Reconnecting Washington’s North and South Cascades
through wildlife habitat preservation
Please support the work we do, and join NWEA today
You can also give gifts of membership, t-shirts, art, or books to friends and
family to support NWEA in our work of keeping the Northwest wild. Thank you!
Memberships:
Other gifts:
I’d like to join NWEA for $
(minimum $15,
larger donation greatly appreciated).
I’d like to make a donation of $
New NWEA logo shirts—100% organic cotton, shortsleeve shirts in sage green & natural (men’s size s, m,
l, xl). Children’s (size s, m) and women’s-cut (size m,
l, xl) shirts also available, in tea-green & white. ($16)
Note style/size/color:
.
I’d like to give a gift membership in the name of:
Original old-growth images by Naomi Rose
(www.naomicrose.com). 10% of print sales
goes directly to NWEA.
To:
(name)
The Tree, beautifully written by Dana
Lyons and illustrated by David Danioth. A
book for children and adults. ($18)
(address)
(city, state, zip)
1,001 Hikes in North America CD-ROM,
published by TOPICS Entertainment (hikes
copyright The Mountaineers Books), Windows
compatible, not Mac, sorry ($20)
(email)
Send check payable to NWEA or provide VISA/MC information
Card #
Expires
Phone
Mail form to NWEA, 1208 Bay St., Suite 201, Bellingham, WA
98225; phone: 800.878.9950, fax: 360.671.8429
Keeping the Northwest wild
Summer 2004
27
Non Profit Org.
US POSTAGE
PAID
Blaine, WA
Permit No. 106
1208 Bay Street, #201
Bellingham, WA 98225-4304
keeping the Northwest wild