About Us

OUR MISSION

We protect, connect and restore wildlands and wildlife from the Washington Coast to the British Columbia Rockies.

Founded in Bellingham, Washington in 1989, we’re your voice for conserving local wildlands and wildlife. Read about our organizational values, or our commitment to Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. 

With around 22 staff and half a dozen regular contractors, we work closely with several landscapes throughout Washington, British Columbia, and beyond. Our conservation community includes more than 4,000 supporters annually and more than eighteen thousand activists and online followers.

Bold, innovative, and effective, we’ve protected hundreds of thousands of acres of wildlands, supported the recovery of threatened species from wolves to fishers, and touched thousands of lives throughout the greater Northwest. Our successful campaigns and groundbreaking collaborations help define our effective approach to conservation. Elected leaders, government agencies, and conservationists know us for being science-based and tenacious, yet pragmatic.

Learn more about our programs protecting wildlands, connecting habitats, and restoring wildlife on the Our Work page. Scroll down for maps showing key conservation programs and staff around the region.

 

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OUR TEAM

Our staff work across Washington state and into British Columbia, including a main office in Seattle and field offices in Bellingham and Twisp.

Conservation Northwest field staff and contractors also live and work in Olympia, Omak, Chewelah, Deer Park and Whistler, D’Arcy and Pemberton, British Columbia among other areas across the Pacific Northwest. Scroll down for a map!

Meet Our Staff

Map of our staff and contractors (PDF)

Map infographic of key conservation programs (JPEG)

distribution map of conservation nw in 2022

The three pillars of our work: Protecting Wildlands, Connecting Habitat and Restoring Wildlife (JPEG)

Address

Our Seattle headquarters in the Queen Anne/Interbay neighborhood at the following address. This is also our legal and mailing address. Visit our Contact Us page for more contact options.

CONSERVATION NORTHWEST
1829 10TH AVE W, SUITE B
SEATTLE, WA 98119

Google Maps

Boards

Our Board of Directors and Board of Advisers govern and advise our organization, bringing leadership and expertise from a wide variety of Northwest business, conservation, scientific, technology, philanthropy, tribal and First Nation governance, and other sectors. For Learn more about our Boards!

Coalitions

Collaboration is a vital tactic for creating durable conservation progress. From our pioneering protection of important lynx habitat in the Loomis State Forest to our cutting-edge work with Working for Wildlife Initiative, we know that by working together, we’re building a stronger, wilder future for the Great Northwest!

We are proud to be a part of numerous ground-breaking coalitions that address issues crucial to wildlife, wildlands and people. Visit our coalitions page for a full list of coalitions and collaboratives we’re involved with.

National Wildlife Federation

We are also the Washington state affiliate organization of the National Wildlife Federation, America’s oldest and largest wildlife conservation organization. Since 1936, the National Wildlife Federation has worked across the country to unite Americans from all walks of life in giving wildlife a voice, and our partnership provides valuable connections in Washington, D.C., as well as insights from fellow conservation groups around the nation. Learn more about our alliance with this nationwide federation in this blog post from our Executive Director or in this affiliate highlight blog from NWF.

Finances

Our finances: As a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, all donations to Conservation Northwest are tax deductible to the full extent of the law. Our non-profit federal tax-exempt number is 94-3091547 and our Washington state UBI # is 601 135 446. We are a Better Business Bureau Accredited Charity, and are a 1% For the Planet Non-Profit Partner. Contact us for additional financial details.

A timeline of Conservation Northwest

A single list can scarcely record the countless volunteers, interns, and staff of Conservation Northwest who have worked thousands of hours on hundreds of projects championing wildlife and connecting and protecting wildlands and old-growth forests from the Washington Coast to the British Columbia Rockies to benefit wildlife and people.

1989

Mitch Friedman founds the Greater Ecosystem Alliance (GEA) in Bellingham “to promote the protection of biological diversity through the conservation of large ecosystems.”

1989

We launch the Ancient Forest Rescue Expedition, touring a section of a 700-year-old Douglas-fir log across the country to introduce Americans to the issue of clearcutting old-growth forests.

1990

Through our new Forest Field Program, we appeal the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest Plan for its failure to protect old growth and roadless areas. Under this program, we begin a National Forest Watch effort to track specific projects as they are proposed, comment on policies that affect the national forest and wildlife habitat, and engage collaboratively.

1991

We begin work to protect the Loomis State Forest, home to most of the remaining lynx in Washington state, from logging.

1993

We co-organize 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. This event, and our tireless organizing and advocacy, adds momentum for the creation of the Northwest Forest Plan.

1994

We put forth a grizzly bear recovery program to encourage the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to take steps towards the recovery of North Cascades grizzly bears, including drafting a formal recovery plan. A plan would later be finalized in 1997. The Environmental Impact Statement process for restoration would finally begin in 2014.

1995

We change our name to Northwest Ecosystem Alliance as we broaden our mission to protect and restore wildlands in the Pacific Northwest and support such efforts in B.C.