About Us

 Working together for conservation

From the Washington Coast to the British Columbia Rockies, we’re your voice for conserving wildlands and amazing wildlife.

 

Our approximately 20 staffers represent over 4,000 dues-paying members in Washington, British Columbia and beyond. Our conservation community also includes over ten thousand activists, supporters and online followers.

Creative 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 tenacious yet pragmatic.

National Wildlife Federation Affiliate
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OUR TEAM

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

Conservation Northwest field staff and contractors also live and work in Olympia, Omak, Chewelah, Vancouver, Whistler and Lillooet, British Columbia.

 

Meet Our Staff

Boards

Our Board of Directors and Board of Advisers are both passionate and driven to protect wildlife and connect wildlands in the greater Northwest. Learn more about our Boards!

Coalitions

Starting coalitions and forming partnerships, we have a history of finding common-ground solutions: from our pioneering protection of important lynx habitat in the Loomis State Forest to our cutting-edge work with The Cascades Conservation Partnership, we know that by working together, we’re building a stronger, wilder future for the Great Northwest!

Finances

Our finances: Conservation Northwest is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in Seattle, Washington, supported by more than 4,000 families and hundreds of volunteers. All donations 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 rated 4 out of 4 stars by Charity Navigator!

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

We appeal the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest Plan for its failure to protect old growth and roadless areas.

1991

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

1993

We 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.

1994

We put forth a grizzly bear recovery program to encourage the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to raise its sights for recovery of North Cascades grizzly bears.

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.

1996

We help pass Initiative 655 banning bear baiting and hound hunting of bear, cougars, and bobcats in Washington state.

1997

We help design a management plan for the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, protecting roadless and old-growth forested areas of the forest.

1998

We reach a precedent-setting agreement with the state to raise money in order to permanently protect state trust lands in the Loomis State Forest.

1999

Northwest Ecosystem Alliance turns 10 years old. We launch and complete the Loomis Forest Fund, raising $16.7 million dollars to protect 25,000 acres of critical lynx habitat in the Loomis State Forest.

2000

We initiate the Cascades Conservation Partnership to purchase and protect private ‘checkerboard’ forest lands connecting the Alpine Lakes Wilderness to Mount Rainier National Park.

2000

Canada lynx is listed as threatened across its lower-48-states range, the result of an original petition brought forward by the Greater Ecosystem Alliance.

2000

We implement the Rare Carnivore Remote Camera Project, the predecessor to our Citizen Wildlife Monitoring Project, in partnership with the state in order to document the presence of carnivores in the North Cascades.

2000

We launch an initiative to protect state lands on Blanchard Mountain near Bellingham.

2001

Thanks to Northwest Ecosystem Alliance, Canada’s Snowy Mountain Provincial Park just north of the Loomis State Forest is formally protected.

2002

We host the “Restoring our Roots” rally for old growth in Seattle, with a donated performance by Dave Matthews and attended by 3,000 people. The rally was in protest of the increased salvage logging proposed by the “Healthy Forest Initiative.”

 

2002

The Cascades Conservation Partnership protects a four-mile stretch of Yakima River by raising public dollars to leverage public funds.

 

2003

We form a partnership with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to reintroduce native fisher to Washington, raising $25,000 to fund a feasibility study.

 

2003

The Cascades Conservation Partnership campaign ends; throughout its campaign it raised $16 million in private funds and $56 million from Congress to protect important land in the Cascades.

2004

We kick off the Mountain Caribou Campaign with allies to protect one of the rarest mammals in North America, as well as its old-growth forest habitat in British Columbia.

2004

We join local timber industry and community leaders on the Northeast Washington Forestry Coalition to focus on forest lands on the Colville National Forest.

2004

We form the I-90 Wildlife Bridges Coalition to ensure high-quality wildlife passage north to south across Interstate 90 in Washington’s Cascades and continue the work of the Cascades Conservation Partnership.

2005

Northwest Ecosystem Alliance becomes Conservation Northwest, and we update our mission to: “Conservation Northwest protects and connects old-growth forests and other wild areas from the Washington Coast to the B.C. Rockies for the benefit of both people and wildlife.”

2006

In response to a case brought forward by Conservation Northwest, snowmobiles are prohibited in the last remaining winter caribou habitat in the Selkirk Mountains, giving the endangered species some much-needed space.

2006

We become a part of the newly-formed Working Wolf Group, convened by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, to plan wolf conservation and management in Washington.

2007

The first batch of fishers are released into the Olympic Peninsula as a result of our reintroduction work with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

2007

In response to our urging, the Forest Service protects old-growth habitat and post-burn trees for lynx and other wildlife at the site of the Tripod Fire in northcentral Washington.

2007

Conservation Northwest initiates WildLinks, an annual wildlife conference gathering experts and citizens to share ideas and better coordinate ongoing efforts to keep our region’s wildlife habitat wild and connected.

2008

Conservation Northwest’s remote wildlife cameras in the Methow Valley capture the first images of wolf reproduction in Washington state in over a century.

2008

Thanks to the Mountain Caribou Project, the B.C. government legalizes a recovery plan for caribou and protects 2.2 million hectares of critical habitat from logging and road building.

2008

Construction begins on a wildlife underpass at Gold Creek, the first phase of the I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East Project, supported by I-90 Wildlife Bridges coalition and Conservation Northwest.

2008

We host the public roll-out of the Columbia Highlands Initiative, a plan for wilderness designation, forest recreation, and ranchland protection for the Colville National Forest of northeast Washington.

2008

A second wave of fishers is released into the Olympic Mountains’ old-growth forest.

2009

With our help on the Wolf Working Group, a state wolf conservation and recovery plan is released.

2009

Conservation Northwest adds $10,000 to a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife reward fund to help stem the tide of wolf poaching.

2010

We gain conservation easements in the Columbia Highlands, protecting open space and connecting wildlife habitat on ranching land.

2011

BBC and Discovery Channel create a documentary on the return of wolves to Washington, starring Conservation Northwest’s Jasmine Minbashian.

2011

We partner with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife on a pilot summer range rider program to reduce conflict between wolves and cattle in northeast Washington.

 

2012

We launch the Safe Passage on Highway 97 coalition to bring twin wildlife underpasses to a high traffic area in the Okanogan Valley.

2013

We become a part of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s new “Working for Wildlife” initiative, adopting a seven-year plan to protect the function of a wildlife habitat corridor linking the Cascades to the Rockies.

2014

For the third year in a row, six Eastern Washington ranchers involved with our Range Rider Pilot Program report no livestock lost to wolves.

2015

Ground breaks for the first wildlife bridge to cross over I-90 east of Snoqualmie Pass.

2015

We and partners begin to reintroduce fishers to the south Cascades in and around Mount Rainier National Park, after documented reproduction in the Olympic Mountains shows fishers thriving there.

 

2016

We continue fisher reintroduction into the South Cascades with the release of 37 fishers in the 2016 season.

 

2016

We become the National Wildlife Federation’s official Washington state affiliate.

2016

As armed extremists seize Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, we organize a rally in Seattle to showcase support for public lands with over 100 people in attendance. The Seattle Times writes a supportive Editorial thanks in part to our efforts.

2016

We publicly launch our new Friends of the North Cascades Grizzly Bear coalition, a partnership of conservation organizations working to build support for grizzly bear restoration in the North Cascades.

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