Onward: As We Can and Must

By Mitch Friedman, Conservation Northwest Executive Director

 

America is in a mood, and change is coming. I awoke to this new reality last Wednesday while on retreat in Spokane with the entire Conservation Northwest staff. It was hard not being at home on election night, but sharing the experience and feelings with my team was also productive. Personally, my body aches from memories of Donald Trump’s first term, and I shudder with concern for global affairs and our institutions. Yet, I see an abundant opportunity to continue executing Conservation Northwest’s strategic plan.

Election outcomes for Olympia offer an encouraging set of fresh executives, including a Commissioner of Public Lands who shares our commitment to managing state forests for public values. Voters affirmed Washington’s Climate Commitment Act, which takes a responsible approach to reducing carbon pollution while providing funds for work like ours to improve the carbon storage capacity of forest habitats.

Our partnerships with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Washington Department of Transportation will continue. Similarly, last month’s British Columbia elections maintained the New Democrat government, with which we work well on several important transboundary objectives.

We can also continue our progress in protecting habitat corridors using Tribal partnerships and private funding. This fall, we helped both the Chehalis Tribe, and the Lower Similkameen Indian Band acquire vital habitat, making ecological and social progress. We will continue this work, especially in the Cascades to Olympics linkage and in the connected backbone of eastern Washington’s sagelands. Our partnership with Washington and B.C. Tribes to restore lynx to the Kettle Range will also continue to thrive and succeed.

I am optimistic about gaining wildlife crossings on Highway 97, Interstate 5, and other priority linkages. While many parts of the federal budget are now at risk, wildlife crossings have enjoyed surprising bipartisan support that will hopefully continue.

I see challenges, of course. A week ago, a federal effort to restore grizzly bears to the North Cascades seemed finally at hand. Now, the struggle likely resumes. Concerning our national forests, I can scarcely predict the assaults of the coming years. The Northwest Forest Plan and Roadless Area Policy survived Trump’s first term, so it probably will again. But what about Biden’s National Old Growth Amendment and funding to restore resilience to dry forests? The prospects for any new national monuments are bleak.

This all provides us with a mix of opportunities and threats. We are well-positioned and experienced for both offense and defense. One could argue that I am underplaying the level of instability and threat from the new administration. I am not. Instead, I follow historian Timothy Snyder’s advice that we do not concede in advance to the threats. Our job as citizens now is to continue expanding our collaborations at all levels and to be steadfast for our rights and our future.

The Conservation Northwest staff carried on last week, fulfilling the goals of our retreat. We had constructive strategic planning sessions and held one another up. We have a right to a wild Northwest. With your support and partnership, we will continue to achieve it.