Favorite Place in the Northwest:Queets Valley
Favorite Northwest Animal:Pine Marten
As our leader, Mitch Friedman is involved in nearly all our conservation programs and other operations, as well as directing our Cascades to Olympics capital campaign.
Mitch Friedman is the Executive Director of Conservation Northwest, which he founded in 1989. He has a degree in Zoology from the University of Washington and raised two daughters in Bellingham before recently moving back to Seattle.
He led or played key roles in the following conservation achievements and innovations, among others. The largest privately-funded return of land to Indigenous peoples in the history (at the time it occurred) of America’s West, with the Figlenski Ranch. The largest reconveyance of state land in the country, around Lake Whatcom in 2012 to protect Bellingham’s drinking water. Restoration of a landscape-scale habitat linkage across the I-90 corridor, including a signature wildlife overpass.
He has been recognized with awards from Sunset Magazine, Society for Conservation Biology, The Wilderness Society, Washington Environmental Council, Northwest Jewish Environmental Project, Endangered Species Coalition, Wilburforce Foundation, and The Wildlife Society (NW Section).
He was named byWashington Law and Politics Magazine as one of the “25 smartest people in Washington” and has been profiled by The Seattle Times. Mitch also volunteers with a group that raises funds to support the defense of Ukraine and is proud to be recognized as a NAFO “fella” for that work.
His memoir, Conservation Confidential: A Wild Path to a Less Polarizing and More Effective Activism, is available everywhere.