Southwest Washington Habitat Connectivity Summit 2024

Conservation Northwest hosted the second biennial Southwest Washington Habitat Connectivity Summit on May 22nd, 2024, at the Great Wolf Lodge. More than twice the number of people participated than attended our inaugural event in 2022.

Our goal for this summit was to update everyone on the great habitat connectivity work occurring in the region over the past two years, in part catalyzed by the first event two years ago, and to ensure we all have a good sense of the work that remains to be done. We also wanted to continue to connect people living and working in the region who are interested and/or already engaged in habitat connectivity work. The event would not have been possible without the robust participation, informative presentations, and engaged questions and dialogue of all who attended, so a big thanks to everyone who made it a fruitful day!

The conference brought together NGOs, Tribes, government agencies, public and partners to learn and collaborate about policy, proposals, and projects that can drive forward a more connected and resilient landscape in the Southwest Washington region.

In the afternoon we worked collaboratively on a vision for a connected Southwest Washington. We heard the following from our participants:

1. Improved and active communication and coordination with WA state agencies and elected officials including those on the county level to improve land use and planning outcomes.
2. We needed to broaden our partnerships to include a wider array of entities including, but not limited to private landowners (timber and otherwise), Ports, Utilities, local organizations and Boards of Directors.
3. We need to develop a sustainable source of funding (not session by session appropriations) to implement the strategies (i.e. tax incentives or other programming for private timber owners) and actions (i.e. buying conservation easements/lands) needed to create a more resilient and connected landscape.
4. We need to update and/or create policy that supports, funds, encourages, and legally mandates connected landscapes for wildlife and fish.
5. Develop a comprehensive collaborative and coproduced and executed communication plan and strategy to educate a variety of audiences from local populations, funders, and elected to create a ground swell of support. Part of this communications campaign can include: (a) developing a key character – similar to “P -22”, (b) identifying a “lead” champion, (c) developing lesson plans for classrooms, and (d) partnering with local organizations to give presentations around the state.

Together, the presentations and discussions demonstrated a tremendous level of commitment, knowledge, skill and creativity among Tribes, state agencies, local governments, scientists, non-profits, and citizens who live in and care about the landscape, towards ensuring a future for healthy wildlife populations through connectivity actions. We also gained a sense of the challenges and urgency given development pressures, population growth and uncertainty over where will get the scale of funding needed to accomplish all this work.

Thank you for sharing your day with us, learning about active projects, and participating in the development of a vision for a connected Southwest Washington.