Conservation Northwest

2011 A wild year Jasmine Minbashian Special projects director, jasmine@conservationnw.org • • Wildlife get an express lane: After decades of being cut off "at the pass," wildlife will get a chance to safely cross I-90. Thanks to all the work by the I-90 Wildlife Bridges Coalition, Conservation Northwest and others, the I-90 Snoqualmie Pass East Project continues to move forward this year. Marbled murrelets get a break: Four public utility districts in southwest Washington pulled the plug on a proposal to build the state's first coastal wind farm in the heart of our most valuable Okanogan-Wenatchee • nesting habitat for the threatened marbled murrelet. Don't forget the small things: Following nearly a decade of contentious debate and litigation, a historic agreement has been reached over federal rules that require wildlife surveys in old forest habitat. The agreement between the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and conservation groups sets a new course for habitat restoration and wildlife protection in the Pacific Northwest. Jen Watkins Conservation associate, jen@conservationnw.org Gaining hope, acre by acre People often ask how we can stay inspired to truly make a difference in the face of such huge environmental challenges. My reply borrows from our national forest program work, where our mission translates acre by acre into on-the-ground restoration. Our national forest program began in the late 1980s with a mission to stop the cutting of old growth and limit the damage of logging to our public lands. Fast forward two decades, and our program has evolved with the successes gained to restoring our national forests through a holistic approach that includes commercial timber harvest. The long haul pays off Prescribed burns are often used to "reset" forests. © David Moskowitz "I am a hiker and hunter who joined Conservation Northwest specifically because I saw firsthand how they use collaborative problem solving to bring divergent and polarized sides together. It is satisfying to watch actual progress being made." –Jan Carson, Spokane Keeping the Northwest wild Conservation Northwest has long worked to change our national forests from commodity-driven management to restoration. In 2010 that work culminated in two landmark policies on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest (OWNF), encompassing nearly four million acres in the Cascades from just south of I-90 north to the Canadian border. The Large and Old Tree Policy and Forest Restoration Strategy were both adopted last year. Now, the goal is for all management on the forest to be restoration focused with outputs reported in acres treated, not board feet produced. The policies went into full swing this year and we helped the Forest Service on a multitude of projects. Partnering with the Chumstick Wildfire Stewardship Coalition, including Conservation Northwest, the Wenatchee River Ranger District is implementing fuels reduction near homes and important habitat near Leavenworth with the Chumstick Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project. In partnership with the Upper Yakima Watershed Action Group, which we facilitate, the Cle Elum Ranger District is designing the Upper Yakima Restoration Project on 60,000 acres in the critical I-90 corridor. Plans include some thinning, hundreds of miles of road restoration, floodplain restoration, and recreation management. In a Memorandum of Understanding with the OWNF, we've agreed that where our restoration objectives overlap, we can partner to inspire creative solutions, exchange of resources, and timely implementation. This year in the I-90 corridor, in coordination with the Cle Elum Ranger District, we investing $6,000 from a generous private donor to close and restore unused logging spur roads. Thanks to support from The Mountaineers Foundation, we have $3,000 toward a larger project with the Methow Ranger District to decommission 2.7 miles of roadway and protect six stream crossings for fish and wildlife in the Chewuch River watershed. The issues facing wildlife in the Northwest often seem overwhelming. But out on the ground, the progress is clear. Re-contoured roadbeds, improved streamside forests, and a rebounding of native plants following a prescribed fire all benefit animals from wolverines to mule deer. These tangible gains give us hope, and the pieces add up to a connected landscape solution for Northwest wildlife. Winter 2012 5

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