Conservation Northwest

15 years of Northwest Ecosystem Alliance 2001, starts its "Grove Guardian" citizen activists program to adopt and monitor 65,000 acres of timber sales 2001, publishes "Trampling the Trust," a report on the Washington State Department of Natural Resources grazing program 2002, holds Restoring Our Roots rally in Seattle attended by 3,000 people to protest the Healthy Forests Initiative 2002, files suit to stop Lock and Swell timber sales on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest which target roadless old growth 2002, with others blocks spraying of pesticides in eastside national forests 2002, produces "Greening the Trade in Trees," a report on changes needed to Canada/ US trade policies to protect forest habitat 2002, files suit to list western gray squirrel as threatened 2003, starts collaborative work to steer Forest Service toward restoration of young, managed tree plantations on Washington's national forests 2003, begins partnership with Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife to reintroduce the fisher 2003, convenes scientific forum on young stand management 2003, The Cascades Conservation Partnership celebrates raising $16 million in private funds and $56 million more from Congress, protecting 35,000 acres of critical habitat in Washington 2004, with allies kicks off the Mountain Caribou campaign to protect the animal and its old-growth habitat in British Columbia 2004, rolls out the Ancient Forest Roadshow, touring across the nation huge slabs of Douglas fir trees recently cut on public lands in Oregon 2004, files suit against Bush administration to abide by the Northwest Forest Plan and protect fish habitat and rare plants and animals 2004, files lawsuit to force implementation of recovery plan for grizzly bears in the North Cascades, building on two other suits for the bear, the first filed in 1993 16 Flashback to Western Endangered Species Alliance Jeanette Russell works today as grassroots coordinator for the National Forest Protection Alliance (www.forestadvocate.org) and lives with her husband, Matthew Koehler, also a forest activist, in Missoula, Montana. Interning at NWEA was a life changing experience, one of those rare times when everything matched perfectly—the energy on campus, the politics of the 1995 Salvage Rider, and the freedom of Fairhaven College, where I received a BA in forest advocacy. I can attribute the start of my 10-year career as an forest organizer to the experience gained at NWEA with Mitch Friedman and Brian Vincent. Through their leadership I discovered my talents as an organizer, cofounding at Western Washington University one of the most effective student groups in the nation, the Western Endangered Species Alliance (WESA). This is something I allow myself to brag about without restraint; WESA was an organizing machine. We regularly had 30 to 50 people show up to weekly student meetings. At congressional town meetings, Rep. Jack Metcalf often formally allocated time for us to speak because he knew at least 30 students would be at each one. Representative Norm Dicks, cosponsor of the Salvage Rider, flew out from DC to meet with our student group because of the media we generated around a WESA lock-down in his office concerning his policies. Yes, we rocked, and even got applause from others for it. A major part of our success was the strategic direction and mentoring provided by NWEA. A tribute to our effectiveness, seven students from our group were immediately hired by national and local environmental groups. I was the only woman from the entire West Coast accepted into Greencorps Field School for Environmental Organizing. I later worked as regional organizer for the Native Forest Network in Missoula with the daunting role as the first paid regional organizer for the Campaign to End Logging on Public Lands. I can't tell my story without going back to the glory days of NWEA. Long live NWEA! Long live our wild forests! A Bid for Forests at Thunder Mountain Evan Frost is now a consulting biologist with Wildwood Environmental Consulting. He lives in Ashland, Oregon. I spent seven years working as NWEA's conservation biologist, living first in Bellingham and later in Twisp. The number of timber sale environmental documents I had to review is too painful to recount. I also oversaw the development of science-based proposals for protecting enough land in the North Cascades and Columbia Mountains ecosystems to sustain biodiversity in these rich and beautiful areas. But my strongest memory from my time at NWEA was our crazy effort to outbid the timber companies for the right to log—or not log in our case—the Thunder Mountain timber sale. I was well familiar with Thunder Mountain, in the heart of the lynx habitat Northwest Ecosystem Alliance www.ecosystem.org NWEA archives NWEA Timeline Fin, created by artists with Wild Olympic Salmon, was such a hit on the road that she would migrate again from her home on the Washington coast. In 1996, NWEA staff drove her east for a second tour. As before, crowds gathered, smiled, gave the thumbs up, and reminded NWEA that Americans overwhelming support endangered species protection.

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