Conservation Northwest

15 years of Northwest Ecosystem Alliance The Joy of Conservation Giving—and Asking NWEA's leadership gifts director, Joseph Losi—former director of corporate support for KPLU and "crazed mountain biker"—lives with his sons Nick and Jake in Seattle's Queen Ann neighborhood. Juvenile northern spotted owl. Grant Wiegert Asking for money for conservation is both simple and complex: Simple because most people believe in the need to conserve nature and wildlife; complex because building relationships with people takes time, and explaining ongoing protection versus immediate protection is challenging. A recent interchange with a potential supporter, Bobbie, illustrates this well. Our contact had started months earlier with an introductory letter and follow-up calls from me, yet there was little doubt I was on the verge of becoming just another "telemarketer." So after the greeting on my most recent call I offered the truth: "I know that I'm likely one call away from being a real pain in the butt." Thankfully, Bobbie chuckled; the ice was broken and now we could talk. Many people like Bobbie gave generously to land acquisition projects led by The Cascades Conservation Partnership, and to the preceding Loomis Forest Fund. Buy the land, save the land; urgent problem, tangible solution. Simple. But the Cascades ecosystem is much larger and the problems facing it more complex than just clearcutting or development. Also, supporting ongoing protection programs, the kind that NWEA labors over daily, feels much less immediate to many people. Interpreting for people how NWEA's program work fits together is also challenging, since we work on such a plethora of issues: national forests, state lands, and wildlife, in western and eastern Washington state and in British Columbia. Fortunately, Bobbie, and most everyone else, shares a hope for the future. A 2004 survey of over 2000 registered voters, compiled by Decision Research of Washington DC, found that fully "90% of voters are responsive to the view that they owe it to their children and grandchildren both to be good stewards of the environment and to avoid causing species to go extinct." People understand that saving trees saves all that goes along with forest: land, water, air, and wildlife. Time and again I meet wonderful people and witness the joy that comes from generous giving to an effort that will have a marked effect upon the lives of many here in the Northwest. Add "joyous" to "simple and complex" to describe my work fundraising for conservation. Together, with core values of responsibility, patience, trust, pragmatism, science, collaboration, and relationship, we can work together to protect the lands we love. Yep, Bobbie and I will be having coffee in a couple weeks. Cross your fingers. Fired Up to Lobby on the Hill Barb Swanson is conservation associate for NWEA working on eastside forest protection and fire ecology. She lives in Bellingham. To learn more about Northwest Ecosystem Alliance programs, go to www.ecosystem.org/projects 20 "How will I recognize you?" I asked. "Oh, don't worry about that. I'm over six-feet tall and 300 pounds, you can't miss me," Derald bellowed with a chuckle. And so began my adventure with Fire Marshall Derald Gaidos, lifelong resident of Kittitas County, Washington. With Derald dressed in dungarees, button-down shirt, and his signature red suspenders, we embarked on a lobby trip to Washington DC to convince Congress that in response to the threat of wildland fire, communities should be protected, not forests logged as promoted in the Healthy Forests Initiative. We wanted to help Congress see the commonsense need to fund the protection of people living Northwest Ecosystem Alliance www.ecosystem.org

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