Conservation Northwest

14 Spring-summer 2014 conservationnw.org Interview, continued TC: It's the place—it's the North Cas- cades—and it's the people. They're in there fighting with integrity to connect the North Cascades over to the Rockies and north into Canada. When I give a talk on the Arctic, I start by showing a map of Alaska, overlaid onto the lower 48, and then I talk about how it's all connect- ed, Joe. Imagine the migrant songbird, the common redpoll, I see them every winter in my place in Mazama, and if you don't think it's still all connected.... We live in these amazing times, so here we are in western North America , with the most incredible landscapes on earth— and yet, here in 2014, it's still all con- nected. Now, it's dramatically affected by climate, but because of the integrity and the density of the long-term vision of conservation groups like Conserva- tion Northwest, we are protecting these ecosystems and the ability of animals to migrate, to float up and down these corridors. JS: Do you get the sense that the young people you work with at Zumiez come away with your philosophy of corporate responsibility and affinity for wilderness? TC: Well, my passion for conservation is not the mission of Zumiez, I do that through the Campion Foundation; but the values go through all aspects of my life. At Zumiez we have six touch points, including "fair and honest" and "empow- erment." The average age of my store managers is 24, so empowerment is pret- ty important. Whether it's Zumiez or Conservation Northwest, you put peo- ple around you that have a passion, that love what they do. And then you're all going at it together, that's how you win battles. I tell you—Joe, look at you and me, right? 25 years we've been doing this, and 36 for me at Zumiez and those values just don't change. You've got to like what you do, you've got to empower, you've got to teach, you've got to compete, and you've got to be pretty fair about it. And that's what I do. JS: 25 years... Are we winning or losing, are we holding our own? How must Conser vation Northwest chang e or evolve to survive and continue to be ef- fective? TC : It's a great question. Obviously, you've had considerable consistenc y of leadership, from Mitch to you, Joe, on down. at speaks well of organiza- tion. And Conservation Northwest has evolved! We've evolved on tactics. We helped connect the North Cascades to the Kettles by buying the Loomis Forest. Which was an epic year, we raised $18 million in a year and bought the rights to the trees from the state. And a lot of that's using technolog y that the market gave you. So I'd say we're winning. Un- derstand, it's never over. It is, as Brock Evans used to say, "continuous pressure, continuously applied." It's a lifetime of work, and when you get out of it, you inspire somebody to come in behind you—and you keep it going. JS: We're pretty close to having a re- covery plan on grizzly bears if we could just get a couple of influential people to speak up. If you had one message to give to your corporate brethren…what would be your overarching message? TC: Seattle and the Puget Sound area are an economic jobs eng ine for the whole world, it's one of the world-class centers, and it has to do with our moun- tains and public lands. Here you have the current Secretary of Interior, Sally Jewel, coming out of the largest outdoor retailer in the history of the world, REI, and with the value of economics that public lands and public spaces bring. It just makes great economic sense, and corporate leaders should support that, because they're going to have more pro- ductive, happy employees, and people will want to move here and raise their families here and recreate when they're not at work. It's a win-win, and it's surely proved that way for me, growing my company right here in Seattle. JS: A final question, Tom. Are we doing a good job getting through to the phil- anthropic community on the needs for protecting wildlife and habitat? TC : You've g ot donors who've been with Conser vation NW a long time. And I know for a lot of national groups, budgets wax and wane with the issues, a lot of money's gone into climate, which is a whole new thing, that wasn't talked about 25 years ago when we started. I think we're doing all right. And we defi- nitely max everything we do and stretch it and it's good quality stuff. Could we do more if we had more funds? I'm sure we could. Because of the quality of what we do and efficiency with an office in Bellingham and office in Seattle, people who donate to Conser vation North- west get a huge bang for their buck and there's definitely a mission to keep this g oing into the future to protect the vitality and ecological richness and the epic landscapes of the North Cascades. JS: I like to think so. Tom, I want to thank you for your years of involvement and support. We don't say it enough. TC: Joe, you're welcome. I've got to go sell another shirt now to fund this work for next year. Tom Campion in the Arctic, north of the Brooks Range. A rare moment: relaxing 25th anniversary "Whether it's Zumiez or Conservation Northwest, you put people around you that have a passion, that love what they do."

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