Conservation Northwest

Keeping the Northwest wild Fall 2017 3 Restoring the wild Northwest VIEW FROM THE DIRECTOR Mitch Friedman Executive Director, mitch@conservationnw.org TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 Coexisting with Wolves Collaboration is leading to rural acceptance 5 Coexisting with Wolves New livestock methods help ranchers and wolves 6 Working for Wildlife Updates on initiative in Okanogan County 7 Working for Wildlife Moving towards sustainable forest roads 8 Feature: Arid Lands Initiative Part of our new Sagelands Heritage Program 10 Restoring Wildlife Working with First Nations to reduce lynx mortality 11 Restoring Wildlife Washington's vulnerable wild sheep: working to conserve the bighorn 12 Forest and Fire Perspectives on Washington's fire season 13 Coast to Cascades Updates Grizzly bear restoration transcends borders 15 Inside Conservation Northwest Losses that break our hearts 16 State Lands Update Logging on hold, but Blanchard Mountain funding not yet finalized A fisher released into Mount Rainier National Park. Hoorah! Photo: Paul Bannick When the last fisher in the State of Washington was trapped for his pelt during the Great Depression some eight decades ago, he was all alone. At that time, there was not even yet a Department of Wildlife to protect or manage his kind. In contrast, when the first fisher was released back into Mount Rainier National Park last December, she was cheered by a phalanx of supporters including the Wash - ington Department of Fish and Wildlife, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wild- life Service, U.S. Forest Service, Nisqually Indian Tribe, Shuswap and Tsilhqot'in First Nations, and Conservation Northwest. For us, connecting and protecting wild areas and restoring wildlife is a team sport. I'm proud that we at times lead the team as a good quarterback does. But in almost every one of Conservation Northwest's programs—from the Coast to Cas - cades Grizzly Bear Initiative to the Working for Wildlife campaign, from restor- ing lynx to the Kettle Range to grizzlies in the North Cascades—we work closely with partners ranging from NGOs to indigenous communities to state, provincial and federal agencies, to timber, ranching and other community interests. Even the habitat connectivity modeling science that guides much of our work is highly col - laborative. It wasn't always so. Time was that we communicated with public agencies mostly in court, trying to force our will. Today, we see our job as helping the government work better, and helping all our partners achieve common goals restoring the wild Northwest that we could never advance alone. Why? Because it works! is view of the world is incredibly progressive. at's true not only because we are accomplishing so many bold and important objectives, from reconnecting the Cascades across the I-90 corridor to restoring the ecological function of our national forests to funding peaceful coexistence for our recovering wolf population. It's true also because our successes for nature stand as testament to the vital, effective and efficient projection of government. Of course government can veer off course, at times failing the public good, and we mustn't hesitate to play our role in preventing that. But we believe government is essential and can be effective, and we demonstrate and communicate that daily. Some disagree on the role and capacity of government. Many with that view are now in positions of great power in America. We're seeing savage attacks on vital functioning of agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency and on broadly popular conservation measures, such as our national monuments. ese attacks were beyond the pale just a year ago but now are far advanced despite their unpopularity. Count on us to fight as we must to advance our goals on the ground, while also not losing faith in our progressive, collaborative vision. Keeping the Northwest wild requires us to keep our team together. View from the Director

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