Earth Day was born out of a movement to improve the lives of people and nature, inspiring sweeping legislative action and investments. Today, federal infrastructure funding and WA Climate Commitment Act are a continuation of this movement, investments making a tangible impact locally. As an example, Washington’s historic funding of the Floodplains by Design program is contributing to nature-based floodplain management across the state to reduce flood risk, protect communities and protect salmon habitat. These state and federal dollars are just the start of local climate action that will improve the daily lives and the future of all Washingtonians.
Meet DeAnne Hamilton: Learn how the general manager of Tacoma’s KBTC Public Television and TNC in Washington trustee, uses the power of storytelling to engage people in conservation and create a better future for the next generation.
Nestled in the cliffs in Moses Coulee is an import desert water sources that every springs attracts thousands of Pacific Tree frogs. I came to Whisper Lake for a night concert. It was anything but quiet. The chorus of frogs was soothing, calming—the quintessential sound of spring.
The Cle Elum Wildlife Project is improving our understanding of how wildlife use and move through protected forest landscapes, providing us with an opportunity to test how forest management practices impact wildlife and building an evidence base for permanent protection.
Drones have emerged as a groundbreaking tool extending our reach beyond the limits of human exploration. While many are familiar with seeing the possibilities in adventure photography or package delivery, the use of drones in conservation has become increasingly creative for those both out in the field and in the lab.
A unique research project, Greening Research in Tacoma (GRIT) brings together community partners and perspectives to paint a more detailed picture of how neighborhood residents *actually* experience green infrastructure, like tree plantings.
In partnership with the @City of Tacoma, @Tacoma Tree Foundation, and @University of Washington, GRIT’s community-minded approach will shape how we design and plan greening initiatives to be more equitable and effective for people everywhere.
Written by Molly Bogeberg, Marine Conservation Coordinator
A few members of the TNC Team and some of our fabulous volunteers participated in three days of energetic children, ocean education, and science fun at Seattle Aquarium’s Discover Science Weekend. The weekend kicked off with an evening of Lightening Talks staring local scientists from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the University of Washington, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Vulcan Inc. Each scientist was given a mere 5 minutes to explain their research. This meant that the scientists had to be creative and quick to get their point across. It was a fun way to dabble in local research and mingle with other science nerds!
For the main Discover Science event, we had a booth to highlight our outreach materials on ocean acidification. Alongside the booth, our new ocean acidification infographic stood tall and provided talking points to help explain the complicated topic of ocean acidification, clearly. In addition to giving out our handy infographic booklets on ocean acidification to adults and coloring sheets to the little ones, we enticed kids to our table with a science experiment! Eager young scientists came with eyes bright and ready to learn.
For our experiment, we added CO2 to seawater using a Soda Streamer and then mixed in a pH indicator solution into normal seawater and the carbonated seawater to demonstrate how the chemistry of the water had been altered by CO2. With the addition of a green pH indicator, the color of the normal seawater retained the color of the pH indicator (green). The carbonated seawater, however, turned a bright orange after just a few drops of green pH indicator. We also used pH test strips to analyze the actual change in pH between the two samples. The changing color of the carbonated seawater elicited "ooos and ahhs" along with nods of understanding. You could really tell that the experiment and dialog helped the kids (and their parents) to grasp the concept of changing ocean conditions. After the experiment, we had kids roll a dice full of ways that they could help combat ocean acidification in their daily life. From civic action to walking to the farmer’s market to get groceries, the kids agreed that there were ways that they could help their favorite sea creatures!
Discover Science Weekend is my favorite outreach event that I get to participate in here at TNC. It really gives me hope to see kids excited about science and I love helping to inspire the next generation of ocean conservationists!
SCA + PORT SUSAN BAY
This past month we partnered with the SCA (Student Conservation Association) to have a crew work for two weeks on a few places where we work, mainly on the Upper Skagit and at our Port Susan Bay Preserve!
Crews spent time working in the Upper Skagit doing manual weed control of Scotch Broom, holly, clematis and some other weeds as well as removing an old building! At Port Susan Bay crews spent most of their time looking for Spartina.
This is the first time we’ve ever partnered together for nature and we loved having them work with us to keep Puget Sound healthy and clean.
Written & Photographed by Carrie Krueger, Director of Marketing for The Nature Conservancy in Washington
Crater Lake National Park provides unexpected adventure
When the theme song from “Gilligan’s Island” begins running through your head, it is rarely a good sign. Our “three hour tour” happened in Crater Lake National Park. We set-sail that day to tour the stunning, deep lake, and wound up trapped on the little island in the middle known as Wizard Island.
But let’s start at the beginning: Five families from five different parts of the country chose Crater Lake National Park for a summer vacation and reunion. Located in south central Oregon, the park is near nothing and not particularly easy to get to. But the trek is well worth it. The first view of the lake is unforgettable. The color is a remarkable deep blue and the water is surrounded by sheer cliffs and during our visit, a great deal of snow. Once we worked through our childish impulse to pelt one another with snow, we settled into the picturesque lodge on the rim of the volcanic crater that forms the lake. We spent our first day on short hikes around the region, learning about the geologic events the formed this stunning place.
The next morning we packed sandwiches and snacks and made our way to the tour boat dock. We were promised a water tour of the lake including drop off and pick up at Wizard Island where we could explore further. It seemed simple enough and we felt well prepared, even with many young kids in tow.
Wizard Island was a blast. From the rocky shore, we hiked to the high point of the island where we discovered a snow-filled crater. In no time at all, the kids had made sleds out of their rain jackets and anything else they could find and were zooming down the hills and hiking back up. This was sheer bliss, an unexpected delight – sledding in shorts and t-shirts, on a sunny island in the middle of the nation’s deepest lake. Wow.
Soon it was time to head to the little dock and await pick-up. A small crowd gathered at the dock, but when the next tour boat came by, it didn’t stop. The crowd on the boat waved and the captain called out that the boat was full and no one onboard wanted to get off at Wizard Island, so we would have to wait for the next boat. When this same scenario happened three times over the 90 minutes, we started to feel just a little concerned. One of us whistled the Gilligan’s Island theme and another softly sang “A three hour tour, a three hour tour.”
But in nature, there is always a way to have fun. Boredom is not an option! On the rocky shoreline, a rock-skipping contest ensued, with kids from all the waiting families (and some adults) joining in. On the flat, smooth water, rocks could skip and skip and skip! For those not in the skipping mood, it was time to get creative with cairns. You know, those little towers and piles of rocks – those are cairns and it’s amazing how much fun it is to look for the right flat rocks to build with. There were woods to explore, massive games of “eye spy” and critter spotting.
As the hours went by and food ran low, there was a funny irony in being able to actually see the lodge hanging on the cliff in the distance. Our home away from home, so close and yet so far. Surely we would not be left for the night? We were ill prepared for such a possibility, relieved we had at least insisted each child bring a light jacket. The day had been sunny and nearly hot, but as shadows lengthened, it quickly became chilly. Just for fun, we sat on the shore and brainstormed various ways we could get from there to the lodge. None were feasible, of course, but neither were most of the things Gilligan and his gang attempted on the old TV show. The kids enjoyed pretending we were actually going to spend the night on the island and we talked about the various ways we would shelter and feed ourselves.
Luckily, before anyone could lose their sense of humor about the situation the tour boat company dispatched an empty boat specifically to pick us all up. A dozen families and groupings crowded the dock and piled onto the boat and we tried to remember, did the Gilligan’s Island gang ever get rescued?
As young adults, all of the kids on that adventure still talk about the day we were trapped on Wizard Island and the fun we had exploring nature, as we waited to be “rescued”. Together we’ve visited many more National Parks and feel a collective sense of gratitude for the accessibility of such beautiful places and for the opportunity to commune and experience them. For me, every foray into nature stirs a powerful sense of responsibility to protect and preserve nature so that each generation can experience wild places, little adventures and big escapes.
Written & Photographed by Marlo Mytty, Puget Sound Programs Conservation Coordinator
Watching the sunrise at Haleakala, riding bikes and climbing up a butte in a Canyonlands sunset, floating on air mattresses in Glacier Park’s Lake MacDonald, hiking in the gorgeous diverse Siskyou forest at Oregon Caves National Monument, wandering in a maple glade of enormous moss-draped trees in Olympic National Park, a hawk gliding close and silently by through the fall colors and mist on a November hike to a Mt. Rainier fire lookout. These are just a few of the most treasured experiences of my life, all of which took place in National Parks.
A lifetime native of Seattle, of all the National parks I have visited, Mt. Rainier is closest to my heart and soul, and I think of it as home. My memories there are countless, yet its draw for me continues. I have been there on two backpacks so far this month and the more I visit, the more I realize that there is more than a lifetime of beauty to explore in this park alone.
We have the work of visionaries like Muir, Roosevelt and many others over a century ago to thank for our National Park system, which is truly one of the treasures of this planet; drawing hundreds of millions of visitors each year from all over the world. A century later the ambition and impact of their vision has become more apparent, and this will no doubt be the case in another century.
This kind of long lasting impact is the reason I work for The Nature Conservancy. Looking back 100 years from now, I believe that the effect The Nature Conservancy has had on the landscape of Washington, the nation and the planet will be apparent. The innovative and far reaching projects we are working on are humbling and inspiring.
From working with major players in industry to implement sustainable and economically viable business practices, to working with communities, governments and First Nations to restore the floodplains of major rivers that flow into Puget Sound, to connecting and restoring dry forests across the west in order to reduce catastrophic wildfires, to a large fisheries project on the West coast that will have a positive impact on the fisheries and fishing communities along the entire West coast, to forming coalitions with Chinese dam builders and mining companies in Mongolia to influence siting decisions, The Nature Conservancy is tackling many of the world’s largest environmental challenges. I am continually inspired by the ingenuity and dedication of my colleagues and am fortunate to be a part of what will surely be an impact that reaches or exceeds the scale of our National Parks in the centuries to come.
More streams for fish, hiking trails for people and habitat for wildlife. That is just some of what we are getting after the newest purchase of land for people and nature .
The latest addition to the Heart of the Cascades project is 1,280 acres of timberland in the Manastash, west of Ellensburg. The decade-long effort to weave together a checkerbaordof public and private lands in the East Cascades takes another step forward, adding to more than 25,000 acres of private timberlands brought into public ownership.
In this case, The Nature Conservancy has purchased 1,280 acres of timberland from Plum Creek, and transferred it to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to be managed as part of the L.T. Murray Wildlife Area.
Working with partners including the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Yakama Nation and Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, the Conservancy continues to secure public access and protect this vital resource for our communities. The Tapash Sustainable Forests Collaborative, which includes public, non-profit and tribal landowners, is working together across in this region to restore a much larger forest landscape.
Water for the Future
Why does it matter? These particular sections of forest are full of streams and tributaries that flow into the Yakima River. Conserving this forest will protect valuable river habitat for wildlife as well as ensure water downstream for people, fish, and the rich agriculture of the Yakima Valley. Protecting these forests is an important part of the Yakima River Basin Integrated Plan, a coordinated effort by farmers, conservationists, tribes, and governments to ensure water for the Yakima Valley as climate change threatens increasing drought.
Rich Wildlife Habitat
Washington’s Heart of the Cascades is a multi-phased project designed to protect, connect, and restore the most biologically rich forests in the Western United States.
From high mountain snowfields descending to the arid sagebrush steppe of the Columbia Plateau, the Cascade forests span rugged and beautiful country that supports a diverse variety of habitats and, in turn, a broad array of species. In addition to amazing abundance of birds, mammals, fish, trees, and flowers, these forests are home to federally protected populations of grey wolf, spotted owl, ferruginous hawk, northern goshawk, and Pacific salmon. People across the region prize these forests for their many recreational activities.
Your Support will Help Save Forests for Nature and People
Today, we have a remarkable opportunity to invest in the future of this place and to protect what we love about it – lush alpine meadows, clean cold mountain streams, and the unfettered access that comes with a connected and protected landscape. We have this opportunity because tens of thousands of acres of private commercial timberlands are for sale. These lands, privatized in the 1800s to bring the railroads to the Pacific, disconnect our federal forestlands from our state Wildlife Areas. Their sale to development threatens access and opportunity for people and wildlife on this landscape.
The Heart of the Cascades project is a cooperative effort by conservation groups, tribes, residents, and public land management agencies to accomplish the following:
By: Julie Morse, Project Ecologist
That’s a first. Trust me, I’ve attended a lot of conferences with Floodplain Managers, Biologists, Engineers, City Planners, etc… And I have NEVER seen this kind of inspirational language show up in the middle of a PowerPoint presentation. Presentations at these kinds of workshops are generally pretty dry - lots of numbers, graphs and figures. Sometimes the creative speakers will throw in a video or pretty pictures to keep people awake. But let’s be honest, these workshops are generally pretty dry with lots of “Blah, Blah, Blah…”
Yesterday was different.
Yesterday, The Nature Conservancy in Washington convened a workshop for people working in Puget Sound as part of our Floodplains by Design Partnership. Despite the fact that it was a beautiful June day and plenty of people were off of vacation, despite the fact that Seattle was experiencing one of its epic traffic days, despite the fact that there were other big meetings happening in the area, despite all that, more than 150 people showed up to hear what’s happening with Floodplains by Design.
Representatives from five Congressional offices and one U.S. Senator’s office. Staff from seven counties were there along with representatives from four of Puget Sound’s tribes. Farmers, businesses that work in flood plains and agencies came. What’s more - people even came from across the state (Yakima) and even out of state (Oregon) to hear what was happening in Puget Sound.
There was a buzz in the room, and with good reason. Among the successes we celebrated:
Colonel Estok, outgoing Seattle District Commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers thanked everyone in the room for their efforts working collaboratively, and The Nature Conservancy for being the glue that pulls these different groups together. He reflected on three years of incredible progress.
But it was also time to look forward. Here are some huge opportunities for collaboration and getting Big Things Done in the coming year:
The best presentation of the day was the last, given by our government relations director Mo McBroom. Through Mo’s talk I could see her spunky enthusiasm was going to battle with her more subdued professional side. Mo was clearly trying to contain her excitement about the potential for the legislature to help support, and be a leader nationally, in addressing water issues - whether it’s too much water (flooding), too little water (irrigation needs), or nowhere for the water to go (stormwater). I’m not sure trying to contain her enthusiasm was really working for her, in fact quite the opposite; I thought her enthusiasm was contagious.
Mo ended her presentation with reiterating the phrase of the day - Think BIG. Believe BIG. Act BIG. And the results will be BIG. There are BIG things happening in Puget Sound. Yesterday I felt incredibly proud to be part of it.
To hear more of what people are saying about Floodplains by Design, please visit our website – http://www.floodplainsbydesign.org/perspectives/
Climate change may feel like something that will impact us in the future, but local environmental scientists know it is already here causing noticeable changes and creating new challenges.
Jodie Toft, Senior Ecologist for The Nature Conservancy in Washington answers some questions about how climate change is affecting us now, and what the Conservancy is doing to help.
Question: What kinds of changes is climate change already causing in our state?
Jodie Toft: There is clear scientific evidence that the impact of climate change is being felt in the Pacific Northwest.
Question: What do scientists predict will happen in the future?
Jodie Toft: Research shows the impact of climate change on our region will increase in the coming years:
Question: This feels overwhelming. What can, or is being done?
Jodie Toft: At The Nature Conservancy, our work is aimed at adapting to climate change.
Virtually every challenge we tackle can be traced to changing climate. As we look to the future, our focus is on adapting to current and future changes to protect people and nature.
For thousands of years, indigenous people have plied the marine waters of the northwest coast of North America, trading, hunting, sharing knowledge and cultures. In this region, people, salmon, oceans and forests are intertwined across political borders. Conservation work must be interconnected as well.
The Nature Conservancy has launched a new international program, Emerald Edge, to work with First Nations and local communities to protect habitat, restore forests and build sustainable economies across the world’s largest temperate rainforest, the 70 million acres stretching from Washington through British Columbia and into Southeast Alaska.
Paul Dye, Marine Director for The Nature Conservancy in Washington, shared stories and photos from the Conservancy’s work in the Emerald Edge with members of Washington’s Legacy Club at a special lunch on June 19.
Legacy Club members are those Nature Conservancy supporters who have chosen to make a lasting commitment to conservation by naming the Conservancy as a beneficiary in their estate plans, or by making a life income gift to the Conservancy. The Legacy Club is a way for us to recognize this profound contribution to The Nature Conservancy’s future. Members have the opportunity to meet Conservancy scientists and conservation practitioners, and get an inside view of the conservation work that is enabled by their generosity.
We thank our Legacy Club members for their dedication to preserving the diversity of life and for their foresight in providing for its future.
To learn more about the Legacy Club, contact Daniel Hoon, (206)436-6262, or dhoon@tnc.org.
GOOD FIRE, BAD FIRE
By Ryan Haugo, Washington-Idaho Forest Ecologist
The 2012 Pacific Northwest wildfire season was one for the record books.
In Idaho, the Mustang Complex alone burned 300,000 acres. In Washington, over 350,000 total acres burned and fire suppression costs alone totaled more than $88 million dollars. Not exactly chump change in this time of fiscal cliffs and sequestration.
Yet, fire always has been and always will be an integral part of our western forests. Fire is both inevitable and is the ultimate contradiction; often beautiful, terrifying, destructive, renewing and life-giving, all at the same time. Yet, our management of western forests over the past century has broken this natural link with fire, leaving our forests vulnerable to uncharacteristically large and destructive fire and insect and disease outbreaks. Climate change will only increase these vulnerabilities.
In my role as a forest ecologist I spend a lot of time talking about the risks of “uncharacteristic fire” (bad!) and the importance of “prescribed fire” (good!) in restoring healthy and resilient forests.
Our official tagline is “The Nature Conservancy works to maintain fire’s role where it benefits people and nature, and keep fire out of places where it is destructive”. An excellent sentiment, but the line between fire that “benefits people and nature” and fire that is “destructive” can be quite blurry.
Last September an intense late summer lightning storm rolled across the Pacific Northwest, starting fires in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. That month I had a series of meetings across eastern Washington and northern Idaho. No matter where I traveled, I couldn’t escape the smoke. During the day visibility was terrible and at night my eyes stung and my throat hurt, even when holed up in my hotel room. No fun – that much smoke must certainly indicate a “bad fire”, right?
Not necessarily. This winter we were finally able to get out and take a look at some of the newly burned forests that had smoked-in my September travels. Matt Dahlgreen, TNC forester and intrepid explorer, shot a beautiful series of photos from one section of the Wenatchee Complex fires in eastern Washington.
His photos show rejuvenation and restoration, not death and destruction. These fires had burned with relatively low severity during a time of moderate weather conditions, and the net result were thinned forest stands that will be even more resilient to the next fire. There were other patches with nearly all of the trees killed, but this occurred in areas where the forest is adapted to “high severity fire” and the bear, elk and other wildlife will greatly benefit.
What determines if a wildfire is good or bad? Suppression costs? Property destruction? Air quality? Impacts on wildlife habitat? Can a fire be good and bad at the same time?
I don’t think there are any easy answers to these questions. Even a small, seemingly benign prescribed fire produces smoke that can be hazardous to sensitive populations if precautions are not taken. Even a massive “mega-fire” leaves behind habitat for a number of different wildlife species. Society weighs the costs and benefits based on the affected values of the time.
The one thing that we know for certain is that in forests across the west there will be more wildfire in the coming years (see recent research by Moritz and colleagues, and Westerling and colleagues).
In the face of this inevitability, our focus at the Conservancy is on promoting resilient natural and human communities. In the forests that have traditionally supported timber economies, we focus on smart restoration using tools such as mechanical harvests and prescribed fire.
In other forests, we advocate managing wildfires at the right place and time – when the conditions are right. Just as there is often not a simple answer as to whether a fire is good or bad, there is no one single approach to conserving our forested landscapes.
