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.
