Our all-volunteer Board of Trustees is packed with wonderful folks. They’re community leaders, business owners, farmers, philanthropists, professors, parents and adventurers. Many also have a keen interest in policy and understand how important it is to successful, long-lasting conservation efforts. Though they’re among the busiest people we know, our trustees also know how worthwhile it can be to visit with the lawmakers whose decisions have major impacts on people and nature in Washington.  

That’s why Trustee Lobby Day is a highlight of the year for our Government Relations staff. Though we’ve been stuck on Zoom for two years running now, the energy, commitment and enthusiasm these volunteers bring to our advocacy efforts is as refreshing as ever.

This year, nine trustees joined TNC staff on our virtual trip to Olympia during the third week of the legislative session. We met with Governor Inslee and his staff, Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz and ten legislative leaders from both houses and both parties. We checked in with each office about our 2022 priorities and next steps for bills moving through the legislative process during this short session.  

Learn more about our Board

Nature Unites Us

The urgent need to support the resilience of Washington’s communities and ecosystems in the face of climate change was the common thread that ran through all our meetings — with Republicans and Democrats, caucus and statewide leaders and locally-focused lawmakers. As in previous years, we were impressed by the thoughtfulness of legislators and their staff when discussing the bills we’re following, made ever more remarkable knowing they’re jumping from 15-minute meeting to 15-minute meeting all day long, every day.

As the Legislature faces a key deadline this week, lawmakers are working hard to amend and advance bills and budget items that are important to their constituents. Some of our top policy priorities, including the Lorraine Loomis Act for salmon recovery and the Keep Washington Evergreen proposal, are undergoing major changes and may not advance in their original form. We’re working hard, alongside our partners and the Legislature, to ensure that Washington will continue making progress for nature this year.

Revisit our 2022 Legislative Priorities

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Opting Outside

As the daylight hours increase and signs of spring emerge, we’re looking forward to spending more time in Washington’s great outdoors. We were delighted to take the opportunity to invite our elected officials to tour a few of our projects on the ground, from efforts to increase urban tree canopy in south King County and improve wildfire resilience in Kittitas County.

While there’s no substitute for the inspiration getting out in nature can provide, you too can take a virtual tour of the diverse landscapes in our state via the buttons below.

Explore More of Where We Work

Look forward To a Summer Road Trip

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Banner image: Tarboo Bay and the Olympic Mountains by Keith Lazelle.

Last week, Rep. Kim Schrier hosted a conversation with Regional Forester Glenn Casamassa and State Forester George Geissler. The three leaders spoke about the implementation of the recently announced U.S. Forest Service 10-year Wildfire Strategy and how the strategy will unfold in Washington state. 

The 10-year Wildfire Strategy outlines the need to significantly increase fuels and forest health treatments to address the growing risk of wildfire that threatens lands and communities across the West—and it specifically highlights three priority “firesheds” in Central Washington where communities are at greater risk of wildfire. A fireshed is a delineated area that shows where fires are likely (or not likely) to ignite, how they might spread and how nearby communities might be impacted.

The three leaders also spoke about the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which Congress passed in November. The IIJA provides nearly $3 billion to implement the actions in the 10 Year Wildfire Strategy.

Rep. Schrier stated that the 10 Year Strategy and the new federal funding will help “increase the pace and the scale of fuels reductions and forest health treatments across jurisdictions to match the actual scale and urgency of wildfire risk. This work will include things like prescribed fire and thinning and will be complemented by investments in fire-adapted communities to make sure that people can protect their own homes and communities.” 

Among other investments, the infrastructure bill includes $500 million to ramp up the use of prescribed fire—a tool that Rep. Schrier championed with the National Prescribed Fire Act  she introduced last year.  This new federal effort complements the investments that the state Legislature enacted last year through HB 1168, the Wildfire Funding and Forest Health bill. 

After the virtual event, Darcy Batura, forest partnerships manager for TNC, said, “Collaborative partners across Central Washington have developed plans and projects to address the wildfire resilience need.  Now thanks to Rep. Schrier, Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell and other congressional leaders, we have the critical funds to complete these projects, restore resilience to Central Washington forests and protect the communities where their safety and local economies are directly linked to forest health.”

Check back on this blog for more updates on the implementation of the 10 year Wildfire Strategy and the rollout of the federal infrastructure funds that will help our forests and our communities across Washington.

Learn More About Our Work in Fire Management

Banner photo © Nikolaj Lasbo / TNC

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Black History Month started on Tuesday, and there has been a lot of appropriate focus on the work and contributions of countless Black leaders, communities, and people thus far. We haven’t yet shared anything to honor or celebrate the month, and there’s a reason for that. 

We seek to genuinely and authentically honor, celebrate, and support the work and leadership of Black members of our communities—not just during Black History Month, but all year.  

We acknowledge that many historical and present engagements with Black colleagues and community members around the time of, and during, Black History Month have caused harm and perpetuated patterns of tokenism and performative allyship (statements to profess support, though lacking in substantive action or accountability—for example, appearing to honor and celebrate the work of Black leaders and people, but just during Black History Month and without equitable actions and support year-round). We aim to disrupt those patterns and commit ourselves to actions rooted in authenticity and accountability.  

It is from this place of acknowledgement and aspiration to do better that, starting several weeks ago—which should have been months ago—we engaged in conversations within our Marketing and Communications team, and with Black colleagues who expressed interest, to identify ideas, opportunities, and shape paths forward for how we honor and celebrate Black History Month now and into the future. 

With input, we’ve identified Black-led organizations, collectives, and efforts that we believe are doing important and impactful work, with an emphasis on those doing work in the environmental, conservation, and climate spheres within the state of Washington. 

We are reaching out to a number of those organizations, collectives, and people with the goal of understanding if and how we can support them and their work, and, through our platforms, how we can ultimately spread word and support for the incredible amount of great work being done in our communities by Black leaders and community members. 

This is not a short-term play or disingenuous attempt to wave our own flag during Black History Month. We hope it is the beginning of sustained and reciprocal relationships.  

Stay tuned for more from us and others in this space, this month and beyond. 

Banner image: Sunrise view of Mt. Rainier at Reflection Lake by Nina Ritchie/TNC Photo Contest 2021

Transportation emissions are the largest producer of greenhouse gases in Washington state. In order to achieve the state’s climate goals — net zero by 2050 — we must make immediate and bold investments to reduce and decarbonize emissions in this sector. This year, the state Legislature has a unique opportunity to pass a transportation package that supports investments for sustainable and climate-focused transportation systems. 

Supported by the passage of the Federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act—a bipartisan achievement full of robust funding for public transit, clean energy, natural infrastructure and habitat restoration—as well as Washington’s Climate Commitment Act, which provides $5.2 billion to decarbonize emissions, the state Legislature is primed to pass a transportation package that invests in Washington residents and their future. 

A transformative transportation package will:

• Fully fund Washington’s transit capital needs: pedestrian, biking and public transit as identified by the Joint Transportation Committee’s Needs Assessment 

• Invest in equity and mobility: equitable transportation includes accessible sidewalks for folks who use wheelchairs and strollers, and access and infrastructure for all communities, not just those who have cars

• Prioritize maintenance and preservation of existing infrastructure

• Address transportation stormwater runoff with green infrastructure solutions

• Meet tribal treaty obligations by addressing salmon habitat-blocking culverts

• Reduce greenhouse-gas pollution from the transportation sector

Learn more about these principles from our friends at the Transportation Choices Coalition

Multi-modal investments 

A transportation package would reduce overall vehicle miles traveled by making significant investments in sustainable and equity-based solutions like public transit, bike and pedestrian infrastructure while also driving an acceleration of electrification efforts, especially for state fleets such as ferries. 

By prioritizing multi-modal transportation and strong decarbonization efforts, the state can ensure sufficient funding goes toward reducing emissions, an essential step toward meeting Washington’s climate goals. 

Support for innovative water solutions

As part of the overall investment in Washington’s transportation network’s health and meeting tribal treaty obligations, a robust climate-forward transportation package would also prioritize watershed health. This means including funding for stormwater retrofitting and fish passage barrier removal as part of ongoing water quality and salmon recovery efforts. 

Combating toxic pollutants 

Roads and highways are the main source of stormwater runoff, the leading contributor of pollution in the Puget Sound Region’s waterways, which in turn harms wildlife and human health. The Nature Conservancy’s new stormwater heatmap tool outlines the disproportionate impact of this runoff on communities of color and provides a blueprint for targeting this pollution through investments in retrofitting. 
An example of the impact of these efforts is the Aurora Bridge Bioswale project, completed in 2021, which now filters 2 million gallons of stormwater annually, cleaning out pollutants before they reach the Lake Washington Ship Canal and serving as a model for additional projects across the state. Learn more in our latest video:

Stepping up for salmon 

There’s no denying the connection between the fate of salmon and the sustainability of Washington’s  transportation system. Salmon are central to the health of our region’s ecosystem and its people, and we have both a legal and moral imperative to invest in their recovery. Thanks to the efforts of U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell and U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act also included $1 billion for the National Culvert Removal, Replacement and Restoration Grant Program, which will help transportation agencies fix fish passage barriers that impact salmon.

Learn more about our priorities for salmon recovery

A clean and just transportation package is a critical part of an equitable and sustainable future for Washington, helping us meet emissions-reduction goals and ensure a healthy environment for all. 

Head to the Transportation Choices Coalition action page to urge your legislator to pass a clean and just transportation package today!

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By Heather Cole, Community Relations Manager

Seven years ago, I was sitting with a friend having a cup of tea on a drizzly Pacific Northwest day at Batdorf and Bronson Coffee Roasters. Our conversation drifted like the rain outside, but one moment crystalized in my head. We both wondered could we ever recover salmon and create more resilient rivers and estuaries?Do we do more of the same or did we need a new approach to this daunting challenge? She offered; You should check out Floodplains by Design, it is this new program where local communities are trying this experiment — something called integrated floodplain management (IFM). I was intrigued.

Flash forward seven years later. There are so many examples of what integrated floodplain management looks like across the state. Local floodplain practitioners and leaders have found a new norm on how to manage floodplains that reaches across disciplines and backgrounds, digs deep to find locally driven solutions, doesn’t shy away from those difficult conversations and most of all gets work done on the ground. Levees are set back, new side channels are created, communities are more protected from flooding and agricultural land is protected — to name a few examples. It takes a village to do this work.   

Now, we have a snapshot of this IFM work, thanks to the Puget Sound Institute, which just completed a “Synthesis of Integrated Floodplain Management in Selected Puget Sound River Deltas.”  The synthesis highlights IFM groups in the Nooksack, Samish, Skagit, Stillaguamish, Snoqualmie, and Snohomish river basins in the Puget Sound Region. These basins were selected based on their large area of historic contiguous habitat and their significance to local salmon recovery efforts.  Moreover, additional examples include: Floodplains for the Future, operating in the Puyallup River watershed, and the Yakima River Basin Integrated Plan, operating in the Yakima River Basin.  

One of the purposes of this synthesis is to serve as a resource for IFM practitioners in the Puget Sound Region, to support broader awareness and insights into approaches, accomplishments and challenges.  The synthesis will also serve to support the Habitat Strategic Initiative Lead with adaptive management of the Floodplains and Estuaries Implementation Strategy.

Seven years later, and over $200 million dollars spent in Floodplains by Design alone, we are seeing a new level of resilience, creativity and impact in our floodplains across the state. That isn’t to say we are done. We have more to go for sure. But this synthesis is a beautiful snapshot in time to see how far we’ve come, the work we have ahead and what we can all learn from each other along the way.

Banner photo by Paul Joseph Brown

Learn More About Floodplains By Design

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