The Coalition recently convened and facilitated a 24-hour retreat with Executive Directors from Central and Eastern Washington Land Trusts, Regional Directors from the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, and staff from the Washington Association of Land Trusts and the Washington State Recreation & Conservation Office. Our time together produced stronger partnerships within the greater conservation community and a list of action items that addresses aligned conservation goals, all while laying the groundwork for stronger WWRP applications in the future.
For me, it was truly an inspirational couple of days. We were able to all stay at the Moses Coulee Field Station in Douglas County. We listened as conservation leaders told stories about why they are impassioned to do the work they do. Stories of fifth generation family farms and summer camps that get young people outside enjoying nature. Stories of activism in the Great Bear Rain Forest and of state agency leaders that for decades mentored staff by teaching them what it means to restore and preserve our lands and waterways.
There was an underlying tone of the retreat that I hope the Coalition was partially responsible for. As the facilitator of the group, I tried to harness the momentum around one thing: personal and professional relationships of trust. Without the foundation of strong partnerships, this group will not able to make the impact it would like to. Trusting and strengthening partnerships to build WWRP champions is one of the goals of our organization. I believe this retreat moved the Coalition’s programming work by spades down that path. What an absolute honor and privilege to spend time learning from some of our state’s very best ambassadors of conservation.
Thank you to all of the organizations that attended and also for the conservation legacy work that you pour your heart into on a daily basis.
*The list below is the organizations that were represented at this event:
Chelan Douglas Land Trust
Blue Mountain Land Trust
Trust For Public Land
Okanogan Land Trust
Methow Conservancy
Cowiche Canyon Conservancy
Kittitas Conservation Trust
Inland Northwest Land Conservancy
Washington Association of Land Trusts
Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife
Washington State Recreation & Conservation Office