Step Outside! Our 2021 Conservation Report
Bird song fills the air. Butterflies and bees flit from flower to flower. Old Douglas-fir trees tower over both city neighborhoods and rural highways. Massive old cedar trees grow along river banks or in low flooded plains. Oak woodlands and grasslands carpet the hilly Willamette Valley and the arid lands east of the mountains.
Creeks and streams cascade noisily from the high country, gathering together in bigger and bigger channels until they form the massive silent push of the Columbia itself, meeting the saltwater while both delivering and receiving our amazing Columbia River salmon.
Throughout it all, people live, work, and play.
And yet, there are signs that the natural world that we so rely on is fraying. Species are dying off, forests are lost to explosive wildfires, water quality is diminishing, habitat is disappearing.
Columbia Land Trust envisions a future where natural areas and our lives intertwine and where people know, love, and respect nature’s beauty and importance in a reciprocal way. Human communities, including neighborhoods, businesses, farms, ranches, and working forests, complement the natural world, providing all people well-being and an unrivaled quality of life.
We all depend on each other. The health of every part is required for the health of the whole.
Columbia Land Trust is advancing a 25-year Conservation Agenda to support our rivers, forests, grasslands, and the creatures that depend on them. This report describes our progress in bringing us closer to our vision. In summary:
We completed the first phase (2017-2020) of our 25-year Conservation Agenda, raising $108 million and conserving more than 20,000 acres.
We are building support for nature like never before by doubling the size of the Backyard Habitat Certification Program, developing a larger, more diverse workforce, and illuminating our relationship with nature through tours, events, and storytelling.
We are kicking off the second phase of our Conservation Agenda (2021-2025), continuing to focus on conserving the nature of the Northwest while striving to address climate change and inequitable access to the benefits of nature.
As always, at the core of our work is listening and the willingness to create and support new solutions based on what we hear. Together, and with your generous support, we will succeed – conserving the nature you love.