Working Landscapes
Responsible utilization and management of natural resources is a critical component of society's ability to exist and prosper. Working landscapes successfully balance economic, social, and ecological priorities. In rural places, working landscapes are often the primary source of jobs and income.
In a world of modern conveniences and industrial production it's easy to lose sight of how inseparable people are from the environment. Our supply of food, fiber, building materials, clean air, water, and open space is dependent on well managed working landscapes.
But working landscapes are in decline in the West. Challenging rural economics, encroachment of new development, and increased demand for environmental preservation and wilderness expansion are just a few of the pressures that threaten working landscapes.
We believe in a balanced, community-based approach to land conservation. By partnering with landowners, communities, and diverse interests, Sustainable Northwest is protecting and sustaining working landscapes for current and future generations.
Stories of Working Landscapes
- Inaba Produce Farms
- Lon Inaba explains the history of the Yakima Valley farm and continuation of family values: nurturing the workers, the crops and the insects that pollinate.
- Locati Farms - Walla Walla Sweet Onions
- From a small seed business to a 500 acre semi-organic farm, Michael Locati protects the legacy of the Walla Walla Valley’s onion.
- Paradise Fibers
- With her family, Kate Painter followed her dream to a simpler life on a sheep farm and created a successful business that supports fiber arts around the world.
- Sakuma Brothers
- Three generations of the Sakuma family have built a fruit business operating in two states with a farm, research laboratory, and processing and packaging plant.
- Shepherd’s Grain
- Fred Fleming and business partner Karl Kupers are Food Alliance certified, use no-till farming, and sell their Washington wheat to local markets.
- Thundering Hooves
- Formerly a struggling conventional wheat farmer, Joel Huesby uses innovative techniques on his successful organic beef, chicken and turkey ranch.
- Left Foot Organics
- A non-profit founded by Ann Vandeman provides opportunity for developmentally disabled adults and connects them to their community through organic farming.
- Tenmile Creek Watershed Restoration Project
- Dorie Belisle and her husband John worked with neighboring farms to protect the salmon and the agriculture on the Tenmile Creek Watershed.
- JEA Farms, Ltd.
- John Aeschliman promotes rich, moist soil in dry country using direct-seed or no-till farming to grow wheat.
- Moccasin Lake Ranch
- Preservation, conservation and production all blend together on Moccasin Lake Ranch which covers over 2200 acres in north central Washington.
- Read, Deanna and Jeremy Smith Family Farms
- Read Smith protects his topsoil with no-till farming on his ranch in eastern Washington’s Palouse region.
- Two Rivers Farm
- Nancy Denson and Nick Stemm celebrate the coexistence of the cultivated and the wild on their farm by supporting a balance between harvest and natural setting.
- Blue Heron Farm
- Anne Schwartz and husband Mike have been farming organically in Washington for nearly 30 years and promote local markets as a way to rejuvenate rural America.
- Colvin Family Ranch
- Fred Colvin balances conservation and restoration with grass fed cattle ranching on his 640 acre property in western Washington.
- Double J Ranch
- Peter Goldmark draws on his scientific and farming background to run his grass finished yearling and wheat breeding ranch in Washington's Okanogan Valley.
- Full Circle Farm
- Andrew Stout and Wendy Munroe own and run a community supported agriculture farm, with the help of interns, to provide local produce to the Seattle, WA area.
- The Ranchers Stewardship Alliance
- Wallowa Resources
- Working with key agencies and private citizens, Wallowa Resources is making a difference in the long-term economic and ecological health of Wallowa County, Oregon.
- Gibbs' Organic Produce
- Grant Gibbs has been farming organically since 1975 and keeps it simple by selling his produce, grass-fed chickens, hogs and beef only to local markets.
- Hedlin Family Farm
- Dave Hedlin encourages long-range vision on his Skagit Valley farm and has joined with other local growers to preserve farmland, open spaces and wildlife habitat.
News
- Montanan, Idahoan “Tied to the Land” Testify in D.C.
- The message to Capitol Hill: "We are new voices. We are not the voices of industry and we are not the voices of environmentalism. We are a third way ...”
- RVCC partners deliver testimony regarding the treatment of forest workers
- Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition partners, Cassandra Moseley, Ecosystem Workforce Program and Denise Smith, Alliance of Forest Workers and Harvesters deliver congressional testimony regarding the treatment of forest workers.
- Klamath Tribes Build Partnership to Develop Biomass Facility
- The Klamath Tribes announce plans to develop a biomass cogeneration facility in the upper Klamath Basin to advance renewable energy, forest restoration, and local community development.
- SNW Board Chair wins 2008 Kerr Award from High Desert Museum
- Jane O’Keeffe honored for sustainable economic and natural resource management.
- Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities Makes International Connections in UK
- HFHC garners international attention in Edinburgh, Scotland as a participant in the Forest Connect network.
- Welcome New Board Members
- Sustainable Northwest is pleased to welcome three new members to our Board of Directors: Camilla Seth, Jeff Allen, and Marcie McLaughlin.
- Oregon Business Plan and Rural Idaho Entrepreneur Recognized for Leadership in Sustainability and Conservation
- 2008 Cecil D. Andrus Leadership Awards Presented at SNW Gala on March 14th in Portland
- Klamath Basin Agreement establishes new paradigm for Western watershed management
- The proposed Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement represents a positive step forward for the management of the West's rivers, rangelands and forests.
- Sustainable Forestry and Green Building Tour
- SNW recently partnered with Northwest Natural Resource Group to host a full-day field tour of local sustainable forest management and wood products manufacturing.
- Lakeview dedicates small diameter mill and biomass energy project
- The Collins Companies and Marubeni Sustainable Energy host the ribbon cutting for a new small diameter sawmill and highlight the future Lakeview Biomass Energy Plant in Oregon
- Our First Video: The People and Place of Lake County, Oregon
- Through interviews with community members and sweeping images of the quiet Lake County landscape, this video provides a beautiful history of the early days of the community-based sustainability movement in the Northwest. Featuring Paul Harlan, Collins Companies, Jim Walls, Lake County Resources Initiative, Jane O'Keeffe, SNW Board Member and Martin Goebel, SNW President on the story of collaboration on the Lakeview Sustained Yield Unit.
- Public Forum on Working Conditions for Forest Workers Held with Federal Officials
- Federal officials gathered at a public forum in Eugene, Oregon on January 31, 2007 to discuss new efforts to protect the health and safety of contract workers on national forest lands, and hear comments from forest workers and contractors about their experiences with forest working conditions. Among the eighty people in attendance were Mark Rey, USDA Undersecretary for Natural Resources and the Environment, and Alex Passantino, Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.
- Chewaucan Challenge: Return of the Desert Red Band Trout
- Due to a recent restoration and dam removal effort, the Chewaucan River in Lake County, Oregon is seeing the return of the Red Band Trout. Scheduled for July 22-25, 2007 in Lakeview, the first-annual Chewaucan Challenge is an elite catch-and-release fly fishing tournament to inaugurate the return of this once thriving recreational fishing industry.
