Healthy Ecosystems
Whether it's through environmental restoration, landscape stewardship, natural resources conservation, wilderness preservation, or creation care, everyone has a responsibility to help keep ecosystems healthy and functioning. No matter how you approach it, it's important not to lose sight of the necessary balance between ecological health, economic prosperity, and community vitality.
In rural places local culture is often intimately tied to people's interaction with the environment. Outside interests must be sensitive to how communities choose to exist within their local landscape. Inversely, protection and care for nature is a moral issue that cannot be cast aside solely for economic gain or cultural preservation.
These complex issues require balance and collaborative solutions. Too often in the West, social and environmental conflicts have played out as courtroom battles and ideological showdowns. Such one-sided approaches expend limited resources and often hurt everyone involved. Sustainable Northwest partners with diverse interests to help people come together and develop progressive solutions that can benefit us all.
Stories of Healthy Ecosystems
- Ecohaus
- Matt Freeman-Gleason acted on his commitment to sustainability and started Environmental Home Center, now Ecohaus, an eco-friendly building materials supplier.
- Cart'M Recycling
- Frustrated by the lack of recycling resources in Manzanita, Oregon, Lane deMoll and Kathleen Ryan started a citizen-run dump, recycling center and community center.
- Dungeness River Watershed Restoration
- Tribespeople, irrigators, property owners, conservationists, and public agencies came together to restore threatened salmon populations.
News
- 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.