By Fred Delkin

 Sometimes you come across a successful idea so simple that you will forever wonder why it isn’t the prevalent practice in its field.  This question is particularly pertinent when it comes to kicking that popular political football…the environment.

Perusing the press, you usually picture government, private citizens and business interests as implacable foes in pursuing what’s necessary to protect our mutual habitat.  The topics  of profit, taxation and freedom swirl about when the citizenry considers measures to protect and preserve our natural surroundings.

Confrontation is the standard stance of environmental activists.  Yet conflict seldom carries the clout that cooperation achieves for reaching mutually profitable goals.  That principle seems to have guided a group of ecological scientists who established The Nature Conservancy in our nation’s capital in the fall of 1951. It was a modest beginning for a group that now has chapters in all 50 states and 29 foreign countries and boasts a dues-paying
membership of over one million and donations from some 1,400
corporations.  This dynamic organization has tossed a protective blanket over 92 million acres of the earth’s surface without earning the enmity commonly stirred up by such  compatriots as Sierra Club, Greenpeace and many other groups with good environmental intentions that extend to violence at least as often as accomplishment.

Oregon models TNC achievments

“Our approach is very scientific, cooperative and non-confrontational,” explains Stephen Anderson, spokesman for the Oregon chapter of TNC.  Established in 1961, the Oregon group now directly manages 127,000 acres and extends its protection to a total of 344,000 acres.  There are currently 50 TNC preserves in Oregon, established in seven designated preservation regions (Coast, West Cascades, East Cascades, Willamette Valley, Blue Mountains, Klamath/Siskyou and Columbia Plateau).  Some 27,000 Oregon households are TNC members, in league with over 100 local donor companies.

The TNC Oregon preserves range from the seven acres of Ewauna Flat in the southern Cascades to 30,500 acres of Sycan Marsh in the Klamath Basin.  In addition to its own preserves, TNC assists other organizations in the protection or restoration of over 30 projects throughout Oregon.  Latest of these is the Boardman Grasslands, 23,000 acres of open country where TNC, Oregon Trout, WaterWatch, Defenders of Wildlife, Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife and other groups have joined to safeguard native flora and fauna. 

This effort is accomplished with the blessing of an ambitious private enterprise, Threemile Canyon Farms, a farming and dairy project with the Tillamook Creamery Association as a principal, moving far beyond the confines of  “the land of cheese, trees and ocean breeze.”  TNC has signed a management contract for the undeveloped land around the private, environmentally sensitive agricultural project.  The Conservancy had already established an adjoining preserve, Boardman Research Natural Area, 4,750 acres of federal Department of Defense land used as a bombing and missile range by the Navy (activity that must have been stimulating for the endangered Washington Ground Squirrel being protected here).

Klamath controversy addressed

While a political firestorm, fed by local and national media, ranged across the drought-plagued Klamath Basin this summer, TNC was quietly seeking solutions at two preserves  in the region, Sycan Marsh and Williamson River Delta.  Pragmatism, rather than politics, has been practiced at these sites, where intense TNC research has been followed with restoration of tens of thousands of acres of wetland.  Both water supply and quality are being improved for the benefit of farmers, fish and wildlife.  Water, rather than words, will be flowing from cooperation inspired by TNC in regional forums and by legislative lobbying.

The Conservancy activity in Oregon began 40 years ago with the establishment of  the 26-acre Camassia Natural Area, a verdant little plateau above the Willamette River and now surrounded by West Linn suburbia.  This remnant of native habitat was protected with TNC’s primary weapon, purchase.  The organization’s preserves are lands purchased with funds acquired from private donors and government grants.

Cooperative projects enabled

In addition to acquiring ownership of  ecologically rich areas, TNC maintains a revolving loan fund for buying and holding land to enable private interests or government agencies to restore and maintain valuable natural habitats, holding threatened sites until stewards obtain funding for purchase.

Currently, TNC is working in partnership with organizations ranging from local, state and federal agencies to native American tribes and private trusts.  A total of 42,000 Oregon acres have been protected in this way. 

This efficient, non-profit charity shares its research activities with both government and educational institutions.   “We emphasize the scientific approach to everything we do,” stresses Oregon TNC spokesman Stephen Anderson.  “Our organization was founded by scientists, and research provides confidence and sound means to achieve our goals.”

Corporate trust engendered

Anderson summarizes that “our science-based strategies monitor, protect and restore the greatest possible biodiversity to the land.”  Environmental protection with everyone’s interests in mind has resulted in strong cooperative relationships with major corporations.  Corporate donors to the Oregon chapter of TNC include Willamette Industries, Northwest Natural, Brooks Resources, ODS Health Plans, Louisiana-Pacific, Georgia-Pacific, Alaska Airlines, Weyerhaeuser, Boise Cascade, Norm Thompson, Columbia Sportswear, US Bank and Wells Fargo.

Private funding provides the majority of TNC’s dollars.  The only tax dollars involved in TNC work, according to Anderson, are “modest federal grants for research.”  He adds that “we do get involved in supporting public legislation that we deem both environmentally effective and efficient.”

Visitation encouraged

The public is invited to 20 of Oregon’s Conservancy preserves.  Most of these are accessible year-round and can be reached by car or a short hike.  Probably the best-known TNC visitor sites are Cascade Head on the northern coast and Tom McCall, overlooking the Columbia gorge east of Hood River. Preserve visitation is a quiet experience.  Pets, bicycles, camping and hunting are banned. 

“We ask guests to quietly note and enjoy the company of native plants and animals,” Anderson says.

The Conservancy sponsors a broad variety of Natural History excursions, open to the paying public.  Tours include both domestic and overseas destinations.  Oregon itineraries for 2002 include In the Wake of Lewis & Clark (an extensive Columbia river cruise), Klamath Birding Weekend, Bend Sage Grouse Weekend, Oregon High Desert, Nez Perce Country, Steens Mountains and an assortment of river rafting trips.

Volunteers a vital resource

The Oregon Conservancy chapter was formed by volunteers, and this remains a vital resource to augment the paid staff.  Volunteers maintain trails, assist in non-native species control (tearing out English Ivy, for instance), monitor the welfare of rare plants and animals, assist in replantings and lead field trips. 

Households purchasing a basic $25 annual Conservancy membership qualify for exclusive field trips and receive updates on all TNC activities.

This past fall the parent Conservancy organization funded an extensive print and broadcast advertising campaign…you may well have heard actor Paul Newman’s plea to “Save the earth’s last great places.”  This has resulted in a new and greater public awareness of The Nature Conservancy, which has largely labored outside the public eye, but accomplished vast and lasting ecological protection and restoration.

The Conservancy approach to environmentalism is a dramatically successful alternative to tree-sitting, waving signs and cowardly property destruction.  Oregon, as a region, richly deserves the ongoing attention of  those showing the way to preserving our abundant natural riches.

Visit http://nature.org and see a full scope of Nature Conservancy activity, including a sub site devoted to Oregon.
 

(C) 2002 Oregon Magazine