Message From Sustainable Northwest

Sustainable Northwest (SNW) is a Portland, Oregon-based nonprofit organization established in 1994 to strengthen local capacity in the Pacific Northwest to promote sustainable development: economic development that is anchored in the maintenance, restoration and enhancement of the environment. To fulfill our mission, SNW has developed a two-part strategy:

Partnerships for Community Sustainability
We engage rural communities in economically viable and environmentally sustainable projects that strengthen their self-reliance, long-term vitality and commitment to place and people.

Regional Support for Sustainable Communities
We promote leadership, innovation, entrepreneurship and networking that support and advance local sustainability efforts. We translate and consolidate the lessons of local sustainability initiatives into concrete and replicable models on a regional and national scale.

Our community partnerships have led us into some of the most beautiful parts of the Northwest to work with rural communities experiencing economic and social turmoil. A few short years ago, two prominent environmentalists were burned in effigy in the streets of Enterprise in Oregon’s Wallowa County. For three years, we talked with local farmers, ranchers and forest land managers, as well as artists, environmentalists, teachers, and local government officials, learning what concerns these diverse members of the community had in common. From these discussions a coalition emerged capable of successfully addressing the community’s challenges. A community-based nonprofit, Wallowa Resources, was established, which is now independently pursuing watershed restoration, forest stewardship contracting, small business development, and community education efforts.

In southern Oregon’s Lake County, SNW has worked with local community members and the federal agencies to develop restoration and management plans for a portion of the Fremont National Forest, with a long term goal of developing a sustainable wood products industry in the county. This effort involved bringing in outside stakeholders, including environmental interests, to work collaboratively in the planning process, setting goals for the desired condition of the land.

In Washington’s Methow Valley, we have supported the formation of The Methow Food Alliance and the building of a community kitchen to allow local farmers and others to develop value-added food products from locally grown sustainable produce. The kitchen is a center for product development, business services and cooking classes for the community. They are now looking into collective marketing, under a "Made in the Methow" brand, which will bring further profits to these entrepreneurs.

The Healthy Forests, Healthy Communities Partnership, a regional program of SNW, has contributed to efforts in all of the above communities to provide economic incentives for forest restoration while growing sustainable rural economies. The Partnership is developing and commercializing products made from small diameter wood and underutilized wood sources. Small diameter logs are a common by-product of thinning operations to "release" suppressed trees in overcrowded conditions, allowing them to grow to maturity, increasing biodiversity and providing better wildlife habitat. The partnership now involves over 20 wood products manufacturers, retailers, environmental and development organizations, and community groups in four states.

SNW is actively promoting promising sustainability initiatives by other organizations and businesses as models for development through another regional program, Founders of a New Northwest. While the concept of sustainability makes intuitive sense to most, it must be substantiated with real examples. SNW has identified 85 Founders to date, whose stories are shared through annually published books of case studies. These Founders include farmers, ranchers, and foresters, as well as recycling-based and other sustainable businesses, waste reduction and "eco-efficiency" efforts, and community livability initiatives. This pool of Founders has been the resource enabling numerous panels and workshops on sustainability and focused issues in sustainability, such as land management and eco-entrepreneurship. By sharing the tools and the lessons of the Founders, SNW encourages replication of their efforts and saves others from having to "reinvent the wheel."

If you would like to obtain copies of the Founders books, or if you would like to nominate someone to be profiled as a Founder, please contact us at (503) 221-6911 or through our website at www.sustainablenorthwest.org.

Sustainable Northwest was glad to contribute to the publication of "Sustainable Agriculture. . . Continuing to Grow" and to support the work of Western SARE as part of our education effort in sustainability. SNW believes strongly in supporting local family farmers and ranchers, in the continued growth of sustainable and organic agriculture, and in the need for closer links and better understanding between rural land stewards and urban consumers and policymakers.

I would invite anyone interested in local food in Portland to visit Higgins Restaurant or Wildwood Restaurant to experience seasonal Pacific Northwest cuisine at its finest, and to contact The Food Alliance or Oregon Tilth for more information on programs supporting sustainable and organic agriculture.

Sincerely,

Matthew Buck
Education and Outreach Coordinator
Sustainable Northwest

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