I grew up in a timber and agriculture-based town in Southern Oregon. My family ran a small family photography business. During the summer we would spend every weekend at our cabin at Diamond Lake in the Umpqua National Forest. It was here that I developed my love for the outdoors.

Later, in my adult years, I was lucky to successfully ride the wave of software development in the computer industry. I attribute some of the success I had in business to my understanding that it's important to step back and ask the bigger questions.

In the past two years at the Brainerd Foundation, I've had the chance to integrate my childhood passion for the natural world with my adult propensity for looking at the big picture as we have developed and implemented a new vision for the organization's future.

This past year marks a significant shift in focus for the foundation. We have launched a new strategic plan that we hope brings some innovative thinking to conservation in the Northwest. We take this new approach with humility, knowing there are many ways to achieve conservation outcomes.

We imagine a future in which the general public's well-documented resolve for clean air, water and land are robustly reflected in the region's leadership and policy.

In the coming decade, the foundation will put a greater emphasis on developing citizen capacity to engage in and support conservation endeavors.

We will invest in proposals likely to produce tangible conservation "wins" and organizations that strive to engage a broader set of constituencies in regional conservation challenges. This shift in focus is designed to inspire a stronger and longer-lasting sense of environmental stewardship among all who live in the Northwest. I believe our new strategic framework moves us in that direction.

We realize we have set a lofty goal. We also think developing lasting, citizen-based support for policy that favors environmental protection is the only sure means to secure an enduring conservation legacy for the Northwest

Paul Brainerd, President