Grantee Profiles

Washington Environmental Council: Engendering a New Vision for Conservation Wins

If it were easy to translate people's love of the natural world into action on its behalf, the battle to protect the environment would not be difficult. But in truth, it takes uncommon dedication, leadership and imagination. As Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said, "Few people have the imagination for reality." And the reality is that work on the state policy level has become the primary battlefield for upholding strong environmental laws.

Fortunately, Washington Environmental Council (WEC) has had the imagination and courage to shift its approach in ways that increase the chances for successfully addressing Washington State's environmental problems.

WEC has walked the fine line between standing up against truly bad actors and working with a growing sector of responsible business and government leaders. Since 1967, it has endeavored to keep citizens involved in this ever-changing dynamic and has provided a credible voice for environmental protection.

In 2000, WEC received a three-year Brainerd Foundation Challenge Grant -- a multi-year capacity-building grant intended to bring WEC's work to another level and inspire others along the way. In 2005, the Foundation gave the group a 2-year Program Support grant that allowed it to pursue its full set of organizational goals.

Over the past few years, the organization refined its approach by developing a stronger prioritization of issues. Although paring down the number of priority issues was difficult, WEC can now tackle them in a more robust, nimble and creative way. According to Executive Director Joan Crooks, "We were at a point where we wanted to take the good work we had been doing for years and focus it to get real change accomplished. We hoped that with clear goals and a solid plan, we would gain partners to help us." It was a bold approach to conservation campaigns and it included a new way to frame the issues themselves. This larger internal shift led WEC to achieve some important advances in the policy realm (in tandem with other key environmental organizations), including

Increased protections for over 20,000 miles of the shoreline of the state's lakes, rivers and saltwater beaches. In Washington, 85 percent of wildlife species use areas near waters and wetlands as habitat. Without these areas, we won't sustain healthy and diverse fish and wildlife in Washington.
A ground-breaking effort to work with farmers along Manastash Creek near Ellensburg to find the root causes of dry streams leaving fish in trouble. This work won over the state legislature who appropriated funds to help make corrective changes on the ground.
Initiated and helped foster the creation of the state environmental community's Priorities for Healthy Washington. This collaboration of over a dozen of the state's top conservation groups has resulted in a focused set of priorities.

In particular, the Priorities for a Healthy Washington collaboration has altered the way the broader environmental community approaches statewide advocacy. Joan Crooks notes, "This change takes the community from embracing many important policy efforts (making it impossible to win) to making great gains on a small set of priorities. It also streamlines the process for policymakers, who can now concentrate on a few key issues knowing they have been thoughtfully researched, selected and prioritized. This approach has fostered accountability in a positive and collaborative way, both for decisionmakers and for the environmental community itself." In 2005, this led to what the Seattle Times coined "A Clean and Green Session."

In the 2005 legislative session, the collaborative embraced four clear priorities. Of those, two were passed and significant progress was made on the other two. And in the 2006 legislative session, three of the four priorities were passed and significant progress was made on the other one.

As a result of these accomplishments, conservationists and other stakeholders have clearly demonstrated that the economy and the environment not only co-exist, but that they indeed rely upon each other. This paradigm shift engenders a new vision for how conservationists can win on issues and work with a broader set of stakeholders, like business and labor.

These are just a few of the advances WEC has made in recent years and part of the reason the Seattle Weekly named them the 2005 Environmental Advocate of the Year. The group's latest strategic plan focuses on bringing together new partnerships to continue achieving conservation successes, and further strengthening its organizational capacity to facilitate effective collaboration. The dedication and creativity of the WEC staff and board takes the organization to a higher level of effectiveness. The Brainerd Foundation has been proud to support WEC as it embarks upon a new chapter in its history.

Note: As a private foundation, the Brainerd Foundation cannot and does not attempt to influence legislation, and cannot and does not designate any portion of its grants for use in influencing legislation (lobbying).

Profiled 2006