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CLC receives $1 million grant from Bullitt Foundation

Grant will accelerate work of The Cascade Agenda

Grant will accellerate the work of the Cascade Agenda

The Cascade Land Conservancy has been awarded a $1 million grant from the Bullitt Foundation to advance the goals of The Cascade Agenda, the visionary regional program to conserve 1.3 million acres of working forests and farmlands and revitalize cities and towns throughout the region.

This is only the second time that the Bullitt Foundation has awarded a grant of this magnitude.

“While this grant is of an exceptional size for us,” said Denis Hayes, Bullitt Foundation President and CEO, “it reflects the far-reaching promise of The Cascade Agenda and the proven track record of the Cascade Land Conservancy.”

The Conservancy is the umbrella organization that gave birth to The Cascade Agenda and continues to act as host of the program.  The CLC is a regional land trust operating in Washington State with its headquarters in Seattle and offices in Ellensburg, Everett, Tacoma and opening soon in Mason County.  It is the largest private land trust in the state, leading the conservation of more than 130,000 acres throughout the region since its formation in 1989.

“This grant provides us with important leverage for The Cascade Agenda,” said Gene Duvernoy, Cascade Land Conservancy President.  “It is a vote of confidence that The Agenda is worth investment at the highest levels.  It is recognition that the work we are doing here in the Northwest can be a role model for the country.”

CLC will use the gift as a catalyst to accelerate its work on implementing the goals of The Agenda, which links significant land conservation with the need for housing choices, livable cities and a strong economy.

“With threats to Puget Sound and the rapid conversion of farms and forests to suburbs and malls, the time is now,” said Hayes. “This investment will lead to significant action on a wide range of issues that are of great concern to this region.”

The grant comes at a decisive time for The Cascade Agenda.  On Dec. 15, the Cascade Agenda Coalition will meet to discuss The Agenda’s legislative proposals being prepared for submission to the 2007 Legislature in January.  The coalition is made up of the more than 1,000 individuals, businesses, organizations and elected officials who have formally supported The Agenda.

In addition to possible legislation, a number of people see The Agenda’s efforts to conserve significant working forests, farmlands and natural areas as a complement to such programs as Gov. Chris Gregoire’s Puget Sound Partnership and a fair-minded and constructive response to the real concerns raised by the recently defeated property initiative.

Hayes said The Cascade Agenda’s conservation work could serve as an “upland” component of the Puget Sound Partnership, addressing such problems as storm water runoff. “We are all concerned about the health of Puget Sound,” said Hayes.  “We are excited about the potential and scope of The Agenda and the CLC to work on this critical need and many others throughout the region.”

“The Cascade Agenda advances large-scale conservation and great communities,” said Craig Ueland, president and CEO of the Russell Investment Group in Tacoma and a member of the Cascade Agenda Leadership Team and the Cascade Land Conservancy’s Council of Advisers.  “It makes sense both for businesses and for all those who call this beautiful region our home.  Congratulations to the CLC and the Bullitt Foundation for its support.”

Maryanne Tagney Jones, chair of the CLC Board of Directors, said action by the CLC and The Agenda in the next Legislature could be some of  the organization’s most critical work.

“This comes against the backdrop of a difficult campaign around Initiative 933,” Tagney Jones said.  “We opposed the initiative, but we also emerged from the campaign with our ability to talk with and work with many different groups intact.”

“We look forward to working with the Cascade Land Conservancy on Cascade Agenda issues,” said Ken Miller, a small forestland owner and a past president of the Washington Family Forest Association. “CLC has shown an ability to work with organizations to achieve something of common good for everyone.”

Among the programs planned by The Cascade Agenda in the near future that will be funded in part by the Bullitt Foundation grant are efforts to:

• Develop a Transfer of Development Rights program in the Central Puget Sound. TDRs are seen as the best way to assist landowners who want to stay in active farm or forestry management and are at imminent risk of conversion.
• Advance the Rural Village concept and other strategies to test ways to stop sprawl by thinking differently about rural land use. 
• Begin a Cascade Agenda Cities program, with shared commitments between cities and the Cascade Agenda program to advance quality of life in local communities.
• Restore our parks through Green City programs in Seattle, Tacoma, Kirkland and other cities that show interest.  Plans call for 10,000 volunteers and bringing 200 acres this year into restoration through The Green Seattle Partnership alone. 
• Develop a wide range of private and public finance mechanisms, to help ensure acquisition of resource lands is economically viable for farmers, family foresters and the community. 
• Work with affordable housing advocates, progressive architects and developers to implement a demonstration project that links housing, quality of life and conservation together.
  

The Bullitt Foundation has been a consistent supporter of the Cascade Land Conservancy and the Cascade Agenda.  It made earlier grants to the Cascade Agenda Dialogues process and the early work on developing The Agenda.

The Bullitt Foundation is a private philanthropic foundation providing funding to nonprofit organizations working to protect, restore, and maintain the natural physical environment of the Pacific Northwest. The Bullitt Foundation was started in 1952 by Dorothy Bullitt, a prominent Seattle businesswoman and philanthropist.

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