Cascade Land Conservancy celebrates 20 years

of conserving great lands, creating great communities

Seattle, May 14, 2009 - Twenty years is a long time.

It is 10,520,000 minutes. In 20 years, more than 62 feet of rain fell here. Boeing’s fleet of 747s around the world has flown 21 billion nautical miles since 1989 or to the moon and back 50,000 times.

Twenty years ago, in 1989, the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Alaska’s Prince Edward Sound, the Berlin Wall fell, Ken Griffey played his rookie year with the Mariners hitting 16 home runs and Microsoft introduced a suite of business software programs called Office.

Today at the 14th annual Conservation Awards Breakfast, the Cascade Land Conservancy celebrated its first 20 years, marking that beginning in 1989 when a group of regional leaders came together to form what was then called the Seattle King County Land Trust.  That promising idea to conserve important lands in a growing region has grown over the years into the Cascade Land Conservancy, now a force in this region for both conservation and community.

“This is a proud day for the Cascade Land Conservancy,” said Bruce Williams, Chair of the Board of Directors and Chairman/CEO of HomeStreet Bank.  “Today we celebrate the community of volunteers, partners and leaders who have helped us achieve this great milestone.”

The Conservation Awards Breakfast attracted nearly 2,000 people to the Washington State Convention and Trade Center.  The breakfast is now the largest event of its kind in the region, a time when business executives, elected officials, builders, developers, tribal representatives, environmental groups and conservationists all gather in one place in support of conservation and community.

One of the highlights of the breakfast was the signing of key legislation that will advance the goals of The Cascade Agenda to achieve significant landscape-scale conservation while enhance the vibrancy and livability of our cities and towns.

Gov. Chris Gregoire signed into law legislation that creates a regional market in the Transfer of Development Rights.  The law is a landmark change that will increase the potential for significant conservation of working farms and forests, assist with cleanup of Puget Sound and provide a sophisticated development tool for the enhancement of the region’s towns, neighborhoods and cities.

“The challenges we face in keeping our environment healthy are significant, which makes the work of such groups as the Cascade Land Conservancy even more important,” Gregoire said. “Washington’s population continues to grow by about 100,000 people a year. I see the growth in our state clearly affecting the health of our beloved Puget Sound, and our other natural resources. I want our children and grandchildren to grow up with a love of the outdoors. That’s why together we must act now to protect our resources and quality of life that makes our state so great.”

The need for an organization like the Cascade Land Conservancy grew out of the efforts to pass open space bond issues in the late 1980s. It took a dedicated group of people three tries to pass an open space bond issue to preserve farmland in King County before actually achieving success.

Those early leaders – people including Frank Pritchard, John Howell, Gerry Johnson, Carol James and Lucy Steers – learned there was a need for a group that could complement public investment with private conservation.

“We all got to know each other in those campaigns,” said Johnson, a partner at K&L Gates and the first Board Chair of the Conservancy. “It was a real ‘children’s crusade’ in those days,” said James, another former Board Chair.

Today the Cascade Land Conservancy is the largest independent land conservation, stewardship and community-building organization in the state. Its work stretches from the shrub steppe hills above the Columbia River to the wind-swept beaches of the Pacific Ocean.

The Conservancy is today - as it has been from the beginning - a call to action for the region, to envision the future for our children and grandchildren.  As the community gathers for the Conservancy’s annual Conservation Awards Breakfast, the Cascade Land Conservancy honors the volunteers, leaders and partners who have helped the organization significantly over the past 20 years.

“As the Conservancy looks ahead to the next 20 years, we will need leadership from every sector and support from every volunteer and partner,” said Gene Duvernoy, Conservancy President.  “It is up to us to conserve our region’s lands and waters as we create communities that provide us with a high quality of life.”

With its 20th anniversary, the Conservancy honored the past winners of its Frank Pritchard Lifetime Achievement Award, including its namesake.  Pritchard was the award’s first recipient in 1997.

From the work of one person, to the combined force of many, the Conservancy’s award winners have shaped not only the efforts of the Cascade Land Conservancy but also the future of this region.  In the last 20 years, the Conservancy has honored hundreds of people throughout the region who are carrying out the 100-year vision of the Cascade Agenda and working toward a shared goal of conserving great lands and creating great communities.

Lifetime Achievement Award winners over the years are:

1997 – Frank Pritchard, for his role as a founding Board member of the Cascade Land Conservancy and a life dedicated to community service.

1998 – No breakfast or awards

1999 – Jim Ellis, for his regional leadership and the creation of the Mountains to Sound Greenway.

2000 - The Paul Allen and the Paul G. Allen Forest Protection Foundation, for support of conservation across the Pacific Northwest.

2001 - Priscilla (Patsy) Bullitt Collins, for inspiring generations of conservationists and philanthropists.  Patsy’s death in June of 2003, meant the loss of a true conservation hero. 

2002 - Louise Miller, Former King County Councilwoman, for her work with King County Parks and her support of farmland preservation.

2003 - Former King County Executive Ron Sims, for his longstanding dedication to conservation.

2004 - Former Governors Dan Evans and Mike Lowry, for their founding of the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Coalition.

2005 - The partnership of Harvey Manning, Brian Boyle, Randy Revelle and Bruce Laing, for protection of 150 miles of trail at Tiger, Squak and Cougar Mountains in the “Issaquah Alps.” 

2006 - The Wildlife Forever Fund, for their work to preserve threatened estuary lands on the Olympic Peninsula.

2007 - Paul and Debbi Brainerd and The Brainerd Foundation, for educating future conservation leaders at their innovative nature center, IslandWood.

2008 - Billy Frank, Jr., for his work with the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission and his long-time role as a conservationist and Native American leader.

Present at the Breakfast were Jim Ellis; Sue Coliton and Anson Fatland from the Paul Allen Family Foundation; Louise Miller; Former Governor Mike Lowry; Penny Manning, daughter of Harvey Manning; Brian Boyle; Randy Revelle; Bruce Laing; and Richard Leeds and Anne Kroeker, Wildlife Forever Fund.

The Transfer of Development Right Marketplace is one of the most important bills for the Conservancy to come out of the recent Legislature.  The state, along with the Conservancy and other partners,  are seeking a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to fund the program.

“I know the Cascade Land Conservancy has been one of the most ardent supporters of this program,” Gregoire said. “Thank you for your work to protect the health of our state.”

Two supporters of the bill were also present at the Conservation Awards Breakfast.

 “Transfer of Development Rights is a way to let the free market help preserve farms and forests, while making our communities more livable and efficient,” said Rep. Jeff Simpson, the prime sponsor of the bill in the House. “This bill saves taxpayers untold millions in wasted infrastructure expenses. Why build more roads, sewers, water lines, schools, fire stations, libraries and criminal justice facilities when we just can squeeze more efficiency out of the ones we already have? That’s why I sponsored HB 1172 and have worked for years to increase the use of TDRs in Washington.”

“House Bill 1172 creates a new approach for how we develop in which everybody wins,” said Sen. Fred Jarrett, (D-Mercer Island), who sponsored the bill in the Senate. “Instead of ‘taking’ from some and ‘giving’ to others, this bill creates the opportunity to share the benefits of development fairly.”