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July 2008 In this issue About the Friends The Friends of Our Natural Heritage is a group of citizens throughout Washington state who provide a voice for conservation. By taking simple steps to educate officials and community leaders about the value of our state's natural heritage, Friends are helping to safeguard and restore some of the most ecologically valuable lands and waters remaining in Washington. Stay involved -- and invite your friends to join the Friends! For more information about the program or to sign up, visit our Web site or contact Jeff Compton at The Nature Conservancy: (206) 343-4345, ext. 384 or jcompton@tnc.org. |
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Muddy TVs, Music and More Yes! It's MudUp, and it's everywhere! Perhaps you've watched a commercial, heard a radio ad or seen a billboard. They are all invitations to do something for Puget Sound this summer. Click here to see the T.V. ads and learn why The Nature Conservancy is getting muddy. Join us. 'Cause everyone's getting muddy for a cleaner Sound.
Puget Sound, Part II - Call for Postcard Captains Puget Sound is a priority for The Nature Conservancy. We are working hard to protect and restore habitat throughout the Sound. We are also collaborating with many partners to participate in and evaluate the state's big-vision Puget Sound Partnership effort. The Puget Sound Partnership must develop by this Fall an Action Agenda for restoring Puget Sound to sustainable health. We want to make sure they know that Puget Sound's neighbors - like you - care and want this effort to succeed. Here's an easy way to help. Sign up to get a small pile of postcards. Have your friends and family fill them out. Then send them back in a provided envelope. Click here to get involved, captain!
Land Swap Adds 2,500 Acres to Preserves 
New acquisitions in Moses Coulee and Beezley Hills will protect historic pygmy rabbit habitat and connect and expand exisiting Nature Conservancy preserves. The Conservancy has acquired four sections, 2,560 acres in all, in the Moses Coulee/Beezley Hills/McCartney Creek area, with the closing of a land exchange with the Washington Department of Natural Resources. Learn all about it and see a map. SPEAKING OF THE DNR: The state Department of Natural Resources is also responsible for managing the extensive public aquatic lands in Washington. The agency announced in April the establishment of an environmental Aquatic Reserve in Fidalgo Bay. Read their press release.
In The News: Biofuels & Big Forest Conservation Exciting forest news from Montana! The Nature Conservancy has helped broker a deal that will protect more than 300,000 acres in western part of the state from fragmentation and development. Read all about it here. Here in Washington, our director of Conservation Science, Elizabeth Gray, and a colleague at UW published a scientific paper that examines the environmental footprint of various kinds of biofuels, and lays out principles for policies for environmentally sound biofuels. Get more and read an interview with Dr. Gray.
On March 15 a group of friends visited Dabob Bay on the east side of the Olympic Peninsula, near Quilcene. Private and public entities have been engaged in the effort to preserve this area and restore the forested uplands, the shoreline and the marine habitats in the bay. Click here to see a few photos, read about the Conservancy's conservation efforts in Dabob Bay, and learn about what the state DNR is considering doing with the property they manage all around the bay.
Many Friends wrote and called their representatives in Olympia this past winter, encouraging them to protect our rich natural heritage. Thanks to citizens like you showing interest and concern, the Legislature decided to take action to improve the health of Washington's native animals and plants as well as the people that call this place home. We've put a Nature Conservancy summary of the 2008 Session on our Friends Web pages. Click here to read what happened. Thanks again for speaking up for nature!
Online resources for the Friends 
There is a section of The Nature Conservancy's web site dedicated to the Friends of Our Natural Heritage. There we post more information about our public priorities, links for finding officials, and other information to help you speak up for nature. Friends quiz: What was the number of the 2008 Legislative bill that created the Outer Coast Marine Resources Committee? Go to nature.org/Washington/friends and bookmark the page for easy reference. Your feedback is most welcome.
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