Innovative Projects & The Collins Northwest Conservation Fund

Today we’re highlighting the Collins Northwest Conservation Fund which sparked projects that sometimes seem far-fetched and always step outside the bounds of our existing work to take a chance with new ideas. That’s where the great moments happen right? When someone takes a chance on something new.

The Collins Fund was designed to last no more than 20 years by investing in the stewardship of lands and waters across the PNW. Each year we have searched for innovative and high-profile projects that delivered-on-the-ground results that could change the way we work.

Each of these had to have an actual stewardship component and, each project had to be truly exceptional. What we’ve seen is that over the last 10 years, 23 long-term projects were funded across the region!

From eastern WA to the Great Basin, from Old growth on the Pacific Coast to Puget Sound, estuaries and shorelines, each project had to demonstrate a real-world stewardship problem to solve. Projects such as rebuilding old-growth with science driven techniques, developing models predicting rising seas and changing climates, and are testing the use of several different seed coatings that could give native grasses and sagebrush a much greater chance to survive in the PNW.

All of these projects take risks, are innovative, and strive to accomplish great stewardship results on the ground But they also, are committed to improving the way we steward our lands and waters into the future.

These last ten years of innovation and high-profile conservation delivered on-the-ground results that will continue to have an impact.