Conservation Isn’t Possible Without Justice and Equity for all People

By Kristen Bauer, DeAnne Hamilton, and TJ Green, chair and members of the Board of Trustees for The Nature Conservancy in Washington

We are in the midst of unprecedented and incredibly challenging times as a world. Not only are we facing a warming planet, we are in the midst of a global pandemic and a world riven by racial injustice and a growing economic divide.

The decisions and steps we as a society take will be pivotal for shaping the future health of our planet, of our society and of the entire ecosystem. Now more than ever, it is important to step forward as leaders, holding strong to our values and honoring our responsibility to work toward a world that is equitable and sustains the health of all people—and the planet.

This year, The Nature Conservancy is celebrating our 60th anniversary in Washington state. As trustees for the Conservancy’s Washington chapter, we celebrate its deep roots and accomplishments. Given the challenges we face in the coming decade, it is now time for a renewed commitment for the future.

Volunteers work on a community rain garden at a church in Kent, WA, as part of the final phases of a blackberry-covered hillside reclamation project. They planted erosion-preventing native vegetation, water-purifying rain garden plants, and food forest fruit trees. © Kelly Compton, volunteer photographer.

When volunteers started the Washington chapter of The Nature Conservancy 60 years ago, they were driven to set aside some of the state’s rare and fragile habitats as a museum of living history. Since then, with support from thousands of people across the state, the Conservancy has protected and preserved many of our most precious places, including landmarks like the Point of Arches on the Washington coast and eagle habitat on the Skagit River. Today, we continue to steward more than a hundred thousand acres of land, notably at Moses Coulee, the forests in the Central Cascades in Kittitas County, Port Susan Bay on Puget Sound, and the salmon rivers of the Olympic Peninsula.

But saving isolated special places, while crucial, is not enough. We recognize what the Indigenous people of this region have always known—the well-being of people and nature cannot be separated. The natural and social systems that support healthy forests, rivers, and runs of salmon also support the health and well-being of people. Practices that lead to pollution and loss of habitat and species also damage people.

Guided by science and by experience, the Conservancy works with a diverse array of partners in support of policies, funding mechanisms, and on-the-ground projects that sustain healthy lands, waters and communities.

Zeytun Ahmed and Vanthabik Lian lead tours at the Paradise Parking Plots community garden in Kent, Washington © Courtney Baxter/TNC

In this pivotal moment, the Conservancy acknowledges that, as part of the mainstream conservation movement, we benefit from a white-dominant culture and operate comfortably in an unjust, racist society. It’s time to focus on the inextricable connection between conservation and racial, social and economic justice, and commit to using our resources toward equitable and effective conservation. We must actively work to change systems that rationalize harm to the environment and communities as the unavoidable cost of a prosperous society. Those harmful impacts land most heavily on communities that have historically been excluded from decision-making.

A focus on justice will be critical as the Conservancy and all society tackles the defining issue of our time: climate change. The impacts of climate change are evident in the growing footprint of fire and smoke, in polluted air and water, in drought, in changing growing seasons, in shrinking glaciers and warming rivers. These impacts disproportionately hurt Indigenous people, communities of color, urban and rural communities. It has never been more important to listen to and learn from these communities, so that we may create and sustain partnerships that advance local, equitable solutions.

There is enormous power and hope in a more inclusive conservation movement that places justice and equity as core values. Our opportunities for benefitting people and nature in Washington are particularly ripe with potential:

  • Tribal treaty rights provide a legal and moral foundation for protecting the rights of future generations. How do conservation groups, government and business work together to support treaty rights to secure clean air, clean water and healthy fisheries for all of Washington?

  • Our business community leads the world in enabling innovation and collaboration. How do we bring the tools of technology to agriculture and forestry and fisheries so that better resource decisions can be made while ensuring sustainability?

  • Can we implement a transportation system that creates easier commutes, cheaper fuel bills, and cleaner air while allowing us to bring nature to our travel corridors and neighborhoods and clean up polluted stormwater in the process?

  • Can we create jobs and training for young people by committing to forest and river projects that restore nature’s processes, protect community safety and build resilience to the effects of climate change?

It will take unity, collaboration, inclusion and a commitment to justice to shape a future where people and nature thrive together. We’re proud to serve this mission and we hope you’ll join us on this journey.

From left:

  • Kristen Bauer is CEO of Laird Norton Wealth Management and the Chair of the Board of Trustees for The Nature Conservancy in Washington

  • DeAnne Hamilton is the Executive Director and General Manager of KBTC Public Television and a trustee for The Nature Conservancy in Washington.

  • TJ Greene is the chair of the Makah Nation Tribal Council and a trustee for The Nature Conservancy in Washington.


Banner photo by volunteer photographer Michael McAuliffe.