All-staff meeting at our 48,000 acre Central Cascades acquisition!
Written by Ashley Collings, Philanthropy Administrator
Photographed by Tomas Corsini, Northwest Photographer
Last week, our entire staff had the opportunity to take a field trip out to our newly acquired lands in the Central Cascades. Since we are spread out all over the state, our leadership team makes an enormous effort for us to get together on a quarterly basis to exchange ideas and spend time together as a cohesive team. It’s not easy to coordinate a staff of over 70 people to meet in the wilderness, but it’s something our office culture highly values.
This time we were lucky enough to view the results of a year of hard work to purchase this beautiful land. We met just outside the town of Roslyn, WA and caravanned up to the top of a mountain. From our lookout spot we could see Roslyn and Cle Elum, as well as Mt. Stewart and off in the very distance, Mt. Rainier.
We split up into three experiences. One could choose to learn about forestry and use the tools a forester would use. Another choice was to take a geology walk where the participants learned that the Cascades are a “young” mountain range at only 9 million years old! Or you could commune with nature and take an easy hike through the woods, which we dubbed the Hippie Hike. We also learned about the increasing fire risk to these forests as Washington continues in the drought season.
Meetings like this not only allow us to get out into the field (a major reason why many of us work for The Nature Conservancy), but it also reconnects us to the mission of our organization. There is something very powerful about standing on the side of a mountain and seeing trees and snowcaps and turkey vultures everywhere you look. Lastly, this trip allowed each of us to bond with our coworkers in a way that just can’t be replicated in the office. It’s a different experiencing hiking through the woods with your teammates than sitting at a computer writing emails back and forth.
And thankfully, the weather cooperated! We had a fantastic day!
G. Tomas Corsini Sr. is a freelance Northwest based photographer working on projects in Digital Media to include: Photography, Video Productions, Video Editing, Web Content Management, Motion Graphics, Graphics Illustration, and more. Learn more about his work here.
