Daniel Misch is the new Arid Lands Assistant Manager at the Moses Coulee/Beezley Hills Preserves.

He’ll be leading post-fire restoration projects and assisting with many other stewardship activities on the preserves.

Herman Flamenco is joining our Forest team as the Conservation Forester for the Central Cascades.

In September 2020, thanks to the funding from the state Washington State Coast Restoration and Resilience Initiative, The Nature Conservancy completed a step towards whole system restoration of our coastal streams on our Olympic Forest Reserves. The grant funded a series of thinning, planting of native riparian trees, weed treatments, and, most impressively, the installation of large woody debris jams "log jams" in Shale Creek, a tributary of the Clearwater and Queets River. See helicopters placing log jams in the river

Wildlife camera captures a new visitor at Cowboy Camp at The Nature Conservancy’s Moses Coulee Preserve.

Participating in the adventures of field science as volunteer with Stewardship has taken me across the state, from Port Susan Bay to Moses Coulee. The experiences have been great opportunities to learn about the important and innovative studies we are doing at our preserves and a way to contribute to the bigger picture of conservation.

The Stewardship Team here in Washington has a big job: to care for about 47,000 acres in 33 preserves and 11 easements scattered across the state, from tiny Deadman Island, less than 2 acres in the San Juans, to the Moses Coulee/McCartney Creek/Beezley Hills complex of preserves covering more than 30,000 acres in the sagelands of Central Washington. Meet 4 team members and see videos of the work they do.

The federal government of Canada has committed to funding the land-use visions and authority of First Nations for the iconic Clayoquot Sound as part of a groundbreaking announcement earlier this week. It will help to establish major new protected forest and coastal areas as well as provide funding to support them.

The federal government of Canada has committed to funding the land-use visions and authority of First Nations for the iconic Clayoquot Sound as part of a groundbreaking announcement earlier this week. It will help to establish major new protected forest and coastal areas as well as provide funding to support them.

We planted 19,000 seedlings of ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir, and western white pine in May 2019 on Cle Elum Ridge to continue restoration efforts following the Jolly Mountain Fire that occurred on the Central Cascades Forest of 2017.

South Puget Sound prairies are among the rarest native landscapes in the west, and critical habitat for several endangered species such as the Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly, Mazama pocket gopher, Oregon spotted frog, and golden paintbrush.

“You can’t see the entire world from the top of Everest…..The view from there only reminds you how big the world is and how much more there is to see and learn.” 

"All kinds of people should be able to live in and contribute to a healthy natural world."

"I work with communities to guide imperfect and messy ideas into concepts full of possibilities by encouraging our partners to be generous with their viewpoints, faith and challenge."

"Guiding the development of forest and stream restoration projects in the temperate rainforests of Ellsworth Creek and the Olympic Coast, and the dry pine forests of the Central Cascades."

Kyle Smith is the Forest Manager for The Nature Conservancy of Washington where he leads a team of professional foresters who conduct forest management and river restoration projects across 80,000 acres in Washington. Kyle’s current areas of management include the Ellsworth Creek Preserve in Southwest Washington, the Hoh River Recreation Area and Conservation Area, the Clearwater Forest Reserve in the Olympic Peninsula, and the Central Cascades Forest in Eastern Washington.

"Ensuring TNC’s efforts along the coast are benefitting the local communities."

"Nurturing nature for wildlife and people."

"Working with communities on developing and implementing shared priorities, particularly indigenous communities."

"Give me a landscape where instant gratification seekers are ignored and sincere explorers rewarded.  This is prairie.  This is shrub-steppe."

"To restore our forests will take a unified effort and collaboration between all stakeholders. This is our pathway forward."

"Conservation Geographer ready to explore, discover, learn, and share!"

I am an aquatic ecologist at The Nature Conservancy’s cities, land, and water programs. I hold a Ph.D. from the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington, with a focus on estuarine restoration and food web ecology in tidally-influenced ecosystems. My work integrates across ecosystem boundaries, investigating how landscape configuration and management shapes cross-boundary relationships for food webs, organisms, and ecosystem processes.