News: Annual Forum Takeaways

It was the perfect way to start the month of October: a clear and cool night that included good conversations with a community brought together by their love of local conservation.

We had about 60 members, volunteers, and supporters join us at the Lacey Community Center for our Annual Forum. This was an opportunity for us to have a conversation with our community and gather feedback to inform the board and staff as they consider the next 5-year Strategic Plan.

It was encouraging to hear that there is still a lot of excitement and momentum behind conserving lands to ensure clean air, clean water, thriving habitat, and quality of life in our community. We received a lot of valuable feedback and here are a few overarching themes we heard:

• Continue to increase awareness of Capitol Land Trust’s work throughout the community.
• Strong shared values in connections to place and encouragement to foster those connections for current and new members.
• Conserving additional lands and building on already conserved properties (CLT’s and others) should continue to be a high priority.

This year there was an opportunity to learn more, give feedback, and ask questions about specific departments and programs like conserving lands, restoration, stewardship, outdoor learning, public-access preserves, & organizational sustainability. These were a few takeaways we had as staff:

• Our volunteers like participating in stewardship events and serving as Land Stewards because it provides an opportunity to connect with the land and see conserved properties.
• Our supporters are interested in knowing how consideration of climate change and climate resiliency affects the design of our restoration projects.
• To improve organizational sustainability, we were encouraged to stay focused, plan for future stewardship needs, and cultivate the next generation to continue our work.

This was a great reminder of how special it is to live in a community strengthened by a deep connection to place. Thank you to everyone who attended! If you were unable to make it but want to share any additional thoughts or suggestions email Sierra at [email protected].