Partners at Hilburn PreserveCapitol Land Trust hasn’t achieved a single conservation success without the collaboration of partners and landowners. Our greatest strength is our ability to bring people together, find common ground, and pursue solutions that best meet everyone’s needs while furthering conservation in our region.
Here are a few examples of collaboration at work:
Oakland Bay conservation – More than a decade ago, Capitol Land Trust, the Squaxin Island Tribe, Taylor Shellfish Farms, and the Mason Conservation District established conservation of Oakland Bay as a priority for protecting marine shoreline and estuaries in South Puget Sound. Since then, we have worked together with many partners such as the Trust for Public Land, WA Department of Ecology, WA Recreation & Conservation Office, WA Fish & Wildlife Department, the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to protect four of the largest undeveloped parcels on the Bay.
Black River Watershed conservation – In 2011, Capitol Land Trust worked with The Nature Conservancy and Thurston County to conserve the 720-acre Black River Farm, just one of the many examples of partnerships creating a network of conserved private -lands between Capitol State Forest, the US Fish and Wildlife Service Black River Refuge, and the Mima Mounds Natural Area. In 2015 Capitol Land Trust worked with The Nature Conservancy and others to establish the Washington Coast Restoration Initiative a new state conservation program that dedicated nearly $2 million for conservation and restoration in the Black River watershed.
Education – Building the next generation of conservation leaders by giving students opportunities to learn outside on our preserves continues to be a priority for us. By working with existing experts in our community, we’re able to increase the number of youths who get to experience the outdoors. Program offerings range from field experiences organized through schools or other nonprofit organizations to habitat enhancement projects to youth corps working on our lands for weeks at time.
One of our longest running programs is the Shelton FieldSTEM® Initiative. In this partnership between CLT, Pacific Education Institute, Puget Sound Estuarium, and Shelton School District, students visit Bayshore Preserve for hands on Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics learning. Students monitor the impacts of our restoration work as they discover how ecosystems function and explore the connections between people and nature.
Business partners– We also work with many business partners who share a commitment to a healthy environment and healthy communities.
FieldSTEM is a registered trademark of Pacific Education Institute.