Trust for Public Land in Northwest - 2023

Northwest THERE IS SO MUCH TO BE PROUD OF IN 2023 AND MORE TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN THE YEAR AHEAD

50 Years of Impact Thanks to You!

Mount ain Home Ridge © ADAIR RU TLEDGE PHOTOGR APHY

Since our founding, Trust for Public Land’s vision has been rooted in the conviction that access to the outdoors is essential to people’s well-being. What started as a bold idea in a small San Francisco office 50 years ago has blossomed into a nationwide movement to ensure everyone, no matter where they live, can experience nature’s countless gifts. At this special milestone, we celebrate the incredible network of TPL advocates who make our work possible and catalyze our future efforts.

With your support, we have preserved iconic landscapes and co-created dynamic parks that stand as a testament to the enduring impact of TPL’s work across the country, including places like the Mountains to Sound Greenway National Heritage Area, Butte Falls Community Forest, Kiwanis Methow Park, and Olympic Sculpture Park. These are now some of the best-known and most-visited places in the region—places that bring neighbors together, foster a love for the outdoors, uplift local economies, and deliver critical, nature-based solutions to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

And we are just getting started. It is an exciting time to be a part of the TPL community as we look to new opportunities to connect to nature, our histories, and each other. Inspired by the success of the Chiloquin schoolyard 2 |

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transformation, we are partnering with school communities in Tacoma and rural Oregon to implement their vision for green, welcoming schoolyards. We are also expanding our land protection efforts, safeguarding places like Springwood Ranch and the Upper Wenatchee watershed in Washington. And we are building partnerships with Northwest tribes to understand how we can best support their land conservation goals.

With your enduring support, we will continue to build parks and protect land, making the Northwest a healthier and more equitable place for everyone. Thank you!

Sincerely, Mitsu Iwasaki Associate Vice President & Northwest Regional Director

© TPL

Meet Laurie Benson

WASHINGTON CONSERVATION DIRECTOR

As Washington’s population grows, TPL is committed to ensuring that everyone in the Evergreen State has equitable access to open space and that communities retain the working lands that support their way of life. Laurie Benson, Washington’s conservation director, discusses TPL’s current land conservation efforts and how the program is adapting to meet the needs of the communities we serve.

Tell us about TPL’s land conservation efforts in Washington.

Washington’s land conservation program protects the forests, rivers, watersheds, trails, coastal areas, working lands, and other special places that make the Pacific Northwest the unique place that it is. TPL’s land conservation experts work hand-in-hand with communities across the state to understand their open space needs and protect high conservation value forests and lands. We safeguard these places to improve climate resilience and water supplies, protect wildlife habitat, retain working forests, and ensure residents can spend time in nature.

What is your vision for the program?

I envision the program serving as a connector between land and people across the state, whether connecting recreationalists with open space, tribes with ancestral lands, or communities with lands they rely on. There are many opportunities—and state and federal funding— to prioritize forest health, coastal climate impacts, and water supply protection, so we will be focusing in part on conservation efforts that promote climate resilience. TPL is well-positioned to both lead and collaborate on these efforts to protect the landscapes we love and depend on.

What are some current projects we are working on?

In North Central Washington, we are implementing the Upper Wenatchee Community Lands Plan, which TPL helped develop. The plan will permanently protect 35,000 acres of privately owned forestland in the Upper

Snoqualmie Point Park © ALDAIR RU TLEDGE

Wenatchee watershed, improving forest health, increasing wildfire resilience, meeting the region’s growing recreation needs, and maintaining habitat connectivity for wildlife. TPL has co-hosted meetings and site tours with our partners to gather community input and build support for this multi-year project. With funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, we hope to purchase the lands included in Phase 1 by late 2025 and the lands in Phase 2 by late 2026.

In the Mountains to Sound Greenway, TPL is working on protecting a property that includes 300 acres of forest, many miles of trails, and a camp for an environmental education school, which was originally constructed in 1935 by and for the Civilian Conservation Corps. And in the Hood Canal, TPL is conserving several working forests to help maintain a dedicated source of revenue and jobs from timber harvesting and recreational tourism, and to protect these areas from development.

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TPL Celebrates its 50th Anniversary!

In 2022, TPL and the Greenway Trust launched the Jim Ellis Fund for Land Conservation to address the ongoing threat of forest loss and the need for expanded trails and green spaces in our growing region. Thanks to generous supporters like you, we are more than halfway to our $5 million fundraising goal!

Kiwanis Methow Park

Kiwanis Me thow Park © ST UART ISE T T

In our 50th anniversary year, we are celebrating some of our proudest moments—all achieved with the support of donors, partners, and advocates like you. Across Washington and Oregon, TPL has helped preserve 223,000 acres of open space and connected over 200,000 people to a park or natural area within a 10-minute walk of home.

Mountains to Sound Greenway Stretching 100 miles from Seattle across the Cascade Mountains to Ellensburg in Central Washington, the Mountains to Sound Greenway National Heritage Area is an iconic 1.5-million-acre landscape known for its sublime alpine lakes, stunning high desert, and lush forests. But its future as an outdoor paradise was not always certain. As development spilled outward from Seattle along Interstate 90 in the 1980s, TPL, the Issaquah Alps Trails Club, local officials, and residents formed the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust to protect the corridor. The Greenway Trust’s late founding president, Jim Ellis, believed land conservation can strengthen local economies and support vibrant communities, a vision that remains a driving force in TPL’s efforts in the region today. Together with the Greenway Trust and many committed individuals, we have safeguarded some of the most important places across the region, such as Rattlesnake Mountain.

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Parks are vital infrastructure for healthy, flourishing communities and are essential to improving quality of life.

To South Wenatchee residents, however, Kiwanis Methow Park—one of the area’s few green spaces—was neither an inviting nor safe place to play and connect. That is why we partnered with neighbors to understand their needs and dreams for the open space. More than 500 residents participated in the visioning process to ensure that the park would reflect the community’s priorities: family gatherings, cultural representation, and community events.

Today, Kiwanis Methow Park, with its colorful murals and welcoming kiosko (pavilion) inspired by the Mexican immigrant community, is a testament to the power of resident-designed spaces to galvanize community. The Parque Padrinos (godparents of the park), founded by neighborhood leaders in 2018, now serve as stewards of Kiwanis Methow Park. Their advocacy has broadened to address other issues facing South Wenatchee’s Mexican community—from health, housing, and jobs to discrimination and racism.

Olympic Sculpture Park In 1998, TPL partnered with the Seattle Art Museum to transform a former oil terminal into an award-winning waterfront park. The State of Washington had deemed the land contaminated, making conservation difficult, but local leaders were determined to create a safe and vibrant public park. True to their vision, today the 7.3-acre Olympic Sculpture Park provides downtown access to the Puget Sound; a natural habitat for native plants and animals; and magnificent world-class artwork for public viewing.

TPL has engaged strategy, patience, and partnership in making nature more accessible, sustainable, and protected—not just for people, but for all living things that depend on a healthy environment.”

—Sally Jewell, Former U.S. Secretary of the Interior

Communit y Impac t Day © TPL

Nor thwes t ’s 50 th Event Celebration © DON POLL ARD

50th Anniversary Events

Snoqualmie Point Park © ADAIR RU TLEDGE PHOTOGR APHY

Butte Falls Community Forest Motivated by the increasing threat of wildfires and a need for open space Butte Falls, Oregon, residents collaborated with TPL and Oregon Solutions to protect 430 acres of forestland in 2022. Butte Falls Community Forest is now managed by and for residents to support high-quality jobs, strengthen forest health, and reduce and manage forest fires. Trails are open to the public, connecting residents to the outdoors and promoting new recreation opportunities.

More than 50 volunteers convened with TPL and Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust at Lake Sammamish State Park to clear invasive blackberry shrubs as part of our Community Impact Day in April 2023. We were inspired and proud to bring the joys and benefits of the outdoors to our communities through this local engagement effort.

In May 2023, we gathered with supporters and friends of TPL at Seattle’s Olympic Sculpture Park to celebrate 50 years of TPL impact. Attendees enjoyed park tours, lawn activities, and performances by the Parque Padrinos. We were honored to recognize Mimi Gardner Gates with the TPL Trailblazer Award as well as our partners at ChelanDouglas Land Trust, Icicle Fund, Jefferson Land Trust, Metro Parks Tacoma, Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, and the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Coalition for their longstanding commitment to our mission.

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Growing the Community Schoolyard™ Movement For 27 years, TPL has led more schoolyard renovations than any other organization in the nation, guiding thousands of students and parents in school districts from coast to coast to make the most of this resource that is hiding in plain sight. We envision a future where every schoolyard in America is a healthy community asset.

Chiloquin Green Schoolyard Along the banks of the Sprague and Williamson Rivers lies the small community of Chiloquin, Oregon, which serves as the capital of the Klamath Tribes. Chiloquin residents have a strong sense of community, but few public places to come together. And until recently, Chiloquin Elementary’s schoolyard stood largely vacant with few opportunities for the adventurous, imaginative, and dynamic play of childhood.

TPL worked closely with the Klamath Tribes, residents, and students to develop and implement their vision for a green, welcoming schoolyard. During an extensive community engagement process, participants shared their vision of an open space that promoted safe play, education, health, culture, and the environment.

The new playground has been a wonderful way for our students to enjoy playing outside and interacting with each other. It has also been a wonderful place for community members to come together when school is not in session.”

—Rachel Belenfant, Chiloquin Elementary School teacher

On August 26, 2022, the Chiloquin community came together to celebrate the grand opening of its new community schoolyard. The renovated schoolyard—which serves the 700 people living in Chiloquin, 50 percent of whom identify as Native American—includes an outdoor classroom, raised garden beds, play structures, a basketball court, interpretive signage in English and Klamath, a mural, and walking paths. We are currently restoring two acres of natural space on the school grounds that will host native plants that are culturally significant to the Klamath Tribes and will strengthen students’ connection to the land.

Rural Oregon TPL is dedicated to building community and improving health, climate resilience, and education outcomes in Oregon’s schoolyards. Our vision is for dynamic, naturerich schoolyards to be a model for creating more equitable rural communities.

MADR A S ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Chiloquin Element ar y Schoolyard © SPAY NE M ARTINE Z

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Madras is the ancestral homeland of the Warm Springs, Wasco, and Paiute Native American Tribes, stretching from the snowcapped summit of the Cascade Mountains to the cliffs of the Deschutes River in Central Oregon. The town boasts tremendous outdoor recreation opportunities,

By transforming Jennie Reed’s playground into a tree-filled park, our school is adding a community resource that will make our students and neighbors healthier.”

—Abby Sloan, Jennie Reed Elementary School principal

© SPAY NE M ARTINE Z

including an impressive network of walking and biking trails. But at Madras Elementary School, these vibrant community features are not reflected in the school campus. We are working with students and residents to change that by creating a green oasis to play and learn.

Together, we will transform the schoolyards into an inviting open space that celebrates the community’s sense of place and people.

AL AMEDA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL Ontario is a growing community within Oregon’s Western Treasure Valley, surrounded by breathtaking deserts, river canyons, and mountain ranges. While the city is bordered by a rich array of recreational opportunities, many residents lack easy-to-access green spaces. At Ontario’s Alameda Elementary School—where 100 percent of students qualify for free or reduced lunch—recess is held on outdated playground equipment and patchy fields with almost no shade.

But soon, the 351 students and 1,000 neighbors within a 10-minute walk will be able to play, relax, and connect

SUPPORT COMMUNITY SCHOOLYARDS Donate today to grow our community schoolyard efforts in Tacoma and rural Oregon to strengthen communities, improve health and education outcomes, and build nature-based climate solutions.

with one another in a thoughtfully designed green space.

As part of our signature participatory design process, Alameda students are envisioning their dream schoolyard, with interactive play equipment, art by local artists, and amenities that families can enjoy after school hours.

Tacoma In Tacoma, efforts are underway to implement our community schoolyards with the transformation of five pilot schoolyards.

In June, students, teachers, and neighbors celebrated the groundbreaking at Jennie Reed and Helen B. Stafford Elementary Schools. Built alongside Interstate 5, Jennie Reed Elementary is impacted by loud traffic noise that makes it difficult for students to hear teachers and each other. The playground at Stafford Elementary is prone to flooding throughout the year because it was built on wetlands.

Informed by the school community, the designs for the renovated schoolyards include modern play structures, updated tracks and basketball courts, new irrigation systems, enhanced tree canopies to dampen noise, and ramps to improve accessibility. Students and teachers at Jennie Reed and Helen B. Stafford Elementary will soon be able to enjoy their exciting new schoolyards!

When completed, the five newly renovated schoolyards will serve more than 25,000 people living within a 10-minute walk, provide students with inspiring and enriching play spaces, and give their broader communities quality park space after school hours. We are thrilled to partner with Metro Parks Tacoma and Tacoma Public Schools to co-create welcoming green spaces where everyone can come together to connect, learn, and experience the benefits of nature.

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THANK YOU for helping improve the health, equity, and climate outcomes for communities in the Northwest and beyond.

We could not do this without you.

NORTHWEST ADVISORY BOARD

NEXT GEN STEERING COMMITTEE

Peter Ackroyd

Barbara Hebenton Fielden

David Allnutt

Rupa Patel

Colleen Azelby

Lizbeth Rivera-Estrada

Joshua Anderson, Chair

Leslie Redd

Lilah Buchanan

Elliot Smith

Teresa Bendito-Zepeda

Thomas S. Reeve †

Bonnie Lei

Michelle Song

Ashley L. Camhi

Cody Reiter

Jescelle Major

Lauren Wyckoff

Tony Cavalieri

Shon Sylvia

Krystal Meiners

Alden Garrett

F. Jerome Tone †

Ashley Mocorro Powell

Fabiola Greenawalt

† National Board members

Conner Packard

Mitsu Iwasaki Associate Vice President & Northwest Regional Director mitsu.iwasaki@tpl.org 425.922.2940

Join us Help ensure everyone has access to the outdoors. Every park we create, schoolyard we transform, trail we extend, and landscape we protect is thanks to supporters like you. tpl.org/donate/wa tpl.org/donate/or COV ER , A LL: © ADAIR RU TLEDGE PHOTOGR APH Y; THIS PAG E: © TPL

Danny Rees Northwest Director of Philanthropy danny.rees@tpl.org 206.274.2921 1218 Third Avenue Suite 1700 Seattle, WA 98101