Watershed Stewardship

Our next invitation-only grant round will be in mid-2010.

Our focus for 2009 was around 4 watersheds - the Coos and Upper Deschutes in Oregon, the Teton in Idaho, and Hood Canal up to Elwha in Puget Sound, Washington.

Our 2009 Watershed Stewardship grantees are listed below.  We awarded $175,000 to ten organizations doing work in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana:

• Coos Watershed Association (http://www.cooswatershed.org) $75,000 to support monitoring and analysis of impacts of programs and projects in the Coos Watershed, following the model watershed protocol
• Upper Deschutes Watershed Council (http://www.restorethedeschutes.org) $25,000 to implement the monitoring plan for Whychus Creek
• Friends of the Teton River (http://www.tetonwater.org) $25,000 to develop supplemental groundwater sources to support the flows on Trail Creek and to adopt municipal ordinances for water conservation
• National Center for Conservation Science and Policy (http://www.nccsp.org) $20,000 general operating support (final year of a three-year commitment)
• Stewardship Partners (http://www.stewardshippartners.org) $10,000 to develop community wide vision, goals and objectives for the Snoqualmie River in cooperation with the Trust for Public Land
• Mason County Conservation District (http://www.masoncd.org) $5,000 general operating support
• The Wilderness Society (http://www.twsnw.org) $5,000 general operating support
• Wolftree (http://www.beoutside.org) $5,000 general operating support
• Trout Unlimited (http://www.tu.org) $2,500 general operating support
• Big Hole Watershed Committee (http://www.bhwc.org) $2,500 general operating support

The Watershed Stewardship Fund Advisory Committee of the Laird Norton Family Foundation's goal is to help make a measurable improvement in a limited number of selected watersheds and to help the community around each of these watersheds understand how a clean, healthy watershed is vital as a source of drinking water, irrigation, recreation, species preservation, and overall environment integrity.

Our objective is to make a measurable difference in all the ecosystem benefits of the ecologically significant watershed we select.  These could include everything from health of native species to quality and quantity of water.  We’ll also evaluate indicators of success, such as community engagement and support, political support, supportive regulations, and presence of other funders.

We’d like to add value by not just making good investments in worthy projects and organizations, but by gaining expertise and knowledge about that watershed in order to be able to put the right people together, convene groups to discuss common issues, and seek other funding partners.  We want to build relationships within those watersheds and be viewed as a partner within those communities.