What we do

Washington Conservation Action Education Fund cares deeply about the land, air, water, and communities that sustain us as well as fairness in our political system. These principles remain core to the ethos of our work. As we envision a future that carries these principles forward, we seek to protect people and nature as one given what makes Washington state unlike any other is our magnificent natural environment. From our humbling mountains, cool rivers, and wide open blue skies give us a sense of place and belonging. The cool breezes along the Palouse, the epic feeling that we can touch the sky on our state’s highest peaks like Mount Tahoma to Mount Baker, the lakes surrounding Spokane and the roaring Columbia River, breathtaking shorelines of the Puget Sound and Pacific Ocean, to the pristine forests near Lake Chelan and Nisqually provide us all with an exceptional quality of life.

We work in many fields and with groups across the state. After laws are passed, we make sure they are implemented as intended. Our programs include:

Climate & Clean Energy

We develop and support policies that accelerate our clean energy transition, improve transportation, encourage efficient buildings, and help those who already struggle with pollution and climate change. We fight expansion of dirty fossil fuel infrastructure, taking on giant, multinational polluters. We have worked to create three regional coalitions that have successfully blocked eight oil-by-rail terminals, seven coal terminals, several oil and gas pipelines and what would have been the world’s largest fracked gas terminal. As clean energy proposals ramp up, we make sure that these projects respect Tribal treaty rights and local concerns.

Puget Sound & Salmon

When salmon thrive; we all thrive. We all benefit when water runs clean in our rivers and in Puget Sound. When streams run free, forests are healthier. When wetlands, estuaries and shores are restored to their natural state, the fisheries that support families can remain open. We actively work toward all these things, collaborating with communities and Tribes across the state. To advance recovery that leaves a legacy for future generations across the state, we mobilize our supporters to engage in several state-level decision making processes, including the Model Toxics Control Act and others.

Learn more about natural resource asset management here.

Forests

Forests clean our air, filter sediment and pollutants from our water, prevent flooding and landslides, provide a living for rural towns, and create places of respite and cultural significance. We work to ensure the sustainable management of working forests where timber is harvested. We promote new approaches to forestry, such as preserving complex, older stands to store carbon, creating climate smart supply chains and helping communities to adapt to wildfire.

Tribal Nations

Indigenous peoples have sustainably managed their lands for millennia and have been at the forefront of protecting wildlands and cutting carbon emissions. Through our Tribal Nations program, we seek to build meaningful, long-term relationships with Washington’s first peoples and find areas to work collaboratively to protect people and nature as one.

Democracy & Civic Engagement

The more voters who participate in democracy, the better the outcomes for people and the environment. Our statewide, non-partisan programs encourage voting, especially in areas where engagement has lagged. We work to ensure that our government is accessible and works for us all, and we remove barriers to voting so that all Washingtonians can engage in elections.

Environmental Justice

Washington Conservation Action centers environmental justice in our policy-making, advocacy, and organizing. The same systems that harm the environment also harm people. Historically, communities of color, rural and economically disadvantaged and Tribal communities have suffered disproportionately from environmental damage.