Spring 2011 Around the Office

The big news from Missoula this quarter is that we moved to a new office! It wasn’t a big move distance-wise, just one block, but it was a very big move office-wise. Our old office, though fun and funky, had severe limitations on natural light. Our new office is a bit of a dream, with east and north light streaming into (almost) every office! We’re sharing the space with Missoula’s Community Food and Agriculture Coalition – a coalition working to address community needs related to food and agriculture in a creative and comprehensive way.

Welcome

In the last RIPorter we announced the departure of two of our long-time board members who had reached their term-limits – Cara Nelson and Jim Furnish. While of course they’re irreplaceable, we still have to replace them. We’re pleased to announce the addition of Jack Tuholske and Dave Heller to Wildlands
CPR’s board. Due to prior obligations and projects, Dave won’t be officially joining our board until May, but Jack joined us in February. Jack is an environmental attorney in Missoula, Montana. Since graduating from The University of Montana School of Law with honors in 1985, Jack has been in private practice in Missoula, Montana, with an emphasis on public interest environmental litigation in state and federal court in Montana and the West. He has been lead counsel for over 45 published decisions, including over a dozen successful cases at the Montana Supreme Court. These cases span environmental, land use, water, constitutional, and natural resource management law. In recognition of his work on behalf of public interest groups, Jack was awarded the William O. Douglas Award by the Sierra Club in 2002 and the Kerry Rydberg Award in 2010 by the University of Oregon Public Interest Environmental Law Conference. More recently, Jack has combined teaching with his practice. He has taught a variety of courses and lectured frequently at The University of Montana and Vermont Law School. Jack has represented Wildlands CPR on several cases in the past, including one ongoing case against the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest over winter travel planning.

Dave recently retired from the Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Region, where his most recent position was Regional Program Leader for the Forest Service Fish and Aquatic Resource Program in the Pacific Northwest. During his work with the Forest Service he was involved in several international projects, including watershed restoration (mostly related to salmon) in British Columbia, Russia and Mexico. He also worked on several Forest Service partnership and cost share programs for fish and aquatic resources, serving on the boards of Wolftree and the Native Fish Society. He currently serves on the Oregon Fish Passage Task Force, an advisory group to the Director of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. We’re also happy to report that Dave was very involved in the regional implementation of the Legacy Roads and Trails Remediation Initiative, one of Wildlands CPR’s signature campaigns. Dave will be joining Wildlands CPR’s board in May 2011.

We’re delighted to have them both “on board,” and are looking forward to their participation in our June board meeting. As mentioned in the program updates, Wildlands CPR has recently put together an Oregon Advisory Committee. The members of the committee are: Wildlands CPR Board member and Western Environmental Law Center attorney Susan Jane Brown, Bark Executive Director Alex Brown (no relation), The Freshwater Trust’s Brett Brownscomb, Chandra LeGue from Oregon Wild, and Trout Unlimited’s Alan Moore. Sarah has been talking with each of the OR advisory members to help set her Oregon agenda and we are very appreciative to have all of their support! Thank you.

Thanks

We’d like to extend a big thank you to the Bullitt, Firedoll, and High Stakes Foundations for their generous support for our restoration program. We are also very thankful to all of you who participated in our annual gifts campaign. While we didn’t raise quite as much as we hoped, we did raise enough to make a big difference in our budget. And, of course, it’s never too late. So if you forgot to send a
donation at the end of 2010, don’t hesitate to send one in now, instead!