Conor Marshall
Fragrant pine trees reaching for the sky. Rhythmic waves crashing against a foggy coastline. Bald Eagles soaring along winding rivers.
Growing up in Washington, my love of the outdoors and appreciation for our natural landscapes began at an early age. When I recently accepted a position on The Mountaineers conservation and advocacy team, I felt especially excited to begin this new adventure because of our community’s long history of protecting beloved local lands and waters.
Mountaineers members have played a part in every major conservation victory in Washington state, from the creation of Olympic National Park to the expansion of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area. This year saw some big conservation wins too, including progress for recreational permitting reform and substantial investments in our public lands to fight the climate crisis.
Wins like these are important, but we’ve only scratched the surface of our potential impact.
Early Mountaineers didn’t achieve conservation victories on their own. They teamed up with other conservation groups like the Sierra Club and Audubon Society, establishing a spirit of collaboration across the local recreation and conservation community that persists today.
Recently, we announced that The Mountaineers will be leading a new initiative called Outdoor Alliance Washington. Through relationships with powerful outdoor groups like Washington Trails Association and Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance, we’ll combine the power of The Mountaineers 14,000 member community with tens of thousands of other recreationists from across our state’s diverse outdoor community.
This collaborative work is critical because the challenges we face today - underfunded public lands, intensifying wildfires, and other devastating impacts from the climate crisis - can only be solved by working together. When mountaineers, hikers, paddlers, bikers, and surfers unite their voices for a shared purpose, we can continue to achieve historic conservation wins that protect our public lands for future generations. Thanks to the generous support of Mountaineers donors, our organization can lead this collaborative work and ensure better outcomes for our region.
In fact, we’re already hard at work meeting with Members of Congress and influencing legislation in the other Washington. We have big campaign goals for the upcoming year to advocate for greater investment in Forest Service funding, protect our public lands, and engage in recreation planning throughout the region.
But this work is only possible with your continued support. Right now, The Mountaineers is undertaking an ambitious year-end fundraising campaign with a goal of raising $150,000 by December 31 for our donor-funded programs. 75% of our conservation policy and advocacy work is directly funded by charitable gifts. Will you consider making a gift to help us continue building a strong, unified voice for our outdoor recreation community?
Thank you for strengthening The Mountaineers conservation legacy, so that it continues to reach from the tallest conifers of the Pacific Coast to the halls of Congress.
P.S. We are less than $40,000 away from our $150,000 goal. Your gift of any size makes a difference for our ability to serve as conservation leaders in Washington state. Please consider adding your name to the list of hundreds of charitable supporters who are teaming up to protect our favorite places. First-time Peak Society donors also have a special opportunity to double their impact this giving season.
If you haven’t already, sign up now to receive updates on our future Outdoor Alliance Washington initiatives and opportunities.
