Nasome "Awakening the Dreamer" Facilitators Group

Stewardship Partners helps private landowners restore and preserve the natural landscapes of Washington State.  We do this by promoting innovative, incentive-based tools to encourage landowners and businesess to participate in voluntary conservation practices while simultaneously meeting their economic needs through sustainable land management.  Taking a watershed approach to issues, we collaborate with diverse stakeholder groups to bring about mutually workable solutions. Our projects restore fish and wildlife habitat, improve water quality, and protect open space while maintaining the working landscape of farms, forestland, and communities throughout the State 

Since our inception in 1999, we have assisted hundreds of landowners, community groups, and businesses in various watersheds around Washington State to implement habitat restoration, environmental planning, and sustainable resource management. 

Our current services include:

Facilitating Community-Based Collaborative Conservation and Planning

Stewardship Partners serves as a catalyst and facilitator for community-based conservation. For example, in the Nisqually Watershed, below Mt. Rainier we worked with a group of stakeholders to develop the Nisqually Stewardship Plan, a 50 year plan to promote stewardship and conservation in forestry, agriculture, and land development through incentive-based tools focused on economic and environmental sustainability.

Promoting ‘Salmon-Safe’ Agricultural Practices

Salmon-Safe certification is a marketing and labeling program to recognize farm producers in a variety of agriculture sectors (e.g. produce, dairy, wine) who adopt water quality and habitat conservation practices benefiting native salmon and overall watershed health.  The Salmon-Safe ‘seal of approval’ offers credibility, exposure, and new marketing opportunities for participating farms.   Beginning in 2004, Stewardship Partners has worked with the Oregon-based Salmon-Safe, Inc. to bring the program to Washington State, recruiting farmers into the program, providing marketing support to participating farmers, educating a broad range of citizens and interest groups, and linking participating farms with the resources available to conduct on the ground restoration and implement Best Management Practices.

Providing Technical Assistance and Resources for Landowner Stewardship

Stewardship Partners serves as a liaison between private landowners and technical, financial, and marketing resources available from various governmental and non-governmental sources. Our Snoqualmie Stewardship Program works with agricultural landowners to conduct habitat restoration projects compatible with maintaining a viable farming economy in the Snoqualmie Valley, outside Seattle.

Promoting Low Impact Development Techniques for Innovative Stormwater Management

Stewardship Partners is building on the success of the sustainable or ‘green’ building movement in the Puget Sound area to incorporate storm water management issues related to site development of residential and commercial developments, one of the most pressing concerns for the water quality of Puget Sound.  Specifically, we are promoting Low Impact Development (LID) techniques that protect the natural hydrological function of a site to allow water to infiltrate into the ground instead of flowing off of impervious pavement into storm drains and local waterways.  Through this program, we are conducting outreach to builders and developers to educate them about sustainable building and LID techniques and establish model projects that could be replicated throughout the region.