Change is upon us.
tionFrom the September 2020 Cornerstone Network Email
Change is upon us at a global scale – and at the Geos Institute.
After 14 years of serving as Chief Scientist and Program Director for our Forest Legacies Initiative, we say goodbye to Dominick DellaSala. He will become the new Chief Scientist at Wild Heritage – a program of Earth Island Institute.
It is a bittersweet moment for us. Our roots are deep in forest conservation work. We began as Headwaters – a regional organization made up of grassroots forest advocacy organizations across the Pacific Northwest. It was in those early years that we engaged in timber sale tracking, policy advocacy, and litigation.
Forest conservation is part of our foundation
Headwaters was in the eye of the storm during the “spotted owl wars” leading up to the Northwest Forest Plan – a key tool for forest conservation in our region. I was a summer intern in the early 1990s. My task was analyzing the Forest Service’s database of the different alternatives to see which one protected the most old-growth forests. It’s humbling to think of how far we have come since those early days.
For many years, we hosted the annual Headwaters Forest Activists Conference in our hometown of Ashland. This event brought a wide swath of activists, from members of Congress to tree sitters, to Ashland in order to strategize, network, and imagine a world with vibrant, healthy forests. It was an honor to serve the larger movement for forest conservation in such a tangible way.
For the last 20 years, we have focused on the science aspect of forest conservation. Working at the regional and national level to ensure that forest policy is based on the best available science and providing science-based tools to grassroots organizations.
Working with our allies, we have seen many victories: enactment of the Northwest Forest Plan and Roadless Rule, designation of the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument, and protection of the Kalmiopsis from mining. All the hard work and dedication has paid off.
And yet, with all we accomplished, we also know it is not enough. Which is why we are both sad to see Dominick go, and pleased that he will have a larger team to work with. He is a powerful, strategic advocate. We want him on the largest stage possible working on behalf of the forests we all cherish.
Moving Forward
As we make this transition, we examining our role in regional forest conservation efforts going forward. If you have thoughts you would like us to consider as we move through this process, please let me know.
In the meantime, we are excited to announce that we are a partner in the Climate Ready Texas proposal to the Lone Star Prize program. Our team includes Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, the Houston Advanced Research Center, and several other organizations that are creating a path for communities to build climate resilience across the state of Texas.
If funded, all Texas communities that are ready to start building climate resilience will have access to our Climate Ready Communities program. Additionally, we’ll be supporting cohorts of ten communities each year over five years in completing their climate resilience plans. A short video about the project is here: https://youtu.be/Bzz5RB04oqU
Thank you for all you do to make the world a better place – including supporting the Geos Institute.
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Arsum is the Senior Adaptation and Coastal Resilience Specialist for the National Wildlife Federation’s Southcentral Region. In this role, she advances climate adaptation efforts, with a focus on nature-based approaches to address the impacts of climate change and extreme events across the Gulf region. She has authored and co-authored numerous publications on climate impact assessments and adaptation solutions. Additionally, she regularly participates in state-based coastal resilience and hazard mitigation planning across the Gulf, collaborating with regional and local stakeholders.
Frank is the former President of the Reinsurance Association of America. Frank currently serves on the Advisory Board of the OECD’s International Network for the Financial Management of Large-Scale Disasters, the RAND Center on Catastrophic Risk Management and Compensation, and the University of Cincinnati’s Carl H. Lindner III Center for Insurance and Risk Management Advisory Board.
Jim is a multilingual world traveler. Based in Bavaria during the 1970s, Jim spent most of this period in India, Afghanistan and Nepal, where he founded and operated a charitable medical clinic serving Tibetan Refugees. He settled in Oregon in 1983 on a forested ranch in the Umpqua National Forest.
Dr. Micah Hahn is an Associate Professor of Environmental Health in the Institute for Circumpolar Health Studies at the University of Alaska-Anchorage. She received her joint PhD in Epidemiology / Environment and Resources from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her MPH in Global Environmental Health from Emory University. Subsequently, she was a postdoctoral fellow for the CDC Climate and Health Program, and in this position worked collaboratively with the CDC Division of Vector-borne Diseases and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Her research focuses on understanding the health impacts of climate change and working with communities to develop locally-relevant adaptation and resilience-building strategies. Dr. Hahn is also on the Management Team of the Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center.
Michael is a former Founding Principal of Resilient Cities Catalyst, a global non-profit helping cities and their partners tackle their toughest challenges. He is currently the Executive Director of Climate Resilience Academy at the University of Miami.
Dr. Quintus Jett is a consultant, educator, and strategist for public causes. He has a doctorate in Organizations & Management from Stanford University, and a two-decade faculty career which spans schools, departments, and programs of business, engineering, liberal studies, divinity, and public and nonprofit management. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Dr. Jett launched a volunteer project in New Orleans, which enlisted residents, students from over a dozen colleges and universities, and hundreds of others to field map the city’s Gentilly district, Lower Ninth Ward, and New Orleans East. Dr. Jett is an innovator in higher education, bridging the divide between academic research and the other priorities of the modern university, including student access and diversity, community engagement, and providing foundations for life-long learning in today’s rapidly changing world.
Scott is Monfort Professor of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University. He has written about 100 publications in the peer-reviewed climate literature, is a former editor of the Journal of Climate, and served for five years as founding Science Chair of the North American Carbon Program.
Linda has many years of experience in disaster preparedness and resilience. She has been an elected official on the Linn County Iowa Board of Supervisors, Chair of the Metropolitan Planning Organization, the East Central Iowa Council of Governments, the statewide Mental Health Developmental Disability and the Linn County Board of Health. Langston is a former president of the National Association of Counties (2013-2014).
Ken works with families and organizations as a mediator, organizational consultant, trainer and facilitator. Along with his passion for helping people prepare for and reduce climate change, Ken also volunteers as a mediator through Mediation Works and is passionate about supporting youth through mentoring with Boys to Men of Southern Oregon.
Matthew is a retired high school teacher who was once honored as Oregon High School Social Studies Teacher of the Year. Before his teaching career he was in the restaurant business in Portland. He is also a lawyer who has been a member of the Oregon State Bar Association since 1980.
Andrea is the Resilience Policy Advisor for the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency. She works across state agencies and with local governments to increase the state’s resilience to the impacts of climate change.