REI Grant Will Support Green City Days Fall Event Series

May 22nd, 2013
By Forterra

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thanks to a generous $20,000 grant from REI, the Green Cities Network’s annual Green Cities Days will be bigger and better than ever. Green Seattle, Green Tacoma, and Green Kent Days are the Partnerships’ capstone restoration events and cele

How South Lake Union Creates Great Communities and Conserves Land

May 15th, 2013
By Lindsay Fromme

By Lindsay Fromme, Policy Project Associate On May 6th, the City of Seattle adopted the South Lake Union rezone. The rezone approval is the culmination of years of work with residents and city staff to increase development capacity to create a thriving, vibrant neighborhoo

GIVE BIG to Forterra on May 15th!

May 14th, 2013

We are working hard to conserve an additional 50,000 acres of land in 2013 and we need your help! On Wednesday, May 15th, all donations made to Forterra through The Seattle Foundation's website will be stretched thanks to GiveBIG sponsors. We hope you choose this day

Forterra hires former Tacoma Port CEO as Chief Program Officer

May 1st, 2013

Forterra is pleased to announce the hire of Tim Farrell as its new Chief Program Officer (CPO). Drawing on his experience in the public and private sector, Farrell will lead the Policy, Conservation and Stewardship departments as a key member of the Executive Leadership Team.

An Award-Winning Policy To Complete Ocean Shores’ Streets

April 29th, 2013
By Jeff Aken

A rendered example of what a complete street can look like.  By Jeff Aken, Communities Program Manager Ocean Shores, a city of 5500 people on the Olympic Peninsula, is working to make its streets safe and comfortable for all users.  Mayor Crystal Dingler and Cit

Coalition of volunteers cleaning up the Duwamish River

April 25th, 2013
By Gary Chittim

King 5, April 22, 2013 By Gary Chittim TUKWILA, Wash. -- The Duwamish River in Tukwila is getting a little more breathing room each week as a coalition of volunteers from eight companies make caring for the river banks part of their job description. It started when a Boei

Getting Ready to Grow

April 17th, 2013
By Chris Hoffer

Forterra staff Skye Schell, garden leader Dal Diyali, and IRC volunteers prepare the path with donated burlap bags. Photo by Cameron Karsten. By Chris Hoffer, Presidential Management Fellow at US Department of Housing and Urban Development On April 7th, a group of about t

A Notion as Grand as the Mountains

April 4th, 2013
By Natalie Cheel

Signing the Cascade Foothills Initiative By Natalie Cheel, Marketing Director Implementing a Bold Vision Nine years ago, Forterra and leaders in our region created an audacious plan to conserve 600,000 acres of forestland in King, Pierce and Snohomish Counties. The Casca

The Art of Conservation: Ford Gilbreath

March 28th, 2013
By Margaret Tyson

By Margaret Tyson, Office Manager Forterra is pleased to introduce Ford Gilbreath - the latest exhibitor in its “Envision” art program.  Ford uses innovative photographic techniques to capture land and waterscapes throughout the Seattle area, and will be s

A Tool for Bigger Thinking

March 28th, 2013
By Forterra

CityTank, March 14, 2013 By Forterra for CityTank's South Lake Union series   Whether from an economic, transportation, housing, or ecological perspective, the central Puget Sound is interconnected.  Yet we often divide our region into its component parts&mda

Forterra moves closer to saving Port Gamble's sweetest forests

March 28th, 2013
By Daniel Jack Chasen

Crosscut, March 28, 2013 By Daniel Jack Chasen Updated at 11:52 a.m. on March 27: It turns out that the sky hasn't fallen on Forterra's effort to buy 6700 acres of Port Gamble forest from Pope Resources after all. On Tuesday, I reported that no one had come up w

Editorial: Working forest, protected forest along King County’s White River

March 28th, 2013
By Seattle Times Editorial

Seattle Times Editorial, March 24, 2013 An agreement covering 43,000 acres of the White River Forest east of Enumclaw will push King County beyond its admirable goal to put 200,000 acres of forestland into a productive, protected stewardship. The $11.1 million deal to buy d

How a Mountaineer Discovers Land Conservation

March 25th, 2013
By Nicholas Bratton

By Nicholas Bratton, TDR Project Manager What is it about the Cascade Agenda that drives Forterra’s staff to work so hard to conserve our landscape, build vibrant communities and create a sustainable future for our region? Everyone here has a personal motivation. For me

Meeting the Duwamish River’s Neighbors

March 12th, 2013
By Joanna Nelson de Flores

Restoration volunteers at Westcrest Park. Photo by Larisa Lumba By Joanna Nelson de Flores, Green Seattle Project Manager The Duwamish River is perhaps best known for its status as a Super Fund site, the result of decades of industrial contamination. But the river is much

Connecting People and Places in Federal Way

February 28th, 2013
By Becca Meredith and Jeff Aken

Photo from bfw.org By Becca Meredith, Community Engagement Project Associate, and Jeff Aken, Community Policy Program Manager We have learned over the years that great communities are complete, compact and connected with safe streets designed for all users. On February 21

Seize South Lake Union's opportunity

February 25th, 2013
By Gene Duvernoy and Chris Curtis

Puget Sound Business Journal, Feb 15, 2013 By Chris Curtis and Gene Duvernoy, Guest Columnists At their best, cities are a reflection of the people. They are places in which we want to work, live and raise our families. They contain buildings, parks, streets, transit and in

Green Seattle Volunteer is One of the Best in the Nation!

February 21st, 2013
By Josh Cohen

Volunteers at Lewis Park's Martin Luther King, Jr. Day event this year. Photo from Friends of Lewis Park. By Josh Cohen, Media Associate We’ve always known that we’ve got the best network of volunteers. In 2012 alone, volunteers logged over 77,000 hours s

Forterra Board of Directors Welcomes Five New Regional Leaders

February 20th, 2013
By Forterra Press Release

SEATTLE, Feb. 20, 2013 -- Forterra is pleased to announce the addition of five new members to its Board of Directors. The regional leaders represent academia, sustainable energy, civic leadership, development and business. The new members are Dr. Lisa Graumlich, Dean and Virgin

Capturing Carbon, Reducing Our Impact: a look at C3’s 2012 participants

February 19th, 2013
By Chris Korwel

By Chris Korwel, Carbon Programs Intern In 2012, 13 great companies participated in the first year of Forterra’s Carbon Capturing Companies (C3) Program. The participants set a 2012 program-year carbon sequestration goal of over 20,000 tons of CO2 equivalent, the sta

Seattle Ranks in the Top 10 U.S. Cities for Urban Forests!

February 14th, 2013
By Lisa Ciecko

By Lisa Ciecko, Green Cities Project Manager American Forests announced recently that Seattle’s urban forests are among the top 10 in the nation! The ranking is based on six criteria: civic engagement, strategic planning, accessibility to the public, overall health o

The Romance of Restoration: Will You Be My Volunteer?

February 5th, 2013
By Andrea Mojzak

Nothing says true love like planting a tree in a park! By Andrea Mojzak, Green Cities Project Coordinator After all we’ve been through, after all you’ve done for me – it’s time for me to show you the love you deserve.  You provide me the most

E3 Fair: Environment, Education and Economy in Ellensburg

January 25th, 2013
By Diedra Petrina

  By Deidra Petrina, Kittitas County Project Associate Ellensburg is a beautiful place to visit in the winter and there are quite a few winter activities. One that's near and dear to our heart is the e3 Winter Fair: the environmental, educational, farmer’s ma

Old Growth Forest Protected in Tacoma’s Watershed

January 22nd, 2013
By Forterra

In late December, Forterra purchased 344-acres of forest land along Sawmill Creek from Plum Creek Timber Company for permanent conservation. The Sawmill Creek property was the largest privately-owned swath of old growth forest left in the Green River Valley and contains habi

Wattle to Watershed: How art became a tool for restoration

January 9th, 2013
By Judy Blanco

The Straw Garden installation at the Seattle Center. Photo from stacylevy.com. By Judy Blanco, Cedar River Restoration Project Manager As project manager of Forterra’s Cedar River Restoration Program, my day-to-day tasks are very diverse. Nonetheless, I never would

Land deal protects additional 162 acres in one of Nation’s most pristine estuaries

January 9th, 2013
By Forterra Press Release

On December 19, Forterra and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) conserved in perpetuity 162 acres of estuary, freshwater wetlands and forested buffer in Chetlo Harbor along the southeast shore of Willapa Bay. Forterra purchased the property from Hancock Timbe