Northwest Connections
Northwest Connections conducts long term ecological monitoring efforts which 1) provide important levels of information on wildlife and habitat linkages within and across the Swan Valley, 2) employ local people, 3) provide field-based learning opportunities for students and visitors, 4) promote an ethic of land stewardship and the conservation of natural resources for future generations. With our assistance, land owners and managers have current site specific information on how their properties connect to surrounding acreages; community members have functional ways to contribute their knowledge, ideas and energy to the task of ecosystem based management; students get into the field and learn about ecology and environmental issues first hand; and a diversity of citizens have the opportunity to explore their own connection to natural processes. NwC was initiated and is staffed by local community members. As an organization we believe that local knowledge adds depth and breadth to our scientific and educational work. We are attempting to pioneer a ‘new’ way of looking at ecosystems: one that recognizes and appreciates the variability in nature and therefore the importance of information which is site specific and which is collected over an ample period of time. We also believe that by including our rural community in the long term conservation of this place, we will build bridges between state and federal level conservation policies and the rural people who live, work and depend upon these lands.