Member Driven Community: WA Wild / Brewshed Alliance
Washington Wild & the Brewshed® Alliance
Event Date: March 3rd
When was the organization founded? Washington Wild was founded in 1979 as Washington Wilderness Coalition. After the passage of the Wild Sky Wilderness Act in 2008 we changed our name to Washington Wild to better encompass the entirety of our mission, to protect wild lands and waters throughout Washington State. In 2012 we started the Washington Wild Brewshed® Alliance as an outreach initiative where we work with brewery and beer community partners to help people make the connection between protected headwaters and superior downstream beer.
Mission: Washington Wild protects and restores wild lands and waters in Washington State through advocacy, education and civic engagement.
Why are people passionate about your organization or cause? Seattle has 3.6 million acres of federally protected Wilderness within a 100 mile radius of the city limits, highest in the nation by a very high margin. People move to and live in our state, in part, because of the wild landscape that surrounds us and the higher quality of living and outdoor recreation opportunities available. The Wilderness provides a variety of benefits including natural resources like fish, high quality drinking water, recreation opportunities and the ability to support a multimillion dollar outdoor economy.
What were you able to accomplish in 2015? Three highlights are listed below:
1) We celebrated the 1-year anniversary of the Alpine Lakes Additions! After years of organizing, grassroots support and tireless advocacy, Washington Wild celebrated its leadership role in the designation of a 22,000-acre addition to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness and nearly 40 miles of new Wild and Scenic Rivers near Snoqualmie Pass. Read the Public News Service article.
Photo Credit: Harry Romberg
2) Wild Olympics Legislation Introduced into Congress - In June, Washington Wild, as a leading member of the Wild Olympics Campaign cheered the introduction of legislation by Senator Patty Murray and Representative Derek Kilmer which would permanently protect more than 126,000 acres of Olympic National Forest as Wilderness and more than 460 river miles as Wild and Scenic on the Olympic Peninsula. Read Seattle PI article.
3) Concerns Raised About Army Helicopter Training in Wildlands - In November Washington Wild coordinated a coalition of nearly 70 conservation, recreation and wildlife organizations and local businesses to push back on a proposal by the Army to shift existing training activities from Colorado to Washington State. The proposal would create four new helicopter training areas on national forest land and Wilderness areas in the North Cascades and southwest Washington on the doorstep of Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. Read the Olympian article.
Share 3 fun facts or stories about your organization.
- Washington Wild has been instrumental in the protection of nearly 3 million acres of Wilderness.
- Our Brewshed® Alliance initiative has grown to nearly 40 different brewery and beer community partners, over 30 events annually throughout the year and reach thousands of people with the Brewshed® connection.
- Washington Wild was founded in the College Inn in the U- District and the original budget was determined by passing around a hat for donations.
How can people get involved with your organization?
There are a wide variety of opportunities for people to get involved including attending or volunteering at the Brewshed® events, writing blog posts, and much more. Anyone interested in volunteering can fill out our volunteer survey.
Website: www.wawild.org
What social medias your organization on (please provide links):
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Flying Bike Cooperative Brewery Member Driven Community program
During the 2015 election cycle we had our membership nominate up to three different nonprofits for us to support throughout 2016. Due to the diversity of member nominated charities we designed a giving strategy that would allow us to support a large number of charities. This priority is represented in our Member Driven Community series. On the first and third Thursday of every month we will be featuring a different member nominated nonprofit at the brewery.
We will have charity staff or volunteers on site to educate people on the organization’s mission from 5 pm to 9 pm during the event. For the entire day we will be donating $1 for every pint, schooner and growler purchased throughout the night. It’s an opportunity to learn about how great organizations are changing the world and raise some money, and have a great community driven beer!
