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Make Your Giving Tuesday Gift Today

GivingTuesday is a global day of generosity that takes place TODAY! GivingTuesday was created in 2012 as a simple idea: a day that encourages people to do good. Over the past ten years, this idea has grown into a global movement that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate, and celebrate generosity.

When you make a gift on Giving Tuesday, you’re supporting more than Stewardship Partners; you’re also supporting the wildlife, people, and natural splendor of our Puget Sound home. Your donation attests to the importance of clean water, healthy salmon and wildlife habitats, sustainable agriculture, healthy communities, and overall stewardship of our shared environment. We hope you will consider supporting us!

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Thank You for Your Support All Year Long

Just like that, we come to the close of another year. As we reflect, our team is proud of our solutions-driven work, facilitating partnerships and creating measurable positive impacts on the environment and neighborhoods across the region.

2023 represented a bit of a “return to normal” for us. In March, we held the 8th annual Green Infrastructure Summit of the Salish Sea, back in person for the first time since 2019. In September, our Feast on the Farm fundraiser returned in person for the second time, and we were so fulfilled getting to see our friends and supporters out on the farm, enjoying the scenic beauty. We also got our hands dirty restoring the Snoqualmie Valley, and in October, we brought out our partners from Duke’s Seafood for our first restoration event with that group since 2018. We loved seeing all of you in person more, and what a great year it was!

Stewardship Partners would not be here without you. Thank you for being dedicated to our team and our mission and loving this special place we call home. Please consider Stewardship Partners in your annual giving this year.

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Drink Beer, Save Salmon!

We want to give a huge thank you and shout out to two of our local brewery partners: Georgetown Brewing (Seattle) and Chainline Brewing (Kirkland). This year each of these breweries produced a craft beer using Salmon-Safe ingredients and then donated the proceeds to local organizations such as ourselves. Georgetown Brewing produced their bright, golden Ecotone IPA and Chainline Brewing produced the River Ghost IPA, an enticing hazy style IPA. By choosing Salmon-Safe ingredients for these beers, both breweries are supporting farmers who protect water quality and native salmon habitat on their property. And then on top of that, the proceeds support our work engaging all people to become caretakers of the land and water that surrounds us. We thank both breweries for their support and dedication to the health of the Pacific Northwest. Next time you are ready to help save salmon, head to Georgetown Brewing or Chainline Brewing and drink some beer!

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Planting Trees with Duke’s Seafood

Duke’s Seafood has been a longtime and essential partner to us. Their unwavering efforts to sustainably source products for their restaurants and their dedication to salmon recovery are just the few ways they support our efforts. Additionally, for at least the past decade, they’ve contributed to Stewardship Partners by being a dedicated Adopt-a-Buffer sponsor at the Sinnema property along Ames Creek confluence of the mainstem Snoqualmie River. They join us once or twice yearly to maintain the habitat buffer planted on the creek and riverbanks. We had a few years off due to Covid, but nearly 20 dedicated staff joined us again in the field in October. We shared a beautiful yet bittersweet day with them for restoration, reconnection, and recollection of our beloved Chef Bill, who recently passed away. All in all, we accomplished a great deal at the property. Here are some of those highlights:

  • 56 volunteer hours
  • $1,176 hours of in-kind volunteer labor used as match on various grants
  • 196 native plants installed
  • 7,887 sq ft maintained and replanted
  • 1 memorial tree planted for Chef Bill (Sitka spruce)
  • Renamed “Duke’s Point” to “Chef Bill’s Point”

As soon as the event was over, we started talking about the next “Duke’s Day” out at Sinnema. We settled on a date for April 2024 for an Earth Month Celebration and sign dedication in memory of Chef Bill.

If you’d like to Adopt-a-Buffer, contact Chris today!

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Rain Gardens Popping Up in Carnation

Stewardship Partners’ Snoqualmie Stewardship team is widely known for working alongside agricultural landowners on stream and river restoration in our effort to revive salmon populations. But did you know the team also focuses on green infrastructure feature education and installation? In 2023 alone, Stewardship Partners installed 3 rain gardens in the City of Carnation. 

It all started in 2015 at a public meeting with a bold idea of installing rain gardens in all the Snoqualmie Valley schools. Soon after, we received funding for our first rain garden at Carnation Elementary School, thanks to the King County Flood Control District’s Flood Reduction Fund and King County Council Funds. With the success of the first rain garden came more funding and a green infrastructure outreach, education and implementation model designed by Stewardship Partners, with the city of Carnation as its pilot model. Now on the docket, Stewardship Partners is focusing on replicating this model with the City of Duvall and it’s a possibility that we will install another rain garden in 2023!

As for the existing rain gardens in Carnation, one was installed at the Carnation Library and is thriving!

Carnation Library Rain Garden

A second rain garden was installed at Carnation Elementary School by our brand new (at the time) restoration crew.

Before & After Carnation Elementary RG2

The third rain garden installation completion in 2023 was a unique one. This one is a large rain garden installed at Griffin Creek Farm (formerly known as Full Circle Farm) to manage not only stormwater but also water from their vegetable processing plant. This unique rain garden is also HUGE at 3,000 square feet. It is the biggest rain garden we’ve installed to date, and it is also the first rain garden we’ve installed on a Snoqualmie Valley, Salmon-Safe certified farm. But it won’t be the last as funding was just received to install a series of rain gardens at Carnation Farms!

Griffin Creek Farm Rain Garden

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Feast Tickets Now on Sale!

You can now purchase tickets for Feast on the Farm, on Saturday September 16th in Carnation! Come be a part of this magical night at Griffin Creek Farm, a Stewardship Partner dedicated to sustainable farming practices. Feast on the bounty of food prepared by local chef Lisa Dupar. Raise a glass of wine and break bread with like-minded community members engaged in caring for our region. After dinner, settle in on a haystack to the sounds of musician Lila Forde, and her inspired fusion of jazz, folk, and singer-songwriter.

Tickets are on sale now! Purchase them here

Sponsorships are still available, please contact us if you are interested. If you cannot attend the event, we encourage you to to support our work by making a donation.

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Goodbye Chef Bill

It’s with a heavy heart that we share the sad news that our good friend and stewardship partner Bill Ranniger passed away recently after a battle with cancer.  Bill was the Executive Chef at Duke’s Seafood and had a profound love for the Northwest, the environment, salmon, music, and community. His passion for food and wine ran deep, as did his belief in the importance of sourcing from local farms and selecting wild, natural and sustainable seafood.

Bill was a smart, caring, and loving person that would share his big smile and positive energy with everyone around. Duke’s was one of the first businesses to Adopt-a-Buffer in the Snoqualmie Valley, back in 2016.  He loved planting trees, removing blackberry bushes, and sharing his thoughts. “It’s a great day for saving a salmon and making some oxygen!” he once told me.  We will miss you Bill.

–Executive Director, David Burger

Bill’s family requests that memorial gifts be designated to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center for cancer research.

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Welcome Bryan Haakenson to the Board

We are thrilled to welcome Bryan Haakenson, Principal and Senior Project Manager at GLY, to the Stewardship Partners Board of Directors! A Northwest native who embodies every aspect of GLY’s collaborative, community-centered approach, Bryan provides leadership on projects in the heart of thriving residential, educational, and corporate campuses that are fully occupied during construction. His unique skills, personality, and temperament make him ideally suited to work within occupied settings to safely and expediently deliver new construction nestled in with renovated spaces. Bryan oversees the GLY Sustainability Advocacy group and focuses efforts to reduce GLY’s operational carbon footprint. He and his family enjoy all the outdoor activities the PNW has to offer, including boating in the summer and skiing in the winter.

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Thank You Olivia!

At the end of May we are saying bye to our wonderful intern, Olivia Schwartz. Olivia joined Stewardship Partners in September and was quickly involved in Feast on the Farm, a big event for a newcomer! Since starting she has worked with the whole staff on projects from Adopt-a-Buffer to Salmon-Safe to Sound Impacts and did an amazing job at the Green Infrastructure Summit of the Salish Sea. Throughout her internship she demonstrated all the values of a Stewardship Partner and put up with the sometimes hectic Feast and Summit with a great attitude. We wish her the best as she graduates from UW and moves on to new opportunities. Thank you Olivia!