Beginning in 2004 with the certification of a group of environmentally innovative farmers in the Snoqualmie Valley, Stewardship Partners has co-implemented Salmon-Safe in western Washington in partnership with Portland-based Salmon-Safe. In recent months, Stewardship Partners and Salmon-Safe recognized new opportunities for growth and success in both the agricultural and urban programs, with Stewardship Partners leading the agricultural and golf certifications, and Salmon-Safe managing the expansion of the urban program around Puget Sound.
Ellen Southard, longtime Salmon-Safe champion, is leading the urban expansion at Site Story. Ellen has run the program for 9 years and volunteered with Salmon-Safe prior to joining the team in 2009 as the Urban Outreach Manager. Site Story is a practice dedicated to green building and advancing green rating systems in the Pacific Northwest, while supporting the growth of the urban program with green building specialists and a host of consultant collaborators.
On the urban front, Salmon-Safe seeks to lead a significant market shift to fish-friendly development that helps protect Puget Sound. With capacity funding from the Paul G. Allen Foundation and Bullitt Foundation, Salmon-Safe seeks to transition an additional 150 urban sites to certification over three years and inspire “beyond compliance” incentives with municipalities that would encourage developers to meet Salmon-Safe guidelines related to onsite stormwater management. “I’m grateful to all of our clients who join in the quest to save Puget Sound by working with Salmon-Safe,” says Ellen
Southard. “To save the salmon and the orca, we need every land owner to get involved.”
With new funding for urban work in Puget Sound, it was time to refocus the alliance between organizations in response to increased demand for both urban and farm certification in Puget Sound. The new partnership structure between Stewardship Partners and Salmon-Safe maintains a strong synergy between shared goals and mutual promotion of the farm and urban programming. Our teams continue to work closely together and collaborate on a regular basis. Stewardship Partners will continue to promote the urban program across the region and Salmon-Safe continues to provide operational support to the farm program. Amelia Bahr form our office remains the point of contract for Salmon-Safe’s Farm program, and David Burger will continue to lead Salmon-Safe Golf.