Lately, as we’ve been meeting with our distinguished partners to hear tales of what inspired them to become rock stars of the conservation world, one thing has become abundantly clear: they all believe the Willamette Laja Twinning Partnership is beyond compare. Here, we’ve shared a few snippets regarding why they think the partnership is so special.
“It’s a uniquely imaginative approach to building cross-cultural/bi-national relationships and the exchange of expertise that can transform lives, perspectives and landscapes. In a world grappling with declining resources, uncertainty and injustice, this program increases technical know-how and provides people, especially our youth, with hope and inspiration as they come to understand our interconnectedness and shared roles in caring for our environment, and by extension one another.”
— April Gaydos
“It is holistic in that it speaks to the restoration of relationships—both ecological and cultural. There is a strong commitment to equity, and making sure all voices are heard.”
— Katie Lynch
“It requires the gift of time from the volunteers who engage. It requires this effort from the individual organizations to give to something bigger than any one organization or any one individual can do. It’s a different social ecology than one organization with a hierarchy and an executive director, program directors, and boards of directors focusing on one mission. You have to have this grander mission that captures the interest of that group of collaborators. You may be the specialist on salmon, and I may be the specialist on birds, and someone else may be the specialist on fluvial geomorphology, but we have to have all these pieces communicating with each other over time. And at the core of it is relationships.”
— Chris Orsinger
“I think it's great that this program can incorporate language, culture, art, science, conservation, and environmental issues all in one program.”
—Alyssa Powell
