FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 31, 2022
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Josh Laughlin, Executive Director, Cascadia Wildlands, (541) 844-8182; jlaughlin@cascwild.org
Maureen Kenney, Public Relations Manager, Oregon Community Foundation, mkenney@oregoncf.org
Cascadia Wildlands Receives $500,000 Gift through an Advised Fund of Oregon Community Foundation
Conservation Organization to Invest in Capacity Building to Increase Effectiveness
Eugene, OR — Nonprofit conservation organization, Cascadia Wildlands, announced today it is the recent recipient of a $500,000 grant from the Evergreen Hill Education Fund, an advised fund of Oregon Community Foundation. The grant will be used to bolster the organization’s effectiveness toward protecting the region’s wildlands, waterways, species and climate, specifically through the addition of a multi-year legal fellow, a strategic communications position, increased office space, and other organizational enhancements.
“We are humbled by this significant investment in our work and vision, which will greatly bolster our efforts to defend clean water, stately rainforests, imperiled species and our fragile climate,” says Cascadia Wildlands’ Executive Director, Josh Laughlin. “We are at a critical time in history, and the need to address biodiversity loss and runaway climate change has never been more pressing.”
The gift will be put toward increased legal, communications and grassroots organizing capacity and will assist with Cascadia Wildlands’ current conservation efforts, including confronting reckless, post-fire and old-growth logging proposals on public lands, creating a durable conservation solution for the Elliott State Forest in the Coast Range, recovering gray wolves and other imperiled species in the region, and help transition Eugene’s new building infrastructure from fossil fuel-based toward electrification to help confront the climate crisis.
“Cascadia Wildlands is strategic, nimble, and a team player in the conservation community in Oregon, and their work helps protect what makes our region so special,” says Maylian Pak, Director of Donor Relations at Oregon Community Foundation. “Oregon Community Foundation is proud to help facilitate this gift on behalf of one of our advised fund donors to make a better tomorrow.”
About Cascadia Wildlands
Founded in 1998, Cascadia Wildlands’ mission is to defend and restore Cascadia’s wild ecosystems in the forests, in the courts, and in the streets. The organization envisions vast old-growth forests, rivers full of wild salmon, wolves howling in the backcountry, a stable climate, and vibrant communities sustained by the unique landscapes of the Cascadia bioregion. More information can be found at www.CascWild.org.
About Oregon Community Foundation
Since 1973, Oregon Community Foundation grantmaking, research, advocacy and community-advised solutions have helped individuals, families, businesses, and organizations create charitable funds to improve lives for all Oregonians. Impactful giving–time, talent, and resources from many generous Oregonians–creates measurable change. For more information, please visit: www.oregoncf.org.