Join the Cascadia Action Team!
We call our incredible volunteers WildCATs: the Cascadia Action Team. WildCATs support our ongoing conservation campaigns through education, outreach, advocacy, and collecting field data. As a WildCAT you can support Cascadia Wildlands’ conservation efforts regardless of your physical abilities or talents. We need field surveyors, artists, writers, carpenters, scientists, photographers, and more! Our volunteers range in age from 18-80.
Stay Connected with WildCAT
Sign up for our WildCAT email list to receive updates.
Don’t miss our monthly WildCAT meeting! On the 2nd Wednesday of (almost) every month at 6:00 pm. Expect an update on our current campaigns, dates for upcoming field checking trips, and ways to plug in. Everyone is welcome! See the schedule here.
Where? On the 2nd Wednesday of (almost) every month at 6:00 pm in person or via Zoom.
Meetings currently held in-person in our office and via Zoom! If you have specific accessibility needs, email Madeline (madeline(at)cascwild.org).
What do WildCATs do?
WildCATs play an important role in assisting Cascadia Wildlands in collecting field data. When a timber project comes across our radar, we need to check and see if the government’s descriptions of the forest they are planning to log actually match what is happening on the ground. Is the forest dense and unhealthy? Is the forest full of native species and big, well-spaced trees? Are there streams not on the map that need riparian buffers? We call this participatory science “field-checking,” “field-surveying,” “ground-truthing” or “community forest surveying.”
Oftentimes, our WildCATs will find healthy, mature or old-growth forest groves in locations where government documents say the forest is unhealthy. This greatly impacts if and how logging should occur. We stop logging projects with the information that WildCATs uncover!
Field data that our WildCATs collect help Cascadia Wildlands determine if a timber sale is a threat to the ecosystem. This data, including recorded tree diameters, species types, photos and more, are often used to engage in the public process before a sale happens. When the public comment process does not yield results necessary to protect a forest, Cascadia Wildlands turns to litigation.
While not in the field, our WildCATs are often personing our outreach table at awesome community events such as the Mt Pisgah Mushroom and Wildflower Festivals and the Oregon Country Fair. Members of WildCAT are also plugged in to exciting opportunities to attend rallies, speak with lawmakers, write to the press, make art, and visit threatened public land.
We at Cascadia Wildlands are continually grateful for our many volunteers. These dedicated individuals continually amaze us by jumping in and helping with our work, ensuring that we are able to do even more with our limited resources. Thank you.
If any of these opportunities excite you, or if you have specific accessibility needs, contact Madeline at madeline(at)cascwild.org. We’ll help find a fit for your interests and schedule.
If any of these opportunities excite you, or if you have specific accessibility needs, contact Madeline at madeline (at) cascwild.org. We’ll help find a fit for your interests and schedule.
Statement of Principles and Inclusivity
Cascadia Wildlands is a nonprofit conservation organization with a mission to defend and restore Cascadia’s wild ecosystems in the forests, in the courts, and in the streets. We stand side-by-side as equals with all members of Cascadia’s communities. We vociferously oppose the discrimination of any persons based on their background, place of origin, ethnicity, race, gender, ability, sexual orientation, religion, and belief or non-belief systems.
We believe that Cascadia, and nature as a whole, is for everyone. In pursuit of our mission, we work with a broad range of individuals and organizations. This is our shared strength. We recognize that confronting social injustice is essential to achieving our mission, as well as being a moral imperative in its own right. Cascadia Wildlands is firmly committed to non-discrimination. To this end, we remain open to listening and extend an open invitation to engage in dialogue regarding any social injustice implications of our work.
