Klamath Tribe Featured: Meyer Mail: Healthy Environment February 2021 newsletter

Klamath Tribal fisheries, Collaborative Design, Wood Sourcing Award, Case StudyTrouble viewing this email? Try our web version.SHARE THIS EMAIL

Healthy Environment Portfolio NewsFebruary 17, 2021

The Long Haul Fight for Fish and People In this interview, Jill Fuglister speaks with Klamath Tribal leaders and supporters about their work to protect and restore Tribal fisheries in the Upper Klamath Lake and throughout the broader Klamath Basin.

Klamath Tribal Chairman Don Gentry and others share progress and continuing challenges, saying in part, “Those fish are important to us because they’re a part of our culture, our history and traditional subsistence economy.” Read More.

Climate Justice Through Collaborative Design Quotes such as “When you need to innovate, you need to collaborate” and “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much” inspire community organizations and philanthropy alike.

That’s why efforts that bring together people who live in different locations, face unique challenges and have different ways to influence the government decisions attract funding from foundations like Meyer. What you may not know is that occasionally the three sectors — community, government and philanthropy — all roll up our sleeves to actively shape an initiative together. That’s certainly the case with Climate Justice Through Collaborative Design, a joint project with Coalition of Communities of Color, Multnomah County, the city of Portland and Meyer Memorial Trust. Read More.

Environmental Justice Demands Racial Justice Meyer Memorial Trust heartily embraces the Donors of Color Climate Funders Justice Pledge as a benchmark for foundations dedicated to a thriving environment.
As a regional funder in a state with demographics that still reflect Oregon’s founding as a white utopia, a pledge to reach a 30 percent goal of BIPOC-led environmental organizations feels both inspired and aspirational. In some parts of the country, such a threshold is achievable in short order; in Oregon, where 76 percent of residents identify as white, we may fall short of the target, despite our deep commitment to racial justice. But we believe in the necessity of goals that keep funders reaching forward, in partnership and in pursuit, and accept the challenge to give even more thought and creativity to mobilize for environmental justice right in our backyards. Read More.

Lessons learned from a decade on Oregon’s Big River Cristina Watson shares findings and lessons learned from an in-depth evaluation of Meyer’s Willamette River Initiative, an effort to improve the health of “Oregon’s Big River” that invested more than $20 million in grants between 2008 and 2019.
How can we know whether the WRI made the Willamette River healthier? The answer is complicated, but no more complicated than the river system itself. Meyer invested in strategies that decades of ecological research and on-the-ground practice told us would have the best shot at putting our river on a trajectory of health. And we know that the number of projects meeting that criteria increased about 1,500% over the course of the WRI, a pace and scale never before seen in this river system. Learn more.

Case Study, Award Highlight Sustainable Wood Sourcing in HQ Build Sustainable Northwest has recently completed a case study that documents the design and implementation of sustainably sourced wood for Meyer’s new headquarters in Northeast Portland. The study shares the project’s successes, lessons learned and shares insights for others who may want to follow this path.

We are also delighted to share that the project was so successful that the Forest Stewardship Council selected the Meyer headquarters campus project as a 2020 FSC Leadership Award winner in the Design & Build category.

Save the Date: 2021 Annual Funding Opportunity Meyer’s Annual Funding Opportunity is kicking off with a virtual information session on March 1. Details on how to join, open office hours and more is here.