Takeaways from the 2021 Annual Forum for Public Lands
This past week the Issaquah Alps Trails Club hosted its first ever “virtual” Annual Forum for Public Lands in partnership with the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust and the City of Issaquah. This year the club hosted former US Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewel in conversation with Ken Konigsmark and Lindsay Frickle of the Issaquah Alps Trails Club. The forum featured questions from the audience on everything from current challenges facing our environment to balancing work with an active lifestyle.
To kick-off the forum, Doug McClelland asked the audience to consider three things during the course of the evening: “Learn, know, and understand the tribes that are part of our community… get to know the history of the people involved here… and get to know the land, not just the trails, it’s the conservation that’s important. If we can all do that, we can leave this place a little better for the next generation.
In addition to being the U.S. Secretary of the Interior from 2013-2017, Sally served as the board president of the Greenway for three years, acted as the CEO of REI, a regent for the University of Washington, raised a family, and has a deep passion for outdoor recreation and conservation that lead to her record of service and accomplishments. Sally credits her time in the Greenway as the best preparation she had for her job as the U.S. Secretary of the Interior.
Ken and Sally began their conversation by talking about Sally’s experience as the Secretary of the Interior. As the Secretary of the Interior, Sally not only oversaw the land managers we are familiar with such as the Bureau of Land Management and the National Parks Service, but also bureaus such as the U.S. Geological Surveys, the Bureau of Reclamations totaling ten. Besides being “overwhelming” Sally notes the importance of finding common ground and compromise in the job. “Your customer is everybody… and it really is about listening to perspectives and making sure you have the full story.” She recognizes that you won’t always make everyone happy but notes that “it’s really hard to have an adversary when you’ve sat across the table from someone… and know them as human beings.” To make progress you really need to know the people, not hide behind the anonymity of social media. Even on the “thorniest” issues she says “it was all about relationships… when you can get past assumptions and build a relationship, magic happens.”
Going forward, Sally notes that current Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland has her work cut out for her. She cites climate change in particular as an issue that many people are becoming increasingly concerned or even hopeless about. “One of the opportunities she has… is painting a vision of what can be.” Sally notes that protecting public lands will be a crucial aspect of this future vision. For those of us wondering how we can help shape this future, she recommends we all get involved. “[Public servants] want to hear from the public, when you hold a public meeting and no one, or only one side shows up, you’re not necessarily hearing all points of view. It’s important to share your point of view.” She also notes that storytelling and fact-checking are key when speaking to public officials. “When you’re speaking to a public servant the best thing you can do is bring out a story- not a theory- but a story.”
Making sure voices that are traditionally underrepresented is a theme that emerged as well. In particular, Sally discusses her own ignorance in building relationships with native tribes in our communities and how she has worked on addressing that. “We’ve had engagement with tribes… but it hasn’t been with the level of authenticity I wish we could have.” An example she gave was in the formation of the Bears Ears National Monument in which five tribes came together to advocate for the protection of their gravesites there. “One of the most meaningful and powerful meetings I had was sitting in a teepee as they talked about their connections to these landscapes and how they needed to use them… if we had not has those meetings, and we had not listened, we would not have understood the challenges they faced and the desecration of their culture they saw.” Again, listening is important even if it’s difficult. “Sometimes it means listening to all of the things that my colonial ancestors did to eliminate these tribes… and now when I hike up Mt. Si.. I think of it as a sacred site… not just all of the things we see as climbers and hikers.”
When asked about Climate Change, Sally says the priority actions we need involve “stopping the bleeding… protect what’s there… and create incentives. That means first we need to put an end to converting public land to development and learning to value the land for all of the value the land can provide us as it is. “One of the things the Biden administration is doing to address this is… stop leasing public land for fossil fuel development… we need to be far more discerning on where we develop.” She also talks about the importance of creating regulations that “align economic interests with environmental interests.” Closer to home, Sally talked about the risk wildfire poses to Western Washington. “Fire is not inherently bad, it’s actually essential, but the Alps are full... of the urban-wildlife interface.” Solutions such as wildlife corridors, making communities “fire-wise” and working with property owners to develop in a way that’s considerate of the landscape.
To Sally, the future of advocacy relies on the tools that we have today. “The ability to use technology to tell a story… I’ve been pulled to places all over the world.” She thinks that advocacy will certainly involve social media given the power we have seen it wield, for good or for bad. “The future looks like getting a lot more voices to the table than have ever been heard… if you’re not at the table you’re on the menu” she says. By this she means that if you have an opinion, you want to make sure your voice is heard, and that today it’s getting easier and easier to make your voice heard. “Advocacy is evolving, and that’s a really good thing.” Ken added that “if you want to be a good advocate, you have to have the passion for it.” because it can take a lot of your life to advocate effectively for the things you care about.
Watch the recording of the Annual Forum below, and learn more about advocacy at the Issaquah Alps Trails club by visiting: https://www.issaquahalps.org/advocacy