“The real value of the Partnership is that our work represents a movement to change the way we are all stewards for these lands. The idea is to essentially get out of the framework where we see ourselves divided and instead come together, realizing that the land itself is a whole intact system. It's all one and we’re all connected through it.”
~ Leanna Heffner, Northwest Boreal Partnership Director
~ Leanna Heffner, Northwest Boreal Partnership Director
We live in an era of profound changes including the loss and fragmentation of habitats, invasive species, wildfire regimes outside historical norms, and water scarcity. The effects of rapidly changing climate will exacerbate many of these threats and create unprecedented challenges. In these circumstances, it is more important than ever that natural resource management agencies, science and knowledge providers, Tribes and First Nations, conservation organizations, and other stakeholders – including industry and private landowners – work together in common cause to come up with proactive solutions to respond to climate change and other challenges.
The Northwest Boreal Partnership supports both community and ecological well-being. Our common understanding of sustaining both ways of life and the natural landscape in the region drive our forward-thinking and adaptive strategies for natural resource management, food security, climate change stressors, and community health.
Our Mission
To enhance the ability of organizations and communities to
understand, manage, and adapt to our changing landscape.
understand, manage, and adapt to our changing landscape.
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History
The Northwest Boreal Partnership (NWBP) was originally the Northwest Boreal Landscape Conservation Cooperative (NWB LCC), one of 22 Landscape Conservation Cooperatives originally established across North America, with financial and administrative support originally provided by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service from 2010 to 2017. Under this framework, dozens of entities across Alaska, Yukon, British Columbia, and the Northwest Territories came together to establish the NWB LCC in 2012. Since then the partnership has collaboratively funded and implemented over 30 projects. In 2018, following substantial reductions in financial and administrative support for the network of LCCs, non-governmental organization (NGO) partners - the Wildlife Management Institute and the Alaska Conservation Foundation - stepped in to house staff and provide fiscal sponsorship for the Northwest Boreal Partnership. The efforts of the NWBP continue to be non-regulatory and policy neutral, and focus on finding collaborative solutions based in common needs across the international partnership. |
Organization
The work and priorities of the NWBP are set by our Steering Committee, which provides direction on major decisions such as setting programmatic priorities, making organizational changes, where to allocate funding, and determining our strategic plan. The NWBP Steering Committee is comprised of representatives from dozens of entities based in Alaska and northwest Canada, including government agencies, Indigenous organizations and governments, non-governmental organizations (NGO's), and academic institutions. Our leadership team within the Steering Committee consists of two co-chairs and two vice co-chairs, each from Canada and Alaska, as well as the Partnership Director. NWBP Steering Committee members and collaborators meet on a quarterly basis, rotating between teleconferences and in-person gatherings located in Canada and Alaska. |
Funding & Backbone Support
The Alaska Conservation Foundation currently hosts the NWBP Director position, and provides fiscal sponsorship along with the Wildlife Management Institute. Other core funders for the NWBP also include the Volgenau Family Foundation, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and Network for Landscape Conservation. Current funding for collaborative projects includes: the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the U.S Fish & Wildlife Service. To sustain the core activities of the partnership, as well as to engage in collaborative projects and support capacity for other organizations and Indigenous communities, we actively work with partners to seek funding through competitive grants, build relationships with private funders, and leverage internal funds available from partners and collaborators. |
The Northwest Boreal Partnership is one of the 3 Northern Latitudes Partnerships in Alaska and northwest Canada.
Learn more at NorthernLatitudes.org.
Learn more at NorthernLatitudes.org.
