Katie Voelke is executive director of the North Coast Land Conservancy, a  nonprofit based in Seaside. NCLC owns properties and holds conservation easments from the Columbia River Estuary in Clatsop County south to Lincoln County. Voelke has a degree in biology from the University of California Santa Cruz and has worked for the National Forest Service, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and has been with the North Coast Land Conservancy since 2005.

Public value on conservation and the awareness of the forests role in carbon sequestration is growing. How do those two factors play into the mission of the North Coast Land Conservancy?

I think there is more support for the work that we were already doing and want to continue. That support leads to opportunity to collaborate on conservation projects and celebrate them in the specific places where they happen. And from a funding standpoint, as local and state governments see people want this to happen, there are more funding opportunities .

The temperate rainforests have an unmatched ability to store carbon. That is just one of the ecosystem services they provide. So North Coast Land Conservancy has always looked at conserving our forests as one of the biggest impacts we could make for public benefit.

It is so much easier to communicate about that now, because of this increased awareness of forests role in global warming.

 

As private industrial forestlands come on the market, is the North Coast Land Conservancy a willing buyer?

Weve always looked to the land to plan our strategic concept. Looking from ridgetop out to the ocean, we want to know where there are opportunities for connectivity, like a corridor concept, but also capture features of the landscape like a stream corridor.

There are places where we would like to use conservation as a tool to allow for a rainforest ecology to develop over time.

We wont pour our energy into any old piece of forest. Its all about how the forest feeds into that network.

 

What is the NCLCs strategic mission?

We have a few kind of guiding lights. Over and above our official mission statement, we have a vision for the coast. Ultimately were looking to connectivity to assure a stewardship future of a coastal bioregion that would have place for people, plants and wildlife.