The Coastal Watershed Institute (CWI) is a 501c3 non-profit organization formed in 1996 by a small group of resource managers and scientists that share a commitment to northwest ecosystems. Our goal, through CWI, is simple: promote partnerships that foster understanding protection, and long term wise management of our natural ecosystems.

CWI achieves protection of intact and critical natural ecosystems thru linking science, mentoring our next generation of scientists and managers, and citizen partnerships. Over our careers we’ve learned that -without exception- what is good for the environment is good for community. We’ve learned that saving what we have is so much better for the ecosystem and economy-so we emphasize protection. As senior scientists, collectively we have hundreds of years of experience managing and researching the natural history of this region. We know that most of the community-which is growing rapidly- want to be wise stewards if they have the tools to do so. So CWI fosters community and college student education on wise natural resource management. We know that preservation and restoration can take decades-and that bureaucratic and political challenges (sometimes significant) are not reasons to quit. Our work is to link senior scientists, managers, and citizens to motivate for the best, not just the easiest, management actions and solutions. We engage college students, citizens, and landowners on the ground to understand how our natural ecosystems function a nd how to protect them. We specifically bring science to management in a rural, and sometimes extremely conservative, but ecologically critical region of the Pacific Northwest.