We are thrilled to announce that we have awarded our annual Local Conservationist Award to Lindsay Cornelius for her leadership in the East Cascades Oak Partnership (ECOP).
Each year, the Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture International Management Board convenes within the service area of the Joint Venture in the United States or Canada. And when possible, Pacific Birds staff and Board identify a person who has shown exceptional commitment to achieving conservation success in one of the conservation priorities of this regional partnership.
Lindsay Cornelius works at Columbia Land Trust as the manager of ECOP, one of nine regional oak-prairie partnerships in the Pacific Northwest Oak Alliance. ECOP is a collaborative effort to conserve and care for Oregon white oak habitats in the Columbia River Gorge and East Cascades of Oregon and Washington. These partners include Tribes, state and federal agencies, nonprofits, local businesses, and private landowners.
In 2017, Columbia Land Trust received a $7,500 Partnership Grant from Pacific Birds to evaluate the feasibility of an oak partnership. Lindsay used this seed funding to leverage additional investments from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the Land Trust Alliance, and several private foundations, transforming ECOP into a formal multimillion-dollar partnership with dozens of partners. In ten years, Lindsay has run 36 partnership meetings to over 1,330 attendees, fostering relationship-building among diverse partners working together to deliver conservation projects.
Under Lindsay's leadership, ECOP was also awarded a $7.1 million Focused Investment Partnership grant from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board. ECOP leveraged those funds and millions in match toward restoration, monitoring, technical assistance, and community engagement. This resulted in over 22,000 acres of priority oak habitat assessed or restored through noxious weed control, native plant reseeding, fuels reduction, oak release from conifer encroachment, and prescribed fire, dozens of tours and learning events, outreach materials, and a robust ECOP website delivering technical guidance and restoration resources.
"I've yet to meet someone who doesn't care about nature. This partnership is about helping people understand why oaks matter and how our behavior impacts them, and giving people the tools, incentives, and resources to help care for them."
— Lindsay Cornelius
Lindsay has been leading restoration and land management projects in the East Cascades since 2002, and she understands that conservation is about people. Oak habitats do not get restored through strategic plans alone. They get restored because someone picks up the phone, listens to a landowner, brings a skeptic into the room, and helps people understand that their piece of the story matters. That person is Lindsay.
Please join us in congratulating Lindsay on this well-deserved achievement and celebrating all she brings to conservation!
