Stewardship
The nonprofit Westwind Stewardship Group (WSG) was created in 2004, and in 2006 acquired the Westwind site in order to provide long-term stewardship to this sensitive ecosystem.
WSG’s mission is to serve the people of Oregon and the Northwest by conserving the 529 acre Westwind ecosystem, providing place-based educational experiences, inspiring more balanced and sustainable living, and nurturing solitude and individual connection to the natural world.
WSG’s mission was developed around one overriding idea: that the greatest teaching tools and the most life-changing experiences come from the Westwind site itself. These experiences can be augmented by formal instruction. With that in mind, WSG seeks to protect the essential character of the site, to allow visitors to experience its solitude and diversity, and to offer visitors ways to answer questions the site and our operations generate. WSG aspires to geographic, socio-economic, educational, racial, employment, interest, and age diversity in our guest groups. However, the strongest focus is on giving new generations of children a connection to nature that is now recognized as essential to their future.
Compelling Needs
WSG has identified three compelling needs facing the residents of Oregon and the Northwest, in which the Westwind site and WSG have a unique and substantial role to play in finding and inspiring solutions:
Nature deficit disorder
Recent studies have shown a 50% drop in the number of hours children are spending out of doors over the last decade (Louv, 2XXX). Lack of outdoor time and connection to nature is increasingly being correlated with both cognitive and physical deficits in children. A strong WSG insures that over 6000 Oregonians a year of all ages and all walks of life will continue to have a direct experience with the site’s rare and intact coastal ecosystems, including the renowned YWCA and Northwest Outdoor Science School programs. Children who make a connection to the land through their Westwind experience will be more effective leaders and citizens of tomorrow.
Disappearing coastal ecosystems
Wild lands along Oregon’s iconic coast have been disappearing at an alarming rate. One of WSG’s early actions was chartering a Westwind Site Conservation Advisory Group (WSCAG) of well qualified and respected scientists and local watershed experts who created a Westwind Conservation Plan to guide WSG’s stewardship. WSG will continue to work with these and other experts and partners to study, monitor and restore the site’s two miles of coastline, fragile estuarine habitat and diverse forested uplands. WSG purchased Westwind with funds from many sources, including the State of Oregon. As part of the purchase, WSG granted a permanent conservation easement over the entire site to Oregon, assuring that it will remain intact and largely wild forever.
Drawing down natural capital
We are in a time of rising prices and dwindling resources, from oil to food stuffs, forested lands to fish stocks. Mortgaging our children’s future in order to meet today’s resource needs has affected every citizen of Oregon, yet very few practical, experience-based examples of how people can live more sustainable lives exist. Through its site and facilities WSG demonstrates the compelling interdependence between humans and nature by providing practical “living” examples to guests so that they in turn can create more sustainable homes and businesses.
Conservation - Education - Sustainability
Three pillars of WSG’s mission— Conservation, Education and Sustainability—provide a roadmap for WSG’s efforts to address these compelling needs.
CONSERVATION GOAL: Conserve and enhance the Westwind site’s diverse biological and natural assets.
EDUCATION GOAL: Give all visitors the opportunity to participate in educational experiences which bring together the ideas of conservation, connection to the land and sustainability.
SUSTAINABILITY GOAL: Operate Westwind based on local self sufficiency that is environmentally, socially and economically sustainable.
Accompanying each of these goals is the desire to keep Westwind’s built environment simple and functional, assure that any improvements or modifications are beautiful, and protect the site from physical or visual degradation. Particularly in the current economic climate, we are committed to ensuring prudent fiscal management and providing our facilities to nonprofit and other user groups at the lowest possible cost.
