NCCSP

Organizational Merger

Headwaters

Headwaters was started in 1974 by residents in southwestern Oregon in response to the rampant clearcutting that was prolific on public lands in the region at that time.  Over the next 30 years, Headwaters chalked up a series of victories including banning herbicide use on BLM lands in the Medford District.  By the early 1990s, Headwaters was a key organization in the regional effort to stop destruction of old-growth forests in the Pacific Northwest.  Julie Norman, Headwaters President at the time, represented Headwaters at the Forest Summit that resulted in the Northwest Forest Plan in 1994. 

Headwaters moved into the arena of water policy in 1996 when local members asked that they intervene on behalf of the fish that were killed in an accidental herbicide spill from an irrigation district.  A major Clean Water Act court victory in 2001 ensured that irrigation districts across the nation would be required to get Clean Water Act permits and monitor their applications of potentially dangerous chemical herbicides.  From 2001 to 2004, Headwaters developed a series of cooperative, on-the-ground projects in the Upper Rogue Basin that incorporated student research interns, helped solve the aquatic weed problem without chemical herbicides for a local irrigation district,  and improved fish access to spawning habitat in the Bear Creek Watershed.

In 2004, Headwaters began strategic planning on a "Conservation Science & Policy" program that would focus on bringing relevant science to legislators in a way that non-scientists could understand it.  The future staff of that program were to advocate for effective conservation policy based on the best available science in the areas of forest and water management.

World Wildlife Fund's, Klamath-Siskiyou Field Office

The Klamath-Siskiyou Field Office of the World Wildlife Fund opened its doors in 1998.  Eight years later, this regional office with a staff of three had created its own impressive list of conservation successes, including: scientific support for the establishment of the 52,947-acre Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument and protection of more than 1 million acres of roadless areas in the ecoregion as part of the 58.5 million-acre Roadless Conservation Rule (as designated by President Clinton in 2000); scientific support for a multi-year study of grazing impacts on rare plants and wildlife in the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument; support for restoration of salmon habitat on the Rogue River resulting in the removal of 8 in-stream barriers to fish passage, 330 acres of conservation easements, water quality improvements, increased stream flows, and improved access to 103 miles of salmon spawning habitat; funding for the certification of a private forester and a small timber mill overseeing nearly 650 acres of private lands under the Forest Stewardship Council’s program for responsible forest management; funding and technical assistance for 9 family farms and ranches totaling 700 acres and enrolled in the fish-friendly farming practices of Salmon-Safe;  funding and technical support for protection agreements between conservation buyers and private timber companies on 740 acres in northern California and southern Oregon and 4,500 acres within the Cascade-Siskiyou monument;  scientific support for restoration principles and criteria endorsed by over a hundred conservation groups and forest practitioners in response to the Healthy Forest Initiative of the Bush administration; and, numerous national documentaries on the importance of the ecoregion,  including stories by the Public Broadcasting System, National Public Radio, National Geographic, Time Magazine, LA Times, CNN, and MSNBC.

Discussions with a variety of national organizations led to the conclusion that a national organization was not the best fit for the staff and programs of the Klamath-Siskiyou regional office.  Independently, the staff of the Klamath-Siskiyou office was coming to the same conclusion that Headwaters was reaching.  There was a niche in the larger conservation movement that was not being filled.  There was a gap between conservation science and conservation policy.  Someone needed to build a bridge.

The Merger

After many months of discussions and strategic planning, the National Center for Conservation Science & Policy celebrated its birthday on June 29, 2006.  With help from individual members, volunteers, business supporters and the Bullitt and Wilburforce Foundations, the newly combined board and staff remodeled the former Headwaters offices in Ashland and moved in together in September, 2006.