Since 2018, Washington Wild has made an organizational commitment to working within a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion framework. This is an ongoing journey. We want to thank everyone in our community who has shared feedback with us regarding this work. We welcome your comments and questions at info@wawild.org.
DEI Statement
Washington Wild is committed to protecting wild lands and waters for the well-being of all people. As a historically white-led conservation organization, we recognize our responsibility to interrupt institutional racism and discriminatory policies that harm and exclude historically marginalized communities due to their race, gender, ability, age, socioeconomic class, religion, or sexual orientation.
We are dedicated to engaging a diversity of voices and respecting Tribal sovereignty in the conversation of wild lands. From time immemorial, local Tribes have maintained strong connections to sacred lands and waters of what is now referred to as Washington State. We are committed to respecting their unique Tribal treaty and historic rights and lifeways.
Our conservation efforts are intended to empower all communities to contribute to and benefit from the cultural, health, social, and economic results. We believe the journey towards diversity, equity, inclusion, and respect of sovereignty is an active process that requires continuous commitment. Washington Wild pledges to grow, learn, listen, act, and evolve so we may better deliver our mission of protecting wild lands and waters for current and future generations.
Definitions
Diversity
Diversity is the presence of difference within a given setting (a team, workplace, or industry), which can include race, gender identity and expression, national or ethnic origin, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, or veteran status.
Inclusion
Inclusivity promotes belonging among people with different identities and ensures that people feel valued, empowered, and welcomed within a given setting.
Equity
Equity recognizes that not everyone has access to the same opportunities due to both systemic advantages and barriers that exist in our society. Equity is the process and practice of justice as it relates to undoing oppression.
While Diversity and Inclusion are both outcomes, Equity is not. It’s the process an organization engages in to ensure that people with marginalized identities have the opportunity to grow, contribute, and develop.
Land Acknowledgement
We would like to acknowledge that our office is located on the ancestral land of Coast Salish Peoples including the Suquamish/Duwamish and Muckleshoot Peoples past and present. Further, we acknowledge that our organization’s work encompasses the traditional lands of all tribes in Washington State. We honor with gratitude the land itself, and those who have been the responsible stewards of these lands and waters since time immemorial. We are grateful to our Native coalition partners and would like to acknowledge to them as well as all of our supporters that as we work in conservation and protection of what are now known as public lands, the narratives of these lands and regions have not always fully recognized the people who lived here before colonization and continue to live here today.
Thank you for respecting this important history as we move forward together in our work to protect and restore Washington’s wild lands for generations to come.
Tribal Resolution
For thousands of years, native Tribes have revered, stewarded, and relied on wild places and native plants and animals. These Tribal peoples have always lived here and will remain present and culturally vibrant for many generations.
In recognition of our shared interest in our wild places and wildlife, Washington Wild’s board of directors passed a resolution in February of 2019 supporting the tribal treaty rights and tribal lifeways to guide and enhance our work and conservation efforts.
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