One-Year-Old Organization Celebrates 20th Anniversary

SWAN VALLEY – Though scarcely one year old, Swan Valley Connections (SVC) hosted a grand 20-year celebration Dec. 6 at the Swan Valley Community Hall. In January 2016, Swan Ecosystem Center (SEC) and Northwest Connections (NWC) merged into SVC, hence the one-year status. Those parent organizations have roots reaching back two decades, hence the cause for celebration. The evening consisted of an on-going slide show, short films highlighting SEC and NWC and a number of people sharing memories and expressing gratitude.

SVC Executive Director Rebecca Ramsey began by referencing the early pioneer settlers and their connection to the land. A jump forward in history to the 1970s saw the people in the valley deeply divided over issues such as logging versus conservation. It seemed the only thing everyone could still agree upon was their mutual concern for and connectedness to the land.

Citizens on both sides of the issue agreed to come together to listen respectfully to one another. Condon's Alan Taylor acted as facilitator. Out of those informal talks came the Swan Citizens Ad Hoc Committee and out of that in 1997, almost simultaneously, SEC and NWC were each officially formed. Though both were concerned with conservation of the land, they each had their particular emphasis: SEC focused on community involvement and projects in the Swan and Mission mountains and the Swan Valley corridor, while NWC focused on reaching out to a broader audience through field research and education courses.

Ramsey said, "Over time they were working together so much, it seemed the natural thing to do was to merge."

Having provided an overview, Ramsey invited members of the parent organizations as well as Ad Hoc members to speak.

Several people gave credit to Art Ortenberg and Liz Claiborne for initiating and supporting the efforts of the Ad Hoc Committee.

SEC President Emeritus Anne Dahl said, "They were the ones who first had the idea that the Condon community could be more than a dysfunctional, polarized, angry place – I think I'm exaggerating a little – but with that energy, they helped us get started." She went on to say, "One of the things I remember most about Art was him saying, "Be careful when you talk about educating. When you say you're going to educate people it means that one party knows everything, and the other people don't.'"

Founder and Ad Hoc member Neil Meyer added, "Art and Liz really backed us, they were very responsible for getting us started. We managed their forest out at Lindberg Lake for several years and they gave SEC the income from it."

Sue Cushman recalled the transition point when the Ad Hoc Committee realized it couldn't just keep talking, someone needed to take charge and start doing. Cushman said everyone kept saying "not I," but they finally persuaded Anne Dahl to accept the position of Executive Director of what was then given the lengthy name Swan Valley Ecosystem Management and Learning Center.

Kari Gunderson, who later worked under Dahl as a Wilderness Ranger, called Dahl "an incredible leader."

Wilderness Ranger Mike Childs also praised Dahl, saying, "She'd worked in the business world and did a lot of the early grant writing. For the business end of it, the financial end of it and for having the right personality to get what was needed, I give Anne a lot of credit."

Dahl herself gave credit to the early founders whose voices she said she could still hear whenever she read SEC's early Mission Statement. She identified the part about ecosystem management as coming from Bud Moore.

Dahl said, "When I think of the words, 'strong and vital community,' I hear Bud Moore because he cared a lot about the community. When the Mission Statement talks about getting work done through partnerships, well that's Rod Ash. That's his voice. He was the diplomat whom we all loved and appreciated and without him there would have been no SEC and probably not much of an Ad Hoc Committee either."

Meyer also spoke in praise of Ash, "If he said something, he meant it and he kept with it until it worked."

Continuing with her framework of the Mission Statement, Dahl said, "When we talk about activities that encourage sustainable use and care, everybody knows that's Neil Meyer. All of the stewardship work and water restoration – all that came out of the heart of Neil Meyer."

Long-time SEC Board member Russ Abolt testified to Meyer's continued involvement with and guidance of the organization. Abolt recalled accompanying Meyer to Washington D.C. where Meyer, as Chairman of the SEC Board, was to speak at a funding hearing.

Abolt said of Meyer's speech, "It was rich, it was moving and meaningful and he got from those Washington bureaucrats sitting in that room a standing ovation. Believe me folks, from one who's spent a long time there [in D.C.], that very rarely ever happens. It was a very, very meaningful experience in my life."

SVC Conservation Director Luke Lamar named his "heroes in conservation" as Tom Parker, Anne Dahl, Kari Gunderson, Maria Mantis, Neil Meyer, Bud Moore, and his own parents Sharon and Steve Lamar. Luke spoke of how valuable it was to be able to pass that knowledge along to the next generation.

NWC founder Tom Parker spoke of his 40 years living and outfitting in the valley. He said he particularly valued the wisdom and experience of his elders.

Parker said, "I spent most winter evenings sitting around a stove with these great folks who were descendants of homesteaders. They were all very open and willing to share their love, passion, interest, knowledge about this place. Those are the people I think about when I go to reference my sensibilities about any given issue in the valley. I hear every one of those folks talking. Always have, always will, to the day I die."

Parker added the other thing he learned by living in the Swan Valley was, "The arrangement of natural resources – which in two words is physiographic complexity – occurs nowhere else in the Northern Rockies, Canada, or U.S. like it does here in terms of the breadth, depth and complexity of everything in nature."

Former SEC Executive Director Maria Mantis spoke about both parent organizations, saying, "Although I had nothing to do with the founding of these organizations, I was around when this was all happening. I was able to witness the beautiful thing that came to be, that Anne so eloquently mastered. She did an incredible job. During my early years in the U.S. Forest Service, I came down to the Swan all the time to sit in on committees and meetings and the landscape assessment meetings and all the different things going on at SEC. I was so proud to be a part of that. At the same time, Melanie and Tom [Parker] asked me to come and teach at their classes at Northwest Connections. So I've been connected to all these people in the Swan all these years. I'm honored that I was what I call the transitional relationship from Northwest Connections and SEC to Swan Valley Connections. I'm proud to have helped with that."

Ramsey concluded the Celebration by saying, "I see that I have some big shoes to fill. I will do my best to carry on this incredible work that you've all begun."