Conservation & Advocacy

"Protecting wild places has been a part of The Mountaineers DNA from the very beginning. Our members were foundational in the establishment of Olympic National Park and the passage of the National Wilderness Act. We published the book that inspired President Ford to designate the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, and another that chronicled the removal of the ELWAH River Dam. For more than a century, we’ve helped generations fall in love with the outdoors. We get thousands of people outside every year, and in doing so we create strong, authentic connections to these landscapes. These personal connections empower us to defend our public lands." Read more…

In April, the Olympia Branch of The Mountaineers issued a Stewardship Challenge to Mountaineers organization wide. The purpose of the Stewardship Challenge is to engage all members to participate in a rewarding day of stewardship. The Olympia Stewardship Committee believes this day of service will create closer connections to our magnificent natural resources, demonstrate our determination to support the public lands, and awaken a genuine spirit of service to our region in each participant. In short: we feel it's our duty to leave the trails better than before. Read more…

Three years ago, the climbing community rose up to fund a pit toilet at the Frenchman Coulee climbing area - better known as Vantage - in Central Washington. As it turns out, if you build it, they will poop. A lot. The toilet became a victim of its own success and fundraising was jointly undertaken by the Washington Climbers Coalition, the Access Fund, the American Alpine Club, and The Mountaineers to build a second toilet. Read more…

One of Washington State’s most coveted wild places – the Enchantments, located in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness – could be impacted by a wide-ranging water management proposal called the Icicle Creek Strategy. The plan, which was introduced by Chelan County and the Washington State Department of Ecology, calls for new, enlarged dams, which could flood nearby trails and campsites. It also raises concerns about appropriate actions in a protected wilderness area. Read more…

In a series of tweets last month, Senator Mike Lee of Utah announced that he’s introducing a bill to “transfer federal lands to the states.” The proposal boils down to taking federally protected parks, forests, refuges, and monuments and putting them in the hands of individual states – where they’d be vulnerable to all sorts of different rules and mandates. Read more…

Join us September 20, 2018 to hear from Andrew Mclean, the first person to summit and ski the 'Alaska Family' of peaks Father Denali, Mother Sultanan, and child Mt. Hunter. Read more…

On June 2, members of the Everett Branch’s Lookout and Trail Maintenance (LOTM) Committee and partners that included  Washington Climbing Coalition, Summit Everett, and Friends for Public Use held a stewardship event for National Trails Day. We had a great time working on the 8-Mile Trail near Darrington. The trail leads to Three O’Clock Rock, a popular rock climbing site.  Read more…

Meany Lodge is undergoing significant updates in the upcoming weeks and we need your help to get all the work done! Meany is a special place to many in our community, and these projects will significantly improve the lodge for future users. The upcoming work parties are on July 20 and July 21.   Read more…

Within 5 minutes of meeting Charlie and Carol Michel, it’s clear  they care very deeply about three things: sea kayaking, The Mountaineers, and our collective carbon footprint. Read more…

Jim French, a 20-year Mountaineers stewardship trip leader, has noticed a familiar refrain from new participants. After a long day clearing trails, removing invasive species, or seeding native plants, they exclaim, “Wow, that was great! I would have never done that if it hadn’t been required as part of The Mountaineers course I’m taking. I’d like to do it again.” Read more…

Today is National Nature Photography Day. Mountaineers Books and, especially our conservation imprint, Braided River, works with a number of amazingly talented and dedicated nature photographers. These folks frequently spend long hours alone in the wild capturing images that the rest of us would never see without them. These images have a huge impact on how we come to understand and feel about nature. Often their photos are the only reference we have for faraway places, and they move us to care about those environments. Nature photographers are on the leading edge of connecting us emotionally to the world that we depend on for all of our physical needs and for which degradation in a faraway place  affects the place where we live. Read more…

When is a group in the outdoors too big? Too small? The answer, of course, is subjective, and also depends on the place and the activity. The Mountaineers Outdoor Ethics Policy encourages leaders to choose a maximum party size based on seven important factors. Read more…

Happy World Otter Day! Organized by the International Otter Survival Fund, this day aims to raise awareness of the 13 otter species worldwide and the threats they face. Locally, the Woodland Park Zoo is looking to understand the behavior of PNW otters and you can help! Read more…

This June we welcome the Heather Hansen, the author of Wildfire: On the Front Lines with Station 8  from Mountaineers Books. She will take us on a journey through her experience after embedding with Boulder, CO wildland firefighters and share her lessons on what more we can do to help prevent such devastating wildfires. Read more…

Here in the Pacific Northwest, we're blessed with some of the most beautiful and accessible parks, forests, and refuges in the nation. Many Mountaineers understand the value of these wild places and set aside time to give back to our public lands.  Read more…

The Mountaineers joined partners and professional climbers from across the nation to champion our public lands at the third annual Climb the Hill event in Washington D.C. Each year, we unite as one climbing community to talk with our nation's leaders about the power of public lands.  Read more…

The Mountaineers is incredibly fortunate to be located in a state with more than 12,000 miles of trails. On the first Saturday of June, communities across to country come together to celebrate National Trails Day. The Mountaineers invites you to help us celebrate our trails by joining a trail work party in some of our favorite places!  This year we have four highlighted stewardship opportunities to help you get involved, and many more all year round. Read more…

As a new-ish addition to The Mountaineers staff team, I have been looking for opportunities to get to know the complex interlocking departments that make the organization work. I work in Member Services, but recently had an opportunity to get the inside scoop on what it’s like to work on the conservation and advocacy. On January 25, I had the wonderful opportunity to spend a day in my hometown of Olympia, Washington, to speak with State Representatives and Senators about the importance of public lands in our state. Read more…

“We need a book. But first you need to see this place.” So began my conversation with Debbie Miller and Hugh Rose in a bar in Fairbanks on my first day back to civilization after an all-too-brief rafting trip in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Debbie, Hugh, and I had collaborated before. Through numerous past publishing and outreach efforts we had strived to prevent oil drilling in America’s Arctic. This time our discussions revolved around 2.1 million acres of the Chugach National Forest in southwestern Alaska proposed as a wilderness study area. This stemmed from the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) passed in 1980, the largest lands conservation act in U.S. history and the law that has defined much of Alaska’s public lands debates. The fate of this wilderness study area established in 1980 was expected to be resolved in a few years, yet it is still in limbo decades later. Read more…

The Olympia Branch is challenging you to dedicate one day (or more!) to stewarding our public lands.  This challenge is a great way to give back to our outdoor playgrounds and meet a vibrant community of volunteers. All Mountaineers members are welcome to join - regardless of branch affiliation. Read more…

Here’s a dilemma: How does a publishing company that is deeply invested in advocating for environmental conservation deal with the fact that the product they sell relies on using trees? This is something that we here at Mountaineers Books are intensely aware of. Approximately four billion trees are cut down every year around the world just to produce paper products, accounting for about 35 percent of the total harvest. Even though 2.3 billion seedlings are planted each year in the US alone, the fact remains that the timber and paper industries, and by extension the publishing industry, have a significant impact on the environment. Read more…

Did you know that Washington state is home to more than 25,000 black bears and two small populations of grizzlies? Spring is a great time to explore the natural beauty of our state and it’s also prime time to practice your bear awareness skills. Bears are highly active this time of year, waking from hibernation and looking for food. Read more…

Earth Day is this Sunday, April 22, and we have several ways for you to show your appreciation for Mother Earth this weekend. Join us for a stewardship activity, train to be a trail crew leader, and help us champion our low impact skills while you’re getting outside! Check out all the event details below. Read more…

On April 12, the Department of the Interior announced that vehicle entrance fees will increase by $5 at 117 locations managed by the National Park Service.

The uptick in cost is a drastic reduction from the Department of the Interior’s original proposal to increase vehicle entrance fees to $70 at the nation’s 17 most visited parks – a price surge that would have nearly tripled the cost at parks like Olympic and Mount Rainier, which currently charge $25. Read more…

Morgan Sjogren’s new guidebook, The Best Bears Ears National Monument Hikes, came out in January, less than two months after the current administration reduced its boundaries by 85 percent. Published by Colorado Mountain Club (CMC) Press, Morgan’s book is the only guidebook published for this region. But Morgan, a writer, adventurer, and competitive trail runner, fell in love with Bears Ears while running in it and wanted to encourage others to explore this region, too. We asked her five questions  about the book and the Monument. Mountaineers Books is the worldwide distributor of CMC Press books. Read more…

 The Mountaineers are proud to present the BeWild Speaker Series, putting passion and adventure on the stage! Come to these talks to unlock inspiration to seek adventure, connect with nature, and work to protect the wild places we cherish. This May we welcome Pacific Crest Trail guidebook authors, Eli Boschetto, Shawntè Salabert, Tami Asars, and Philip Kramer to share their adventures documenting the 2,650 miles of the PCT. Read more…

Last week, lawmakers passed the omnibus spending bill, a massive $1.3 trillion package that determines how the federal government allocates funds. Several key advancements for our public lands are among the far-reaching provisions of the bill. Protecting, and funding, our public lands is integral to our experiences as outdoor enthusiasts. Read more…

Joe Riis is a wildlife biologist turned photojournalist and filmmaker on the cutting edge of explorations of heretofore unknown animal migrations in Yellowstone’s expansive landscapes—within, and outside, the protection of the park. His first book Yellowstone Migrationswas recently published by Braided River, the conservation imprint of Mountaineers Books. Read more…

UPDATE: The Roadless Rule exemption was not included in the omnibus spending bill! Thank you for speaking out to defend our wild landscapes. This will likely not be the last time we need to protect the Roadless Rule, and by lending your voice, you put this on lawmakers’ radars – now and moving forward.

Lawmakers are setting plans in motion to subvert the Roadless Rule, a key conservation tool used to protect our wild backcountry. Read more…

Each year, the Seattle Naturalist Committee provides a lecture series designed to delve into phenomena of the natural world. The events are open to everyone and no registration is required - just pay $5 at the door. Attendance is free for members of the Naturalist Study Group. Check out this season's talks! Read more…