A Big Win - And a Busy Season | |
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Dear Neighbors,
We have a lot of spring events coming up that I wanted to give you a heads-up on, so forgive the slight uptick in communications. But before that, allow me to dovetail off the Easter and Passover season to recognize someone I've been meaning to introduce to our supporters.
As you know, Thrive recently scored a procedural yet necessary legal victory in its battle to protect the North Face of Mount Hood. In the past, you may have heard of our other cases in state and federal court and the Land Use Board of Appeals (LUBA).
The only reason we can complement our work with litigation of this caliber is that we have on our side incredible legal talent willing to turn down more lucrative engagements to handle nonprofit, community-oriented work.
So, allow me to recognize the backbone of Thrive's legal work, and one of the people who today sustain one of Oregon's proudest traditions—Jesse Buss.
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Jesse has not donated his spare change of pro-bono hours—he has given us pro-bono all-nighters, pro-bono hours in complex federal litigation, and pro-bono trips to Hood River to represent us in land use and state court hearings. This type of goodwill has kept Thrive and our land use system strong for 50 years. Jesse is not alone in offering it. Other attorneys, including those at Crag Law Center, like Ralph Bloemers and Meriel Darzen, those at 1000 Friends, like Mary Kyle McCurdy and Andrew Mulke, and other solo practitioners like Karl G. Anuta, have played pivotal and generous roles, too. People with farms, families, and law offices, who, after the grind of day-to-day life, commit another shift to land stewardship. | |
Jesse Buss of Willamette Law Group, PC | |
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Jesse's firm, Willamette Law Group, PC (WLG), and Thrive have a shared mission in land stewardship. Jesse has a degree in biology, and he applies his hard-science background and legal skills to steward Oregon's wildlands. More importantly, his formative years were spent on a farm in the Willamette Valley and playing in Oregon’s forests and streams. The values Jesse learned from his deep relationships with place come through in WLG’s tagline: “For People and the Places they Love.” Jesse upholds these values in his environmental litigation caseload, whether he’s successfully suing the former Oregon Secretary of State to force logging reform and clean water ballot measures to proceed, stopping clearcutting on public lands, fighting Monsanto's indifference, or arguing to bring Oregon’s land use system into the 21st century.
WLG has an unusual business model for a law firm. To support its attorneys’ “bad habit” of representing clients like Thrive in public interest environmental litigation, WLG pays the bills by representing people injured in car crashes, preparing estate plans, and handling probate administration. So, if you have a need for those legal services, please consider WLG; doing so indirectly supports Thrive.
Here's an interesting anecdote: Before I was at Thrive, I met Jesse as a soul-searching fresh-out-of-college graduate. Jesse took me to lunch and gave me a tour of Oregon City and life guidance. Of course, when I started with Thrive, I was elated to find out Jesse had been Thrive's attorney.
You do not forget the people who look out for you when you were starting out with very little. I admire the enormous weight Jesse's words have—grounded in facts, accuracy, precision, composure, decorum, and logic.
Learning from Jesse through our working relationship has been a great pleasure. It is thanks to people who produce impeccable work, like Heather Staten, Jesse, and Mike McCarthy, that Thrive wins the overwhelming majority of cases it brings.
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Nico Salter
Executive Director, Thrive Hood River
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Join Us: Events This Spring | |
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Speaking of world-class attorneys who have represented Thrive: before Jesse Buss, Ralph Bloemers, founder of Oregon’s Crag Law Center, the premiere public interest environmental law firm in our state, had been the legal backbone of our biggest legal battle, the Mount Hood Land Trade, for over 20 years.
Ralph moved on from attorney work to urgently address one of the West’s greatest challenges: wildfire. He has taken up filmmaking, and was the Executive Producer of the documentary ELEMENTAL: REIMAGINE WILDFIRE.
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Join us for a special screening of ELEMENTAL: REIMAGINE WILDFIRE (84 min) at 6:30 pm on Wednesday, April 19th at Andrew’s Pizza & Skylight Theater. The screening will be followed by a Live Q&A with PBS filmmaker Sara Quinn. Tickets are available directly from Andrew’s Pizza and we expect the show to sell out. Tickets are first-come, first-serve, and advance purchase is encouraged. | |
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Filmed in Oregon, Washington, California, Montana and Colorado, and narrated by David Oyelowo, ELEMENTAL: REIMAGINE WILDFIRE takes viewers on a journey with the top experts in the nation to better understand fire. We follow the harrowing escape from Paradise as the town ignited from wind-driven embers and burned within a few hours of the fire's start. The film continues to the even more recent fires just 2 years ago, when California, Oregon, and Colorado suffered some of our worst wildfires in recorded history – when the 2020 windstorm resulted in five simultaneous "megafires".
Through the lens, we visit fire labs where researchers torch entire houses to learn why some homes burn and others survive. We learn from Native Americans as they employ fire to benefit nature and increase community safety as they have for thousands of years. We follow researchers who work to understand the effects of climate on forests and the crucial role that natural forests play in storing vast amounts of carbon. Along the way, we listen to people who have survived the deadliest fires to underscore the importance of this quest.
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4th Annual Kids Bike Fundraiser | |
We would love your support to make our 4th annual Kids Bike Giveaway a success - please see details on the flyer below. If you'd like to make a donation, please contact Cindy using the information on the flyer, or by going directly to our donate page. | |
Ride with Thrive on Earth Day | |
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You are invited! Join us at Ride-around Our Valley on Earth Day Sunday, April 23, at 10 am.
There is no finer sight than the Hood River Valley during blossom time, and traveling by bike is the best way to experience it! We will gather at the Pine Grove Elementary School parking lot at 2405 Eastside Road at 10 AM. We will have several groups going out depending on fitness level and ride length, so there will be options for everyone age 5 to 105. Bring a picnic lunch to eat at the school afterwards and socialize.
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Mingle with Thrive at KickStand | |
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Thrive Hood River has been featured non-profit for the month of April at KickStand Coffee & Kitchen and evo. "Round up" at the register in either location, or donate with your purchase of the April Cocktail Feature. While you're there, stock up on gear for spring sports (maybe for the Ride-around Our Valley ride), and sample the great food and coffee at KickStand.
And also: please join us the evening of Wednesday, April 26 (watch our Facebook and Instagram for more details) at KickStand for "Mingle with Thrive," a gathering of staff, volunteers and supporters featuring live music. We hope to see you there!
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Protecting Hood River’s farmland, forests, wild places and the livability of its cities and rural communities since 1977. | | | | |
