Tis the Season to be Charitable!

As someone who has spent countless hours in wild and beautiful places and has made a living writing about them-I support a number of nonprofit organizations that are dedicated to preserving and improving our environment as well as organizations that work to enhance and increase outdoor recreation opportunities. The following organizations are among the ones that I support financially and through my writings:

Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society
Cascade Land Conservancy
Conservation Northwest
Friends of the Wapack Trail
New Hampshire Nature Conservancy
Skagit Land Trust
Skagitonians to Preserve Farmland
Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests
Washington Nature Conservancy
Washington Trails Association
Washington's National Park Fund

I also support Oxfam America and Giuseppe and Scruffy Gray are big supporters of the Humane Society of Skagit Valley.

I know that the last two years have been difficult ones financially. I too have felt the sting of the Great Recession having lost regular writing gigs and had others scaled back. However, this has not lead me to cut back on my charitable donations. In fact, I have increased my giving over last year. While the best things in life truly are free-maintaining them and fighting for them is not! I hope that during this Christmas Season-this time of hope, renewal and reflection, that you will find in your heart and wallet a little extra goodwill and help support the wild places that help sustain our sanity-not to mention a myriad of species' survival- throughout the year!

(photo-me admiring an old white pine on the Hay Reserve; preserved for all by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forest)