| Dear Friends,
Season's greetings! It's been a good year for The Intertwine Alliance, and I'd like to take a moment to thank each of you, our now 109 partners, for joining this unique coalition. You believe we can achieve big things through collaborative action. And it’s working!The coming year will bring more evidence of our strength in numbers, as we work to: intensify our efforts to engage residents; facilitate more partner-driven large-scale conservation projects; develop new funding for natural areas and trails; and build bridges on issues around race and class. Last week, we published a New Year's wishlist from many of our nonprofit partners. My wish is to more fully serve each of our partners, amplifying your individual effectiveness while achieving a powerful collective impact. If we do that, 2014 will be another great year. Cheers,  Mike Wetter Executive Director The Intertwine Alliance |
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Alliance
Updates 
Conference crunch.
With December frost limiting visibility, it’s easy to lose sight of
early spring’s deluge of big events. Get your schedule sorted before
crocus-time!
Funds... The deadline for Metro Nature in Neighborhoods grant applications approaches! We’re pleased that Intertwine projects are specifically mentioned as qualifying. However, in keeping with our commitment to collaborate, rather than compete, with our partners, The Intertwine Alliance will not itself be applying for these funds. We hope our partners will take full advantage of this opportunity - and get those applications in by Jan. 14! ...and funded! We’re pleased to announce that The Intertwine Alliance has been awarded a $30,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for two pilot projects to engage residents with stewardship projects. In true Alliance fashion, most funds will go to Alliance partners. Collaborators on the project include Portland Audubon Society, Clean Water Services, the Urban Greenspaces Institute, Frank Creative, Groundwork Portland, and the National Park Service.
Intertwine News 
A stocking full of blogs. Last week in Outside Voice,
15 of our nonprofit partners shared their top wishes for the New Year.
Earlier in November, we featured bloggers Dr. Kurt Beil of the National
College of Naturopathic Medicine (“Green Time”); Renee Myers, Executive Director of the Forest Park Conservancy (“A forest runs through it”); long-time park planner Jean Akers (“Saving those special places”); and Roberta Schwarz, Neighbors for a Livable West Linn, whose blog “The gray-haired conservationist” took on the subject of legacy.
Speaking of legacy, long-time Audubon Society of Portland Executive Director Meryl Redisch - an Intertwine Alliance founder - will step down as chief in June. Meryl guided the Portland chapter through a period of unprecedented growth, leading significant land conservation efforts and advocacy campaigns for our region’s wildlife. Her leadership will be missed but, since she plans to stay on with Audubon in a part-time capacity, our guess is that she'll continue to be a strong voice for The Intertwine. Read more in The Oregonian. Alliance board member Mike Abbate, Director of Portland Parks & Recreation, has been named to the American Society of Landscape Architects’ new class of 2013 Fellows - a designation “conferred on individuals in recognition of exceptional accomplishments over a sustained period of time.”
Partner
Updates
A forest runs through it. In early November, the Greater Forest Park Conservation Initiative launched 20-year plan (PDF) to protect Portland’s famous ribbon of urban park land. The Forest Park Conservancy's Renee Myers introduced the Initiative in a special Outside Voice blog post.No soft pedalling. The Intertwine Alliance’s newest partner, the Oregon City Trail Alliance, wants active transportation activists to turn out at Dec. 11 public hearing in support of proposed I-205 bike and pedestrian crossing near Clackamas Town Center. Contact Kent Ziegler for more information. Springwater's final stretch.
Dec. 2 marked the paving of the Springwater Corridor Trail's final
segment, from Rugg Road to Boring Station Trailhead Park. The trail is
now complete and open for use. Thanks to the Oregon Dept. of Transportation, Metro, Clackamas County Parks, Portland Parks & Recreation, and many other community partners, the 21-mile paved trail now extends from downtown Portland to Boring, Or.
And congrats again to the 13 Alliance partners selected for Willamette Week's 2013 Give!Guide. To date, local philanthropists have raised nearly $700,000 - a third of Give!Guide's year-end $2.1 million goal. If you haven't yet chipped in, may we suggest the following deserving nonprofits? 
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