Invested in Growing a Network of Waterkeepers

This spring, our Puget Sound Stewardship & Mitigation Fund awarded over $560,000 in grant funding — a historic amount! And over one-third of the projects funded have an environmental justice component and are led by community and grassroots organizations.

Over the last decade, our Puget Fund has successfully created important partnerships in the Pacific Northwest. In fact, in this most recent grantmaking cycle, we are funding a partnership between longtime Rose partner Puget Soundkeeper and longtime grantee Deschutes Estuary Restoration Team (DERT), a group that has focused on protection, restoration, and community education in the Deschutes Estuary. And the latest exciting news — DERT is planning to grow into a new role in the region, to become a waterkeeper in the South Puget Sound! Their grant from the Rose Foundation teams up with Puget Soundkeeper to provide the programmatic support DERT needs to make this transition, including training, resources, and logistical support as it joins the waterkeeper network!

“The presence of a new actor monitoring and enforcing the Clean Water Act and stormwater policies creates a clean, healthy watershed and community locally. It also signals to polluters that groups are watching and ensuring that everyone has access to clean water. And the Rose Foundation’s ability to not only partner with various waterkeepers, but also fund their projects with a wide variety of strategies is a win for clean water everywhere.”
— Laura Fernandez, Program Officer

The Rose Foundation has a history of supporting the development of new and existing waterkeepers in the Pacific Northwest. For example, our Mike Chappell Fund for the Spokane River supported Columbia Riverkeeper’s Toxics Reduction Project. We also supported the new Twin Harbors Waterkeeper out on the Washington coast in Grays Harbor, and our Consumer Products Fund is supporting Puget Soundkeeper’s Clean Water Regulation & Enforcement Project; Columbia Riverkeeper’s Stopping Toxics Pollution Project; and Snake River Waterkeeper’s work to protect youth from toxic waterways. Other grants supported volunteer-based community science to collect water quality data in Clallam, King, Kitsap, Pierce, and Snohomish counties.

We are proud to support the growing network of waterkeepers in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. And we are committed to continuing our role as an impactful funder for clean, healthy, and safe watersheds!