AdventuresNW
Conservation Confidential: A Wild Path to a Less Polarizing and More Effective Activism
By Mitch Friedman. Latah Books (2025)
I’ve known Mitch Friedman since the early ’90s and have always been in awe of his ability to blend his obvious passion for nature with a keen, pragmatic intellect and the ability to honor the diverse points of view of a wide range of people, actively resisting the corrosive polarization that has become endemic in our country.
It is an occupational hazard for environmentalists to sometimes restrict themselves to preaching to the choir. Mitch doesn’t do this. His approach to solving environmental problems focuses on working with the people whose lives are affected by these issues, people that are all too often characterized as adversarial to the environment. For example, his successes in re-establishing wolf populations in Washington were made possible only because of his respect for the perspectives of the ranchers living in wolf country.
In Conservation Confidential, he makes a compelling (and hope-inspiring) case for this approach to catalyzing positive change, relating his journey from youthful radical action (that saw him arrested on a regular basis) to a more thoughtful, inclusive brand of environmental ethos. The efficacy and resonance of his approach seek to draw people in and build consensus through collaboration.
Over the years, the organization that he founded, Conservation Northwest, has been remarkably successful, with a track record of accomplishments that include the Range Rider Program in northeast Washington, the preservation of Blanchard Mountain in Skagit County, reintroducing fishers to the North Cascades, and many others.
Conservation Confidential offers an inspiring blueprint for environmental healing in these challenging times. As he says, ‘Doing Something’ is more important than ‘Being Something’.
