2026 Legislative Priorities That Protect Public Lands

January 20, 2026
Post by Amy Brockhaus, Deputy Director and Nicky Pasi, Kittitas Programs Manager
Greenway Trust Priority Area:
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 The Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust coalition advocates for programs that protect public lands, waters, and access to landscapes in the Mountains to Sound Greenway National Heritage Area. These key legislative priorities protect the quality of our public lands and our connection to it. They also work to protect human and environmental health. From wildfire...

January 16, 2026
Vincent Pruis, Teanaway Engagement Coordinator
Greenway Trust Priority Area:
Fighting wildfires in Washington State costs an average of a million dollars a day, but there’s a much cheaper, more effective way to prevent them in the first place: wildfire resilience work. Implementing fire-wise projects like shaded fuel breaks allows land managers to be ready instead of reactive. Take the Labor Mountain Fire as a case study. 

November 13, 2025
Greenway Trust Priority Area:
Issaquah Creek is a vital salmon habitat that is an important wildlife corridor in the most populated watershed in the Mountain to Sound Greenway National Heritage Area. The lower reach of the stream hosts a multitude of fish species and runs through Lake Sammamish State Park. Historic logging and development led to the degradation...

November 6, 2025
Post by Amy Brockhaus, Deputy Director
Greenway Trust Priority Area:
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It’s hard to believe, but 2025 is already winding down and the new year will be here before we know it! With each year’s end, we like to pause and reflect on some of the accomplishments that have taken place across the Mountains to Sound Greenway National Heritage Area over the past 12 months....

September 26, 2025
Post By: Volunteer Specialists Samantha Herlich and Amanda Kelly
Greenway Trust Priority Area:
At the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust’s field base in Issaquah, a whiteboard for schedules and updates features a curious statistic: an ever-growing tally of how often restoration volunteers have asked, “Why not use goats to get rid of blackberry bushes at Lake Sammamish State Park?” It’s a fair question; digging out thick root...

August 21, 2025
Post by Vince Pruis, Teanaway Engagement Coordinator
Greenway Trust Priority Area:
While Charley stages the five other llamas for our Lead-a-Llama event, Mary delicately steps back up into the trailer at Indian Camp and starts munching. She’s much more interested in her hay than in the introduction our participants are getting to the Teanaway Community Forest (TCF)—the largest community forest in the state – within...

August 13, 2025
Post By: Aisyah Aziz, Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park Community and Youth Engagement Coordinator
Greenway Trust Priority Area:
The Klondike Gold Rush ushered in a burst of economic activity and growth for Seattleites that put the city on the map as a place to prepare for expeditions in the late 1800s. Gold fever sparked the imagination of thousands of people from around the world, and a majority of them stopped in Seattle...

July 11, 2025
Post By: Shenise Ramirez, Communications Coordinator
Greenway Trust Priority Area:
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Volunteers have been a critical lifeline for preserving and enhancing public lands and vital environments within the Mountains to Sound Greenway National Heritage Area (Greenway NHA) for decades, but they are needed now more than ever. With state and federal funding for environmental restoration, education, and public land management being slashed, our public lands...