Being a small grassroots organization caring for a 114,000-acre Monument requires a strong network of partners.

As the federal agency responsible for managing the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, BLM is our closest partner. Through a Memorandum of Understanding, we work together to plan and implement stewardship projects, ranger programs, and educational events that connect the public to the Monument. We also manage the Monument Information Center in partnership with BLM.

Friends is a proud member of the national Friends Grassroots Network, coordinated by CLF. This alliance connects us with groups across the West to advocate for National Conservation Lands and strengthens our ability to defend the Monument at the national level.

Our partnership with SOU brings students and faculty into the Monument through research, service, and projects. Each year, SOU students serve as student board members, learning the responsibilities of being a voting member of a nonprofit board. Many continue as full board members after graduation. While we once worked closely with SOU’s former Environmental Education Program (which produced many interpretive rangers and student board members), we now collaborate with:

• Environmental Science and Policy Department
• Biology Department
• Native American Studies Department
• Laboratory of Anthropology
• Schneider Museum of Art
• Outdoor Program

These collaborations advance science and education while cultivating the next generation of conservation leaders.

Through The Crest, local youth and families gain opportunities to learn about ecology and stewardship on a 445-acre private inholding near Grizzly Peak within the Monument. We have a longstanding partnership with their nature day camp, which offers “Monument Days.” Once a week, campers explore the Monument with our interpretive rangers to learn more about biodiversity.

We work with Vesper Meadow to support Indigenous education and ecological restoration on lands adjacent to and within the Monument, as well as on public land. These collaborations highlight the intersection of ecology, history, and community. Vesper Meadow’s sister nonprofit, The Understory Initiative, provides native seed and plant services vital to restoring these ecosystems. We also partner with Vesper Meadow on monitoring projects.

Since 2023 we have been collaborating with Project Beaver, formerly the Beaver Coalition, to restore beavers and their habitats within the Monument. They were an instrumental partner in our 2024 Beaver Scavenger Hunt, where we surveyed streams across the Monument looking for signs of beavers. We currently work with them on BDA improvement projects and have launched a beaver monitoring team to better understand the growing populations within the Monument, as well as priority habitats.