Farewell, 2024! We’re all sails ahead for 2025, a year that promises to be filled with conservation success, growth, and new beginnings. Read on to learn what Team PLT staff members are excited about in the coming year.
Lovina Englund, Executive Director
As we step into 2025, we find ourselves at a pivotal moment in the history of Palouse Land Trust. Growth and opportunity abound, and the work ahead holds the promise of profound, lasting impact.
This year, we are poised to close on a record five projects while bringing another five into the workflow. These efforts mark a significant stride toward doubling the number of privately held acres permanently protected in the next 2-3 years. The caliber of the conservation values we are safeguarding and the size of the tracts being protected are substantial steps toward the future we all envision—a future where the lands we love continue to thrive for generations to come.
Our successes are a direct reflection of the incredible community that surrounds us. The skills and dedication of our team, advisors, and board directors have propelled us to where we are today. Their expertise enriches the impact of our mission, ensuring that every acre we protect contributes meaningfully to the health and resilience of our region.
But none of this would be possible without you. Your generosity—whether through time, talent, or treasure—makes these milestones attainable. Together, we are shaping a landscape of enduring beauty and ecological vitality, a testament to the power of collective action.
As we look ahead, I am inspired by the opportunity to build on this momentum and endlessly grateful for the trust and support you continue to place in us. Together, we are not only conserving land but also fostering a community bound by purpose, passion, and hope.
Thank you for being an essential part of this journey. Let’s make this year one of bold steps, meaningful impact, and shared celebration.
Ava Cocking, Community Lands Steward
Winter is my favorite time of year for reflection. For me, only part of this time is dedicated to considering what transpired the year prior. First and foremost, I like to focus my energy on the present moment, and then happily moving into the dreamy manifesting and projecting the future space—a favorite pastime of mine.
So, what am I most excited about for 2025? As you read this reflection, I hope you ask yourself the same question, and follow it up with this: “What are you doing today that your future self will thank you for?”
2025 is going to bring a significant and eager change for my family. My husband, daughter, and I will be welcoming our son in late March. This major change, will take our sweet little trio to a quartet. I’m so excited to meet the little human blissfully growing and resting inside me. This change will alter our pace, and offer the requirement of presence; babies thrive on calm continuity. During what many will find as the beginning of the busy season, we will welcome the required space to rest, recover, and restructure our family.
At PLT, we will also be welcoming new life. As we find ourselves in the midst of a major organizational growth phase; we are invited to explore exciting new openings to diversify and expand our team. Much like welcoming a new child, bringing on new team members is filled with enthusiasm and hard work to ensure they have all the right tools to succeed in their new world. We are manifesting incredible people to join the Land Trust's mission and support the robust work we do every year!
In 2025, the Land Trust will also be welcoming new properties into our conservation easement family. The ripples of countless hours of dedication from our team will finally reach the shores of success to protect more of what we all love about why we call this region home. And in the essence of manifesting, we have our sights set high for further partnerships for care for what already have in the year ahead.
2025 will summon new relationships, usher the expansion of existing connections, and encourage the reconstruction of systems to support innovative ways of knowing and doing. I hope this excitement conjures as much joy for you as it does for me. There is so much to be thankful for, and taking a moment to lean into the stillness that winter invites will only amplify the blessings when intentions align with dreams.
Wishing you the brightest season and many blessings in the year ahead!
Jaime Jovanovich-Walker, Communications and Development Coordinator
I remember a time here at the land trust when looking forward at what was to come was daunting. It was scary, even. I didn’t know if we had the time, resources, capacity, or the dollars in the bank to make projects happen. And universe knows, I was pretty sure I had absolutely no idea what I was doing throughout it all.
But thankfully, things change. Like, massively. Today, looking forward with confidence and knowing that we can do it is one of the most fulfilling parts of this job. Thanks to our amazing team of supporters, incredible board, outstanding volunteers, and talented, professional staff members, I know we can achieve meaningful conservation impact here on the Palouse and north central Idaho.
This year, PLT celebrates 30 years of helping landowners and communities realize their conservation dreams and goals. I can’t even buy a major appliance that lasts more than a decade, so you can imagine my excitement and joy over this big birthday. I have SO many party ideas, and most of them involve cake, yay!
We’re also on this awesomely exciting precipice – I can’t spill all the beans, but we’re poised to close on multiple projects protecting hundreds of acres of the best of our region this year, we’re on the right track to grow our team to super-major-epic butt-kicking level, we are tuning up and developing a bright and meaningful 5-year strategic plan, and I am now confident that I know what I’m doing a solid 40% of the time, a significant increase over previous years.
More than anything, and best of all, I have the continuing privilege of working with supporters like you, and landowners who are so committed to protecting and conserving our most precious lands and waters. I’m with my peeps, each and every day, and it’s a wicked cool feeling to feel part of a cause that is bigger than me, and that will endure and make a difference even generations after I’m gone.
Thanks for being here for the ride. 2025 is going to be filled with a lot of good stuff, I can feel it. And I just did my once-a-year-whether-it-needs-it-or-not desk cleaning, so we’re definitely starting on a high note!