Conservation Confidential: A Wild Path to a Less Polarizing and More Effective Activism

"An absorbing memoir of an environmental activist that draws on wisdom born of decades of experience." Kirkus Reviews

Conservation Confidential recounts the wild path Mitch Friedman took from radical Earth First! activist engaging in controversial protests to the founder and longtime director of Conservation Northwest. The book documents challenges, success stories, and key lessons along the way to helping preserve Northwest ancient forests, peaceably recover wolves in the region, and much more.

​

Part memoir, part guide on strategy for activists and liberal citizens, Conservation Confidential offers the distilled wisdom of experience that Friedman searched for as a young activist but couldn't find. These provocative lessons are timely not only for conservation campaigns but for our national political moment at large, extolling the virtues of collaborative tactics that succeed by enacting common values rather than polarizing. Here is the rare instance of an accomplished activist leader challenging his own movement to reject its hubris to better serve both nature and our ailing democracy.

Mitch Friedman is a national leader in the conservation movement, known for his innovative and adaptive strategies. He serves as Executive Director of Seattle-based Conservation Northwest, which he founded in 1989. He has a degree in Zoology from the University of Washington and raised two daughters in Bellingham before moving back to Seattle, where he lives with his wife, Jackie, and their adopted dog, Wilma.In his twenties, Mitch self-published two books about conservation. He also produced several campaign videos and a long-format video on the science of biodiversity that was used as a teaching aid in high school and college courses. Mitch was a founding board member of Wildlands Network and has served on several other conservation boards. He has been recognized with awards from Sunset Magazine, Society for Conservation Biology, The Wilderness Society, Washington Environmental Council, Northwest Jewish Environmental Project, Endangered Species Coalition, Wilburforce Foundation, and The Wildlife Society (NW Section). He has been profiled by The Seattle Times and was named by Washington Law and Politics Magazine as one of the "25 smartest people in Washington." Mitch also volunteers with a group that raises funds to support the defense of Ukraine and is proud to be recognized as a NAFO "fella" for that work.