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.

Praise for Conservation Confidential:

"Older generations of activists owe it to their successors to pass down what they've learned, a charge Mitch Friedman forthrightly fulfills in these pages! His advice won't please everyone, but it demands engagement from anyone who cares about the wild world around us." ~Bill McKibben, author of Here Comes the Sun and co-founder of 350.org

"A legend in the conservation community, with myriad landmark successes over his decades of activism, Mitch Friedman distills the lessons he has learned. Brutally honest, poignantly reflective, and beautifully written, Conservation Confidential is the open-hearted story of a life well-lived." ~Denis Hayes, CEO of the Bullitt Foundation, author of Cowed, and national coordinator of the first Earth Day in 1970

"This hopeful story, grounded in memoir, shows us a path to saving wild nature—and in so doing, community and democracy. Friedman uses insight, humor, blunders and wins to show us the art of the possible. If you care about nature or ever wondered what makes a conservation group effective, read this book." ~Tracy Stone-Manning, president of The Wilderness Society and former director of the Bureau of Land Management

"In our age of political polarization, Conservation Confidential is a guide to marrying strategic conviction with tactical effectiveness. Not everyone will agree with onetime radical Mitch Friedman’s evolution to compromise and consensus, but none can argue with the achievements of his Conservation Northwest. This book is The Art of War for environmentalists who want to win." ~William Dietrich, author of The Final Forest and Natural Grace

"This is a fun and very honest book. Friedman certainly lays it all out there for us! I find that I am very much in the same place as him, believing in working with other people to try to produce the best outcomes possible for both the ecosystems and constituent biota and for human society. I really enjoyed it." ~Dr. Jerry Franklin, world-renowned forest ecologist and professor emeritus, University of Washington School of Environmental and Forest Sciences

"Blended with Friedman’s fascinating account of his almost half-century of activism are his pragmatic observations as a grassroots crusader; the work effectively doubles as a guidebook for fellow activists. . . . An absorbing memoir of an environmental activist that draws on wisdom born of decades of experience." ~Kirkus Reviews

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.