Confrontation, Negotiation, Compromise. Repeat.

Mark Solomon: Executive Director, 1995-1999

In celebration of our 40th Anniversary, The Lands Council highlights the contributions of those who have served as its executive directors. 

By Kate Vanskike, TLC Board President

If John Osborn was the visionary for The Lands Council, Mark Solomon was the architect. 

Mark Solomon’s experience for the job with The Lands Council was vast and varied. He’d been County Commissioner for Latah County, a grizzly bear lobbyist in the Bitteroots of Montana, held a Ph.D. in water resources, and led the University of Idaho’s Water Institute. 

It was while he was working as a blacksmith and volunteering as a water quality activist focused on the Clearwater River basin that John Osborne (TLC founder) asked Mark to join this young board in Spokane. He was serving as the board’s VP when in 1995 he was asked to be the executive director. 

The Lands Council under Mark expanded beyond its forest-related activism and litigation work — which had been wildly successful in scaling back logging in the National Forests of the upper Columbia River Basin — to include water quality efforts, particularly in the Coeur d’Alene / Spokane watershed. Despite the fact that TLC had a small staff and budget, Mark guided the production of a “Get the Lead Out”  campaign that, among other things, distributed 10,000 VHS tapes to educate residents and leaders on the toxins flowing into the waters of the basin from mining in the Silver Valley. 165 billion pounds of lead-contaminated sediments were washing down the Coeur d’Alene River into Coeur d’Alene Lake and into the Spokane River. 

The video campaign brought massive attention to this issue — along with controversy. “The mining companies had the money and were heavily invested in Spokane,” Mark explains. “Plus, people just didn’t want to believe what was happening.” 

That’s one of the reasons Mark insisted that The Lands Council join the Spokane Chamber of Commerce, where, hopefully, TLC representatives could influence matters. 

During Solomon’s era, founder John Osborn continued to publish the newsletter “Transitions” to provide education to the public.

Alongside this massive undertaking, Mark says his first priority in becoming executive director was to hire staff (there were only two full-time employees) and to find ways to engage the membership. He started annual conferences and meetings, and offered role-playing workshops with activists, demonstrating how to find solutions with those who advocated against environmental causes. 

“I wanted people to be well aware of how the process works and identify whether they were capable of compromise,” Mark says. “It was particularly illuminating for the staff, some of whom believed that compromise was ‘selling out’ before the exercise. That changed.”

Amid these big-picture advances, it was Mark who led the organization to shorten its original name — the Inland Empire Public Lands Council — to The Lands Council, while maintaining the original mission: protecting the forests and waters of the Inland Northwest.

Mike Petersen: Community Connector

In celebration of our 40th Anniversary, The Lands Council highlights the contributions of those who have served as its executive directors. Mike Petersen filled this role from 2002 to 2021.

Left: Mike Petersen with Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Tim Coleman on a hike in 2011. Right: Mike at the 2016 April Showers auction, TLC’s primary annual fundraiser.

By Kate Vanskike, TLC Board President 2025

In more than 30 years working with TLC, Mike Petersen was executive director for 19. He summarizes it with brevity: “We added a new tactic to our forest work — collaboration.” 

Under his leadership, with the support of the Board and staff, the organization gained a reputation for collaborative problem-solving of forest-related issues, often sitting across the table from the very federal management agencies, timber companies, and other stakeholders that previously resorted to litigation to find solutions.

Collaboration was Mike’s tactic for addressing every environmental concern in our region: pollution of the Spokane River, tensions between the Forest Service and timber companies, clearcutting on public lands like Mt. Spokane, and more. He led countless lawsuits to protect our waterways and the aquifer that feeds them. Local media had Mike on speed-dial, it seems, as he was the go-to source for understanding of bills in front of our state leaders and how they would impact our area. 

One Spokesman-Review writer, in 2011, wrote “He’s always hunting for unconventional allies.” Mike himself responded by saying: “We learn how agencies work, we insist on the best available science, we sometimes go to court, we negotiate, and we work to pass legislation. We try to do this in a way that respects others.” (Spokesman-Review 2011-Mar10)

One significant outcome of those efforts was the development of the Northeast Washington Forest Coalition – NEWFC – in 2002, which brought together leaders from Vaagen Brothers Lumber Company, conservation and wildlife groups, forest representatives and more, to protect the Colville National Forest. 

Of this unique partnership, Mike said in 2015: “All collaboratives are place-based, which is another way of saying that all politics are local. Collaboratives gain lots of strength from local knowledge, from the participation of people who have lived in a particular area long enough to develop an understanding of its social, economic and cultural idiosyncrasies. What they seek is a more balanced consideration of local needs.” (Forest Policy Pub)

Closer to Spokane, TLC began contracts with the city on projects like stormwater management under Mike’s leadership. 

Today, all of those connections continue to thrive, as The Lands Council builds on relationships with local and regional nonprofits, elected officials and city and county departments, and visionary businesses like Vaagen Brothers Lumber. 

Cleve Ives, a public defender with a record of working on forest and conservation needs, met Mike Petersen when the timber wars were raging in the 1990s. He credits Mike and Tim Coleman of the Kettle Range Conservation Group with challenging all the appropriate parties. “Mike informed the public at countless hearings and community meetings and met with any and all media to provide facts and the best available science,” says Cleve. “While threats of violence swirled around them, Mike and Tim patiently stayed on task while doubling the memberships of their nonprofits.” 

“Mike always understood the importance of community support,” Cleve continues. “The Lands Council fostered strong connections to neighborhoods, schools, and outdoor enthusiasts. Tree planting and soil reclamation efforts paired Lands Council staff and members with local groups, children, and families.Such innovative programs and Mike's ability to 'think outside the box' sparked The Lands Council Staff and energized media interest.”

An example of thinking creatively is the work TLC began under Mike: beavers. The crew relocated beavers to streams in need of restoration in the way beavers know best. Then they shifted to beaver dam analogs, systems that mimic a beaver’s work without requiring relocation of the animals. And as with all TLC projects, Mike heralded Washington State legislation around beaver ecosystem management. 

No surprise to those familiar with current-day TLC work: Mike’s era of leadership also moved toward planting trees. “I had written a grant and we received $20,000 to plant 10,000 trees in the early 2000s,” he says. It’s work he continues to be proud of. 

In our 40th year preserving, protecting and revitalizing Inland Northwest forests, water and wildlife, we’re proud to continue leading these efforts with gratitude for all who have contributed to this legacy.