PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--This Friday night, March 16th, Portland-based Sustainable Northwest will celebrate its second-annual sustainability auction and awards gala. Governor Cecil D. Andrus will present the 2007 Andrus Leadership Awards to two northwest leaders in sustainability and conservation.

The 2007 Andrus Awards recipients are exemplary companies – Celilo Group Media of Portland, Oregon and Jefferson State Forest Products of Hayfork, California. The award recognizes each company’s demonstrated success in sustainable entrepreneurship; their commitment to stewardship of the environment and service to the community; their ongoing ability to adapt and innovate while pursuing the highest standards of excellence; and their willingness to share their knowledge and insights with others who wish to pursue a similar sustainable path.

Among many conservation accomplishments, Cecil D. Andrus played a leading role in preserving and protecting federal lands through the creation of the Hells Canyon Recreation Area while Governor of Idaho, and the “Birds of Prey” sanctuary while U.S. Secretary of Interior. He also played a key role in the Carter Administration’s protection and preservation of what Andrus termed “the crown jewels of Alaska.” Through numerous additions to the national park system, the wilderness system, the wild rivers system, and national wildlife refuges, Andrus ensured the preservation of over 103 million acres in perpetuity through the Alaska Native Land Claims Settlement Act. He served as the founding Chair of Sustainable Northwest, www.sustainablenorthwest.org.

“Governor Andrus has always been a leader ahead of his time, and so are the 2007 Andrus Award recipients. They are ground-breakers in conservation and sustainability and their leadership deserves to be recognized,” says Martin Goebel, President of Sustainable Northwest. Governor Andrus will speak at the event and present the awards.

“I think Sustainable Northwest is precisely the kind of environmental organization we need for today and tomorrow – one that addresses both environmental and economic challenges and opportunities, one that actively bridges rural and urban interests. Tonight the leaders we are honoring this year, Celilo Group Media and Jefferson State Forest Products, embody those values and pursuits,” said Governor Andrus. Brief descriptions of the two awardees are attached along with contact information.

Other speakers at the event include two-term Oregon Governor John A. Kitzhaber, who will deliver a special tribute to SNW founder, the late Oregon State Senator Ted Hallock, and Allen Alley, Chair of the 2007 Oregon Business Plan Steering Committee, who will speak about “Sustainability as an Oregon Asset.” Mr. Alley was recently appointed to serve as Governor Ted Kulongoski’s policy advisor on many areas including economic development and energy.

The event will also feature live and silent sustainability-themed auctions to benefit Sustainable Northwest.

Event Details:

Friday, March 16, 2007

5:30-9:30 PM

Portland Art Museum – Mark Building

Portland, Oregon

2007 CECIL D. ANDRUS LEADERSHIP AWARDS FOR SUSTAINABILITY AND CONSERVATION

Celilo Group Media

Based in Portland, Oregon and founded in 1999, Celilo Group Media’s mission is to expand the marketplace for sustainable products. The company recognized early how quickly demand and supply for sustainable products could grow if the increasing array of choices were disseminated to consumers. Celilo Group publishes the Sustainable Industries Journal (SIJ), the West Coast’s preeminent publication for sustainable business. SIJ (monthly readership: 12,000) produces a variety of industry-specific supplements such as farming, building products and green office practices. It is the go-to publication for leaders in the sustainable business community. Celilo Group also publishes Chinook Book (yearly circulation: 58,000). Available at major retailers, local shops and through schools and other non-profits, Chinook Book is filled with coupons promoting high-standard sustainable and local products and services that can be found in Seattle, Portland, Eugene and Minneapolis/St. Paul. It will also soon be published in the Bay Area. Celilo Group also organizes regular and well-attended Sustainable Industries Economic Forums in the communities it serves, and created and manages the Northwest’s clean energy news service nwcurrent.com. The founders of Celilo Group, Nik Blosser, Tom Koehler and Tim Raphael, have been instrumental in the community. Among their many accomplishments were spearheading the establishment of the Oregon Business Association and the growth of Oregon’s Individual Development Account Tax Credit program designed to help low-income Oregonians save for significant assets like buying their first home or starting their own business. Contact: Nik Blosser, President, 503-226-7798

Jefferson State Forest Products

This small town company with a big heart and vision was founded in 1996 by Jim Jungwirth and his wife Lynn, Executive Director of the Watershed Center. They had returned home to Hayfork, CA (pop. 1,800, two-hours from the nearest interstate) a few years earlier to see what they could do about the double-digit unemployment and re-starting a forest and wood products industry that was more in tune with the environment’s restoration needs. A one-man show at first, today Jefferson State Forest Products (JSFP) has 40 employees with family wage jobs and good benefits. The company got a big break when Whole Foods Markets began ordering fixtures for their produce section. Though its product line is much more diverse, today JSFP has outfitted the produce and café sections of over 200 Whole Foods stores nationwide and Canada. Recently they got their first order for a store in the United Kingdom. The company’s wood sourcing and production practices are exemplary. Most of its wood comes from public and private forest restoration projects and its manufacturing processes seek to minimize and eliminate waste and use of toxic substances. JSFP is a founding member of the Healthy Forests Healthy Communities Partnership (a program of Sustainable Northwest) and often serves as the model and generous mentor for small, community-based wood products companies that are emerging from the timber wars of the 1990’s. As a result of its success JSFP was the first company bought by Upstream 21, a venture capital fund started in Portland, Oregon in 2004 that grows enterprises seeking to build social, economic and ecological capital for a sustainable future. Under the new ownership JSFP will receive capital to grow even more, Jim Jungwirth will continue to serve as its CEO, and it will continue to help find and grow similar small town, sustainable companies. Contact: Jim Jungwirth, CEO, Jefferson State Forest Products, 503-941-4503; Brian Redd, CEO, Upstream 21, 503-221-9883

Contacts
Celilo Group Media, Inc.
Martin Goebel, 503-221-6911