The Northcoast Environmental Center has jettisoned a top position to keep the boat afloat during troubled economic times.
The executive director position staffed since the NEC's beginning more than three decades ago will go dark, and its responsibilities shifted in part to Administrative Director Georgiana Wood, and in part to volunteers and the center's member groups. Greg King, hired as executive director less than two years ago to replace the late Tim McKay, is moving on.
Wood said the decision comes as members and donors are considering crimping to weather economic woes, and funding organizations have warned of a 20 percent slash in funding.
Wood said she doesn't see the cuts marginalizing the NEC, but as shifting work from staff to volunteers.
”We will work hard but we will be fine,” Wood said.
The NEC isn't alone. Humboldt Area Foundation Executive Director Peter Pennekamp said that private donations follow the stock market, and public and private foundations will decrease the money they send out in a prolonged financial slump. The state budget crunch makes it worse.
”I think we're already seeing a reduction and I think we'll see more,” Pennekamp said.
The NEC was founded in 1971, with Wesley Chesbro -- who has since served in the state Legislature -- as the first executive director. It was McKay who became the NEC's most influential and recognizable point man. He worked on issues like the Gasquet-Orleans Road, the northern spotted owl, the Siskiyou Wilderness and the Klamath River.
The NEC now has 1,500 members, a number that's been stable for years, Wood said. The organization gets nearly 40 percent of its operating capital from its membership.
Eliminating the highest-paid position -- about $40,000 per year -- will help, said King in a statement.
”This transition makes sense,” King said. “I brought a lot of stability and growth to the NEC, including a strong new staff and new programs. These will remain in place. Above all I want the NEC to maintain its critical role in the conservation community.”
Some of the moves the NEC has made in recent years have put a strain on it. Its aged Arcata building went up in flames in 2001. Then the lot where it planned to build a new home was found to be contaminated, and after 9/11, Wood said, the cost of building materials soared. It bought a house in north Arcata, a decision which some have questioned, but Wood insists was a smart move.
The group is settling into the house and is set to reopen its Ecoboutique to bring in money from sales of promotional goods, Wood said.