A vision for WWU in the Methow Valley

Driven by a deep commitment to sustainability and community, Western Washington University alumnus Lee Whittaker, ’68, BAE, mathematics, has long championed intergenerational community building, land stewardship, and ecological and cultural education.

Whittaker and his late wife Marilyn dreamed of making Washington’s Methow Valley a place where people could live affordably and intentionally.

Now 79, Whittaker is looking to the future — and to the next generation — with a transformational land gift to Western.

The former physics and math teacher, tech innovator and overall creative thinker founded Nytec, a company specializing in proof of concept for high-tech products. The more time you spend around Whittaker, the more you see that he is fueled by innovation and ideas. “I like to set it up for things to be possible,” says Whittaker.

WWU has been expanding programs and partnerships in the Methow Valley in recent years, and with this land donation, Whittaker is setting up an investment in education that will last for generations, a fact not lost on WWU President Sabah Randhawa.

“We are grateful to Lee for his partnership with Western and for this incredible land donation,” Randhawa says. “This gift enables the university to establish a Western of the Methow — to expand our programming to more intentionally and effectively serve the community in the area — and further our goal of advancing inclusive student access and success in the state.”

Whittaker’s donation includes a three-bedroom house, an undeveloped lot where two WWU-owned tiny homes sit, 12 acres along the Methow River outside of Mazama, and 160 acres in Loup Loup Canyon east of Twisp.

The house and tiny homes already accommodate about half of the students enrolled in Western’s Sustainability Pathways program in the Methow. The land gifts will enable the program to address future housing needs without putting pressure on the region’s limited housing supply.

Sustainability Pathways brings WWU students to the Methow and Okanogan Valleys to work on sustainability projects and gain professional work experience with local community organizations, governments, schools and businesses, while studying community-based project management. The program is based in the College of the Environment and works closely with Western’s Sustainability Engagement Institute.

Since 2020, more than 100 WWU students have spent the summer in the Methow learning and living in cohorts and going to work in paid practicum positions throughout the Methow and Okanogan valleys.

In 2025, for example, students completed bumblebee surveys with the U.S. Forest Service, reported for the Methow Valley News and helped with the Okanogan County Community Action Council’s nutrition program. More WWU students got hands-on experience in local farms, schools, city planning offices, arts organizations and more.

Whittaker’s passion for community, reciprocity and sustainability dovetails with the WWU program’s mission. His partnership with Western began in early 2020 when Danica Ready of the Methow Housing Trust introduced him to Joshua Porter, a long-time Methow Valley resident and the director of Sustainability Pathways. Whittaker and Porter clicked, finding common ground in their ideas about housing and land stewardship. During their very first meeting, they visited the Methow River property and started envisioning student housing there.

In the years since, their collaboration has grown through lengthy discussions, experimentation through student course projects and lots of iteration. As Whittaker interacted with students each summer, his support of the program grew as he watched students connect with the land and community.

Whittaker envisions the Methow River properties as an educational haven for students, which he calls River to Raven. The properties, divided by Highway 20, span a range of ecosystems for students to interact with: river, riparian, meadow, wetland and forest on the river side and agricultural, wetland and mountain on the other, all connected by an established trail system.

This past summer, as part of their Sustainability Pathways planning studio course, a group of students worked on a conceptual site analysis of the river parcel where WWU hopes to build student housing and a small field station. The students surveyed alumni and current students to determine needs and wants, walked and camped out on the property to get a feel for it, and even staked out locations for the main house, caretaker house, a shop, parking and additional trails. This work builds on planning studio projects from 2020 and 2021, where students looked at housing and a mobile field station.

The site is meant for students, so its design will be informed by students. This kind of collaborative, experiential learning is core to the Sustainability Pathways program, and it’s something that Whittaker values too.

“It’s really cool to have the Western students here,” Whittaker says. “I always mention my concept of ‘Project 2050’ — what is this community going to look like in 2050? That’s your lifetime, not mine. You tell me what to do.”

The land donation also includes 160 acres of diverse riparian habitat in Loup Loup Canyon, closer to the Okanogan Valley, that will continue to be a cultural and ecological field site for students to study and practice restoration through hands-on land stewardship for fish and wildlife habitat, forestry and more. A partnership for collaborative stewardship is being developed with the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation.

Whittaker has owned and cared for this canyon property for more than 40 years, creating a trail system so he and others can watch the ecosystems evolve.

Loup Loup Canyon had not been logged since the 1960s, until it was thinned one year before the 2009 Oden Road fire burned thousands of acres. There are still signs of fire damage along the highway, but just a few minutes’ hike into the canyon, you can see the forest is teeming with life. Deeper into the canyon, it’s lush with plants, trees and flowers nourished by springs.

After the 2009 fire, Whittaker recalls visiting the property and seeing the landscape blanketed with a halfinch of ash. Even then, peering into the pools in Loup Loup Creek, fish were swimming.

The property provides a unique educational opportunity to witness a forest’s recovery after a large fire.

Sustainability Pathways partners with several local conservation and wildlife organizations, which gives students access to expertise and experience to help them learn about being stewards of this land.

Students set up wildlife cameras in the canyon. Porter says they also participated in DNA sampling of Loup Loup and Little Loup Creeks this summer, which will identify what kinds of fish and mammals are using the waters.

“With this property, students will get to do more than just a field trip; they’ll be part of the science and practice of caring for the land,” Porter says.

That’s precisely what Whittaker is looking for.

“One of my charges (for WWU) is I want someone to be the steward of this land for the next 40 years,” says Whittaker.

What’s next for Whittaker? He’s still got plenty of ideas.

“Even after I transfer this property over, I’m still going to offer opinions,” he says with a smile.

Whittaker’s gifts will enable WWU to continue to deepen roots in this rural community and allow Western of the Methow’s Sustainability Pathways program to expand offerings, giving more students more opportunities to have the life-changing experience of living in and learning about the Methow and Okanogan Valleys.