Staff Spotlight: Jordan Zettle
Jordan Zettle’s hot take: turkeys are underrated, and not just for eating. They’re clever, they’re adaptable, and just plain cool.
That’s just the “hunter’s perspective.” Jordan grew up in Bend and eastern Oregon, where he and his grandpa (a major wannabe cowboy, he says) used to hunt, fish, and explore.
“So that kind of ingrained this deep desire in me. And then, climate change and the changing of our environment and the need to be active and involved in that was always something that was on my mind.”
It was on his mind at the University of Portland, where he studied English and later took a job with admissions while he earned his MBA. Still, he wanted to get into conservation work, and in 2018, a position opened up at Sustainable Northwest on the Green Markets team.
It was a good fit on a couple levels. The position involved traveling, audits, meeting new people — things Jordan could speak to. But he was especially optimistic about rural engagement.
“One thing that I love, more than anything else probably, about Sustainable Northwest is that we care about rural communities,” he says. “We care about seeing them thrive. We care about implementing practices that are going to be economically viable and not just strictly environmentally beneficial.”
Nowadays, Jordan works on connecting projects to responsibly managed forests, looking at every stage of the supply chain, from rural mills to designers and manufacturers.
Making those connections means building relationships across the supply chain and being able to tell the stories behind wood products.
“There’s a lot of wood, or a lot of forests, that are managed really well. But when that wood goes into a commodity market, it’s lost. There’s no story. It’s just out there. And so we’ve created that story.”
Those relationships are among the most rewarding aspects of the job. Another would be the opportunity to work with colleagues whose work and character he respects.
“I'm always amazed by the work that our organization and the people here do… We do a really good job of hiring people that I think challenge us but are also like-minded and want to look and find solutions the same way that we do.”
Jordan still enjoys being outdoors, whether that’s skiing, rafting, backpacking, or hunting — sometimes with his 11 year-old lab. At the moment, wild turkey is his favorite bird to hunt. The English major is alive and well in him, too. On his book recommendation list: East of Eden, Deep River, and the Story of Edgar Sawtelle.
