Dovetail Partners

About Dovetail Partners

Dovetail seeks to engage you in thoughtful, collaborative processes so that we can create an inspiring path forward and empower you to lead with confidence.

Dovetail seeks to accomplish that by providing authoritative information about the impacts and trade-offs of environmental management, including consumption choices, land use decisions, and policy alternatives.

Dovetail is a highly skilled team that fosters sustainability and responsible behaviors through collaboration to develop unique concepts, systems, models, and programs. Dovetail excels at solving complex problems and helping responsible organizations succeed. We also help define programs that increase the job creation and the job quality of resource-based industries. Dovetail Partners is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation.

Who Are We?

Our Promise

We promise to be an honest, professional partner serving your goals and needs, without judgment or agenda.
We promise to listen closely to you to help you find an inspiring and successful path forward.
We promise to empower you to confidently take that path with our expertise, connections, strategic processes, and innovative problem-solving capacities.
We build trust through reliability, collaborative relationships, and excellent work.

Our Belief

We believe organizations (and individuals) owning their codependence on the environment is essential for our collective well being.

Our Mission

Our mission is to provide authoritative information about the impacts and trade-offs of environmental decisions, including consumption choices, land use, and policy alternatives.

Our Defining Values

We listen closely for “can’t” moments to unpack limiting assumptions and constructs.
We embrace complexity and see it as an intricate opportunity instead of a maze.
We use science and data to bridge perception and reality, allowing controversy and debate to give way to innovative solutions.
We build trust through reliability, collaborative relationships, and excellent work.

F.A.Q.

Does Dovetail provide consulting services?

Yes, we are a non-profit and seek projects that will serve our non-profit mission and provide public benefit. We collaborate with other service providers to build effective project teams. We are often brought into projects where there is a need for additional expertise or where our diverse team offers a unique approach in tackling a problem.

Do you only work with forestry?

No! Although forestry has been at the heart of our work since its inception. We really like forests and all of the amazing products and benefits that come from them, but we’re also very interested in other landuse types, including agriculture!

Where do you work?

Dovetail has worked and had influence through their projects in nearly 30 states and have collaborated on many international projects as well.

Are the Dovetail team members environmentalists?

If by environmentalists, you mean a group of people that is deeply passionate about doing what’s best for our natural world, than yes. However, we may not fit that stereotypical mold you have envisioned. At the core of Dovetail’s philosophy is science. We work tirelessly to assemble the most sound data to inform responsible decision-making.

What's the history of Dovetail Partners?

Dovetail Partners was founded in 2003 as an environmental think-tank and led by Dr. Jeffrey Howe through 2018. Kathryn Fernholz, then Executive Director, was named the President and CEO in 2019 and continues to carry on Dovetail's legacy as a trusted source for environmental information. Although Dovetail's work has always been closely linked with the forestry sector, we continue to diversify the portfolio on a broad range of issues.

core People