PROTECT • PROMOTE • PRESERVE

kalamatim
Oct 25, 2025
2 min read

Updated: Oct 26, 2025

Welch Cabin is a 501(c)3 Nonprofit Where Your Stay May be a Tax Deductible Charitable Donation.

Make It Foundation accepted the gift of Welch Cabin in 2019. The 19 acres include old-growth forest, private Kalama River access, and a restored mountain cabin under a full conservation easement with the Columbia Land Trust that limits future development. Our mantra is Protect, Promote, Preserve.

Originally a family retreat, the land and cabin were developed as a family effort, hand-built and managed by us. In 2019 we gifted Welch Cabin to a charitable foundation. It has since become an income-producing short-term rental, with a portion of proceeds generally funding direct out of pocket operating costs, and the balance intended for local charitable conservation causes. As part of this transition, we’ve discerned how the property can better serve as a platform for meaningful community engagement. The foundation recently shifted its mission to focus more deeply on local environmental stewardship and education: to work in hand-in-hand with the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, the Columbia Land Trust and Mt. St. Helens Institute. You can learn more about each organization at the links below.

https://www.mshinstitute.org

https://www.columbialandtrust.org/https://www.columbialandtrust.org/

https://www.columbialandtrust.org

https://www.cowlitz.org/home

Mt St Helens — *Welch Cabin is a 501(c)3 Nonprofit Where Your Stay may be a Tax Deductible Charitable Donation.*

MORE AROUND OUR 501(c)3 STATUS

We see potential for close collaboration with the Cowlitz nation, whether through cultural or environmental programming, access for members, educational storytelling, or at some point in the future, as a property that could return to Tribal stewardship. We are approaching this as a sincere effort to do right by the land and to support the long-standing leadership of the Cowlitz Nation along with the Mt. St Helens Institute and Columbia Land Trust as partners in this effort.