Washington Wild has given No Boat Brewing Company in Snoqualmie an award honoring its efforts for and commitment to healthy watersheds.

Washington Wild is an organization that advocates for protected wilderness in Washington state. Its Washington Brewshed Alliance includes nearly 90 members of the brewing community across the state, including No Boat Brewing in Snoqualmie Ridge, which opened in 2016.

“No Boat Brewing’s leadership and dedication to both craft and conservation exemplify what the Brewshed Alliance is all about,” said Chris Chappell, Washington Wild’s Brewshed Alliance director, in a press release. “They are a true partner in showing how protecting our wild waters benefits both communities and local businesses.”

Alliance members help with Washington Wild’s conservation efforts by raising funds through collaboration beers, raising awareness within the community and adding their perspective to Washington Wild’s advocacy work, according to the website.

As beer is at least 90% water, clean water is crucial to good beer, said No Boat founder and head brewer David Skiba.

“Washington Wild’s mission to protect headwaters and protect wild places directly contributes to the quality of our product,” he said.

The conservation side of things is equally important to Skiba, whose undergraduate degree is in environmental science. He said No Boat also tries to honor its location, nestled in the Mountains to Sound Greenway near the Cascades.

“We’re kind of the last stop for a lot of people in King County before they go on their hikes and they go enjoy the pass,” he said. “We definitely see ourselves as kind of the gateway into that really wild green space in the mountains. So we take it very seriously.”

Aside from participating in conservation legislation, Skiba said No Boat contributes to the effort by recycling as much of its processed water as it can.

“In beer, there’s a lot of water that you use for cleaning and side processing, and there’s stuff we can do to recover some of that water and use it again,” he said. “And we do as much of that as we can … for our size and scale. We’re just really committed to trying to put as little water down the drain as possible that doesn’t need to go.”

No Boat has been a part of the Washington Brewshed Alliance for several years. In 2014, the two collaborated on a special brew to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Additions. This 22,000-acre addition to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, signed into law in 2014, is something the alliance advocated for for many years.

Last year, No Boat started the Lagerhead Festival, an annual festival at the brewery to raise money for the Washington Wild. The second annual festival in July had more than 50 breweries and wineries from across the country. Attendance almost doubled from year one, and the event raised 20-30% more money, Skiba said.

The festival is one of Washington Wild’s biggest fundraisers of the year, Skiba said, second only to its own gala.

“The Lagerhead Festival has just really been this cool, organic thing that now has a lot of national attention,” he said. “We want to just keep growing it and keep helping it help them.”