- This Business Supports
Whatcom Watch
Article Categories
- Cover Story
- Beaks and Bills
- Dear Watchers
- Being Frank
- Watching Government
- Agriculture
- Ballot Measure
- Bay Cleanup
- Bellingham City Council
- Bellingham Parks
- Beyond Fossil Fuels
- Bird Watching
- Book Review
- Campaign 2016
- Candidates
- Climate
- Commentary
- Community Service Providers
- Community Service Spotlight
- Conservation
- Conservation District Election
- County Charter Review
- County Elections
- Dear Sasquatch
- Development
- Earth
- Editorial
- Education
- Election 2017
- Election 2024
- Election Results
- Energy
- Fossil Fuels
- Full Bloom Farm
- Gardening
- Global Warming
- Guest Author
- Health/Digital
- Healthcare
- Housing
- Human Rights Film Festival
- I-1631
- Incarceration
- Internet
- Journalism
- Kushan Carbon Trust
- Lake Whatcom
- Letter to the Editor
- Life Before Flowers
- Looking Back
- Lummi
- March Election
- Marine Life
- media and publications
- Natural Biology
- Natural History
- Northwest Gardening
- Obituary
- Opinion
- pipelines
- poetrywatch
- Pollution
- Port of Bellingham
- Puget Sound
- Recreation
- Recycling
- Red Wheelbarrow Writers
- Salish Sea
- Salmon
- Salmon Streams and Tributaries
- Solar Power
- Stormwater
- Talk to Us
- Transportation
- Trees and Forestry
- Twenty Years Ago
- Unsung Heroes
- Watch Out!!
- Water
- Whatcom: Chronic & Acute
- Whatcom County Council
- Wildfire
- Wildlife
Previous Issues
Cover Story
May 2025
Slow and Steady: Lake Whatcom Water Quality Update
by April Markiewicz When looking at the current water quality data for Lake Whatcom, our community’s primary drinking water source, it is starting to feel like nothing is changing. Those parameters that indicated stabilization or improvements (e.g., golden algal counts … Continue reading
Comments Off on Slow and Steady: Lake Whatcom Water Quality Update
April 2025
Train Noise: Fairhaven Quiet Zone
What Took So Long? by Preston L. Schiller The good news is that a train quiet zone for the south side of Bellingham, known as the “Fairhaven Quiet Zone” came into effect on March 10, 2025. (See the City of … Continue reading
Comments Off on Train Noise: Fairhaven Quiet Zone
March 2025
How Water Use Affects Nooksack Streamflows
by Eric Hirst Editor’s Note: a longer, more detailed version of this article is available at: https://whatcomwatch.org/wpww2/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Effects-of-Human-Water-Use-on-Nooksack-Streamflows.pdf Climate change is dramatically affecting seasonal flows of water throughout the Nooksack River watershed, with substantial declines in summer flows. These declines are … Continue reading
Comments Off on How Water Use Affects Nooksack Streamflows
March 2025
Has Value Village Fooled Us?
Community Donations Mean High Profit Margins for Thrift Giant by Ella Gage *Editor’s note: Savers Value Village did not respond to questions via a media inquiry email (they don’t have a corporate phone number, only for the individual stores). Bellingham’s … Continue reading
Comments Off on Has Value Village Fooled Us?
February 2025
Expanding Shelters in Whatcom County
by Meghan Fenwick In a Whatcom County Council meeting on September 24, Human Services Manager Ann Beck updated the council on their progress in establishing a severe weather shelter between November 2024 and February 2025. Below freezing temperatures can pose … Continue reading
Comments Off on Expanding Shelters in Whatcom County
January 2025
Whatcom Land Trust and Community Partners Protect Land
by Lorraine Wilde While celebrating its 40th Anniversary conserving land in Whatcom County, Whatcom Land Trust (the Trust) partnered this past October with Whatcom Transportation Authority (WTA) and Whatcom Million Trees Project to protect 51 additional acres at Kelsey Nature … Continue reading
Comments Off on Whatcom Land Trust and Community Partners Protect Land
December 2024
Whatcom County’s Behind-the-Scenes Reform
A More Equitable Justice System Part 1 by Ella Gage The Task Force’s Mission At a federal level, Trump’s re-election threatens to advance brutal policing tactics and mass incarceration, pushing back nationwide movement toward justice reform. (1) However, state and … Continue reading
Comments Off on Whatcom County’s Behind-the-Scenes Reform
October-November 2024
Reducing and Reusing as Bellingham Recycling Shifts
by Meghan Fenwick After years of discussion and study, Sanitary Service Company (SSC) will be transitioning from three-bin collection to single-stream recycling in all single-family homes in Bellingham by the end of this year. Through the new system, residents will … Continue reading
Comments Off on Reducing and Reusing as Bellingham Recycling Shifts
September 2024
Swift Creek’s History and Future
A Colossal Challenge in Toxics Mitigation by Ella Gage Part 1: The Nature of the Issue Every year, 48,000 cubic yards of naturally occurring asbestos and heavy metals-contaminated sediment from Swift Creek’s headwaters at Sumas Mountain is deposited in and … Continue reading
Comments Off on Swift Creek’s History and Future
August 2024
Bird Populations Are in Decline — What Does This Mean for Whatcom County?
by Ella Gage Birds are an indicator species. Their population health is denotative of the health and trajectory of our ecosystem as a whole. The ground-breaking 2019 Science magazine report “Decline of the North American Avifauna” was derived from half … Continue reading
Comments Off on Bird Populations Are in Decline — What Does This Mean for Whatcom County?
