Cover Story

  December 2022

South Fork Chinook Recovery Is in Peril

An Interview with Tom Chance, manager of the Lummi Nation Salmon Enhancement Program Updated November, 2022 by Claire Johnston In September, the Whatcom Land Trust received a call from the Lummi Nation’s Salmon Enhancement Program Manager, Tom Chance. He called … Continue reading

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  Oct/Nov 2022

Whatcom County Uses WasteWise Tool

by Tyler Brown Simply put, WasteWise (www.whatcomcounty.us/wastewise) is an interactive database tailored to Whatcom County that allows residents to quickly find out how and where to safely get rid of unwanted items. Some of them can go into the trash … Continue reading

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  Oct/Nov 2022

Post Point Project Abandoned

by Luisa Loi After five years of study, discussion and planning, the Bellingham City Council abandoned its Post Point project in light of new cost projections — more than $1.1 billion to fund the project over the span of 15 … Continue reading

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  September 2022

Court Decision May Alter DNR Practices

by Tyler Brown The Washington State Supreme Court unanimously voted at the end of July to reaffirm a lower court ruling backing the Department of Natural Resources’ right to regulate timber sales for the public good while providing lawmakers more … Continue reading

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  September 2022

Creating an Equitable Local Food System

by Luisa Loi  Many Whatcom residents — 30,000, according to the Whatcom County Health Department — don’t have access to healthy and affordable food, the local freshwater supply is limited, high demand is making farmland more expensive to buy, and … Continue reading

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  September 2022

Saving Bessie Timber

by Tyler Brown Less than a mile southeast of Lake Whatcom stands a 46-acre commercial timber parcel called Bessie Sorts. It contains a near old-growth forest resting on a large watershed with trees as wide as four feet, reaching up … Continue reading

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  August 2022

What’s With Our Train Horn Quiet Zones?

by Preston L. Schiller and Agnes Isabelle Sleep disrupted in the middle of the night by train horns? Annoying even in a Whatcom Community College dormitory a few miles away from the railroad tracks? Had to cover your ears at … Continue reading

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  August 2022

Bellingham Bans Single-Use Plastics

by Luisa Loi Next time you eat at a fast-food restaurant in Bellingham, your fork might be given another chance at life and end up in a dishwasher rather than in a landfill. Why? Because the City of Bellingham has … Continue reading

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  July 2022

Little Squalicum Beach Gets a Summer Makeover

by Tyler Brown Walking along the path near Little Squalicum Beach one Monday afternoon in late May, Cherish Flint and Jeremy Jones, 10-year residents of the Birchwood neighborhood, enjoy each other’s company as well as the natural setting. Flint and … Continue reading

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  July 2022

City Leaders and the Community Struggle With Sewage Waste

by Michael Lilliquist and Rick Eggerth The City of Bellingham is on the cusp of major decisions and an enormously expensive public works project that will have repercussions for decades to come. The sewage treatment plant at Post Point has … Continue reading

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