Whatcom Water Works
To the Editor:
Thank you for Liam Walsh’s informative survey article in August, “Nooksack River Adjudication Story.” As indicated in the article, the important work for us now is to address the many water supply issues that adjudication will not address. And, there is a lot more to that story, beyond the article’s scope; here’s a further sampling.
I am a member of Water for Whatcom (https://waterforwhatcom. org/about), a small but active group of citizens and community leaders, from all across the county, who came together more than a year ago for one purpose: to advocate for a broadly collaborative approach to our county’s water supply issues. With the involvement of many others, we are heartened to observe how much that possibility has progressed in the last couple of years, especially with recent events.
Three of our founding members are prominent farmer leaders in the county. One, Brad Rader, was one of the key founders of the Water Wars (how to avoid) project with Jay Julius (Lummi) and Aaron Straight, quoted in the story. Another member is Rich Appel, also quoted, who serves on Aaron’s leadership council with Brad and Jay. Along with scores of other citizens, more than half of our Water for Whatcom members have participated in one of that project’s Common Waters events (https://waterwars.info/events), and we have benefited from a mutually supportive relationship between our groups.
Another productive forum has been the county’s Floodplain Integrated Planning (FLIP) group, hard at the task of planning mitigative projects in response to flooding like that experienced this past winter. Our group has members involved in that work also, along with tribal members and other local leaders.
Most encouraging lately: Governor Ferguson’s initiative, Washington’s Water Future, visited our county August 17 to host a half-day “roundtable” forum led by Department of Ecology Director Casey Sixkiller. More than 25 invited participants included county and state officials, tribal leaders and community members. Altogether, this represented the broad span of people involved in productive “water work” in the county, including seven members of Water for Whatcom. Buttressed by our work with friends like Water Wars (how to avoid), we believe we’re seeing promising steps that build on our collaborative momentum.
If all of this whets your appetite for more, please check out the various sources here and in the earlier article, and get involved. There’s room for more citizens at the table.
Hank Kastner
Bellingham
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Reader Objects to Political Ad
Editor’s Note: Whatcom Watch does not endorse candidates and believes our readers will make up their own minds.
I would guess I am not the only reader discomfited by Misty Flowers’ campaign ads in the Whatcom Watch. What the ad fails to mention is that Misty Flowers is Chair of the Whatcom County Republican Party.
Yes, I understand that in general you do want to be “fair” and not discriminate or vet advertisers, although presumably you would draw the line somewhere — e.g., the Proud Boys, the American Nazi Party, etc. But the Republican Party, which is the party of Trump, actively works to dismantle environmental protections, our national parks, wilderness areas, etc., in addition to working to sabotage elections, free speech, and the rule of law.
In a recent local election here, one candidate won by just four votes. Imagine a scenario in November where Misty Flowers wins her council seat by a similar margin.
Any reasonable person might conclude that her ads in Whatcom Watch helped put her over the top, even if they only affected a few people who simply remembered “I saw her ad in Whatcom Watch, so she must be OK.”
Tim Baker
Bellingham
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Whatcom Watch Thanks Volunteers
We at Whatcom Watch would like to thank the four people who responded to our request for volunteers! Carolyn Dale, Lisa Friend, Jaco ten Hove, and Timothy Rice. We’ve already put some of them to work (thanks to Carolyn Dale for her proofreading expertise!). Lisa Friend will start her volunteer work after October, Jaco ten Hove will write an article for our November issue, and Timothy Rice will assist Bill with InDesign. We can’t believe our lucky stars that so many very experienced people responded and will add much depth to our staff.
