Who We Are
Salish Current is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, online local news organization based in Bellingham, serving the 400,000 residents of Whatcom, San Juan and Skagit counties. The region is the ancestral home of Coast Salish peoples.
Mission
Salish Current works for the public good. When our community stays informed and connected, everyone benefits.
We report local news with strict journalistic integrity, providing the information you need to make informed decisions about your community. We provide a forum for civil commentary, and work together to address the issues we face in our environment, culture and social justice.
We report news for people, not for profit.
Vision
Salish Current does more than just relay the facts. We explore local issues, explain why they matter and highlight possible solutions. Our work reflects the diversity of voices in our community and provides the context people need to make sense of the world we live in.
Ethics
We are guided by and adhere to the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics:
- We seek truth and report it accurately and fairly.
- We treat sources, subjects, colleagues and members of the public with respect.
- We act independently, to avoid actual or perceived conflicts of interest.
- We are transparent and accountable to the public.
- If we make errors, we quickly correct them. And we welcome commentary from the community to reflect diverse points of view.
Coverage areas include:
- Nature, the environment and climate change
- Justice and fairness for all, especially the most vulnerable members of society
- Government accountability
- Public safety
- Public education
- Social and environmental impact of industrial/commercial development
- Sustainable agriculture
- Arts and culture
Our website is accessible to all readers and our lists of donors, board members and staff are open to the public.
Artificial Intelligence
Salish Current has established its AI Principles of Use to promote trustworthiness and transparency.
Privacy
Salish Current collects only the information needed to operate the site and communicate with readers. Details about data collection, use, and reader rights are outlined in our Privacy Policy.
Equity and Inclusion
This news organization aims to reflect the diversity of the communities it serves in its staff and contributors, its editorial choices and priorities.
Funding
Support for Salish Current comes from foundations and individual donors, community events, sponsorships and subscribers. Our news reporting is separate from our revenue sources. We do not endorse the values, products or services of any donor.
We are committed to transparency in every aspect of funding our organization.
Our news judgments are made independently — not based on or influenced by donors or any revenue source. We do not give supporters the rights to assign, review or edit content.
We make public all revenue sources and donors who give $5,000 or more per year. As a news nonprofit, we avoid accepting charitable donations from anonymous sources, government entities, political parties, elected officials or candidates seeking public office. We will not accept donations from sources who, deemed by our board of directors, present a conflict of interest with our work or compromise our independence.
The Team
Board of Directors
Megan A. Barnes lives in Bellingham and is thriving in Coast Salish territory. She enjoys family time with her children, grandchildren and husband. She was born in the Philippines, then brought to the U.S. and raised on Camano Island. Megan has been a real estate agent for over 20 years and has been with Windermere Real Estate Whatcom Inc. for 10 years. She’s a social activist and has volunteered with Kicks for Kids for the Boys and Girls Club, Northwest Youth Services and the YWCA. Megan is very grateful to live in such a beautiful area and loves outdoor activities. You might spot her gardening, running, hiking, skiing or out sailing with her family and friends.
Bill Craven retired in 2019 to Bellingham with his wife, Terri, and Riley, their labradoodle, to be with family after 20 years as the chief of the California Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee. Previously, Craven spent three years as the state director of Sierra Club California, leading that group’s political involvement, lobbying and fundraising. Craven moved to California from Lawrence, Kansas, where he was a lawyer and lobbyist for the Sierra Club and the Kansas Natural Resources Council. He has reported for the Topeka Metro News, National Law Journal and other news outlets. An Illinois native, he graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University and Washburn University School of Law. In Bellingham, he has been active with Save the Waterfront, the organization that marshaled opposition to a proposed industrial metal shredder and pollution from metal piles on the waterfront.
Jim Davenport, a lawyer in his 47th year of practice, is a fourth-generation Washingtonian, his great-grandparents having homesteaded on the Samish River in 1912. After attaining degrees from the University of Puget Sound, University of Washington and Willamette University College of Law, his legal work has primarily involved land and water, from both private and public agency perspectives. He is the author of “Western Water Rights and the U.S. Supreme Court” (2020) and several articles about the constitutionality of western water law. He is a past assistant attorney general in Washington and in Nevada, and has been a city planning commissioner, county civil service commissioner, state historical association president, library board member and counsel to state and county agencies. Jim and wife, Pam, live in Yakima and Whatcom counties.
Marketing and public relations professional Lauren Foster directed and designed communications campaigns for multiple agency clients from athletes to restaurant groups to nonprofits and more in Los Angeles, New York and Seattle, before launching her own firm, Word PR. She attended The Art Institute of Seattle and holds a bachelor’s degree in geography with a focus on urban marketing and development from the University of Washington, and has done charitable and volunteer work with the YWCA of Bellingham, National MS Society, Washington Wine Commission and several other organizations. A native of Bellingham who attended Bellingham High School, Lauren recently returned to make her home once again in the City of Subdued Excitement.
Jayne Freudenberger moved with her family to Bellingham in 1969, looking for a forever home. Swept into an activist community, she became involved in political and community campaigns, and co-owned a gift and candy store. As Bellingham Public Library board president, she helped drive its first building remodel. She was the YWCA board’s citizen representative in building Dorothy Place, and served on the Bellingham City Club board and chaired its program committee. Jayne served as president of the League of Women Voters of Bellingham-Whatcom County and on the state board. She led local LWV advocacy against the GPT coal terminal proposal, and as climate issues co-chair has adopted eliminating single-use plastic as her bête noir. Post-retirement, she and her husband, Bill, traveled widely, in China, Tibet, Europe, India, Patagonia, the Galapagos and Myanmar.
Susan Given-Seymour grew up in Chicago where she went from being a Catholic school “Goldwater Girl” to student activist protesting the Vietnam war and demonstrating for civil and women’s rights, and member of the Rainbow Coalition. She moved to Whatcom County in 1978 where her daughter was born and where she met her partner/husband/friend David Given-Seymour. After working for various nonprofits she earned an M.Ed. at Western Washington University in student personnel administration. In 1989 she got a job at what was just changing from Lummi College to Northwest Indian College, and worked for 24 years with all the tribes in Washington, Oregon and Idaho, and others around the country. Now retired, she lives in a multigenerational home, is a Chuckanut Health Foundation community advisor, Multifaith Indigenous Allies member and Academy for Lifelong Learning committee member, and loves to use her years of relationships in Whatcom County to connect people working for the betterment of the community.
Mike Morrow served with the U.S. Department of State for 35 years. During his diplomatic career he worked with foreign leaders and civil society groups to strengthen governance, check democratic back-sliding, and empower civil society in post-Soviet Russia, Central Europe’s emerging democracies, Somalia, South Sudan, and post-Saddam Iraq. He retired in 2021 following three years as Senior Diplomatic Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Mike is now dedicated to strengthening America’s democracy by applying his experience in building healthy democracies around the world. From 2021–24 he served on the Board of Advisors of the Center for Free, Fair and Accountable Democracy. Mike holds an M.A. from Columbia University and a B.A. from Miami University (Ohio). He and his wife, Shannon, live in Bellingham, where Mike volunteers with the Whatcom Land Trust, Pacific Northwest Trail Association, and Bellingham Whatcom County Tourism bureau.
David Williams is a true Bellingham original, educated at Geneva, Columbia, Shuksan, Bellingham High and Bellingham Tech; proudly born and raised in the community he still calls home. He launched his career as an engineer at Tesla Motors in Silicon Valley, worked as a licensed electrician, and set up instrumentation in Colorado oil fields before returning to the PNW for good. Today, David is a program manager for a commercial vehicle manufacturer and owner‑operator of Northwest Drone Pros, a flying camera company. He has served on the board of a local credit union, is a Wish Granter with Make‑A‑Wish, supports STEM outreach and UNCF events, and coaches football and basketball. When not working or volunteering, David travels the world with his wife or enjoys life closer to home in Ferndale, grillin’, chillin’, and making memories with their three children.
Community Advisors
- Minda Rae Amiran
- Debbi Anderson-Frey
- Bryony Angell
- Tony Angell
- Jill Bernstein
- Henry Bierlink
- Janet Brownell
- Ken Brusic
- Joan Connell
- Cheryl Crooks
- William Dietrich
- Britta Eschete
- Jessica Gigot
- Betsy Gross
- Ted Huffman
- Kamalla Kaur
- M.L. Lyke
- Barbara Marrett
- Lane Morgan
- Ron Polinder
- Frances Posel
- Dan Raas
- Chuck Robinson
- Barbara Ryan
- Kathy Sheehan
- Alie Walker
- Janice Walker
- Peggy Watt
- Ted Wolf
Editorial Staff
Salish Current News Editor Sam Fletcher’s work can also be found in Earth Island Journal, Atlas Obscura, The Seattle Times and elsewhere. A journalism graduate of Western Washington University, he has reported for the Columbia Basin Herald and the Whidbey News-Times. Sam has been a fiction editor, a dive guide and a naturalist on a whale-watching boat. He enjoys writing about nature and its creatures and is often in the woods or on the beach with his boxer-shepherd, Nala.
Amy Nelson is a founder and volunteers as the publisher of Salish Current. An advocate for fact-based, public-service local news and for media literacy, she is a journalism alumna of Western Washington University. She has been an editor, reporter and photographer for community newspapers in the Pacific Northwest; freelanced for print, broadcast and online news publications; led communications for medical and scientific not-for-profit organizations; and managed scholarly publishing for an international scientific society. She splits her time between Bellingham and Lopez Island, gobsmacked by that good fortune.
Bob Payne is a copy editor, internet producer and writer with a long career in Pacific Northwest media. He’s worked for Oregon Public Broadcasting, The Seattle Times and The Herald in Everett. He grew up in Alaska though, where he spent his summers catching salmon and trying not to get eaten by grizzly bears. He currently lives in Seattle.
Mike Sato is a founder and volunteers as the executive editor of Salish Current. A graduate of Reed College, he was the editor of The Island Record (San Juan County) and editor and publisher of the Seattle Sun, and served in communications positions for Seattle City Light, the Puget Sound Water Quality Authority, Hawaiian Electric Company and People For Puget Sound. He compiles environmental news items for the weekday Salish Sea News and Weather and periodically blogs for Salish Sea Communications. The author of “The Price of Taming a River: The Decline of Puget Sound’s Duwamish/Green Waterway,” he resides in Bellingham and on Lopez Island.
Contributing Journalists
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- Tom Banse
- Margaret Baumgartner
- Matt Benoit
- Margaret Bikman
- Sophie Cadran
- Christy Carley
- Sydnee Chapman
- Nancy DeVaux
- Rena Kingery
- Nancy Larsen
- Luisa Loi
- Mickey Mann
- Lane Morgan
- Jacob O’Donnell
- Kie Relyea
- Catherine Skrzypinski
- Adam M. Sowards
- John Stark
- Richard Arlin Walker
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Resources
Whatcom County Library System Reference Desk, Fact Checking Support