Finding happily ever after in Skagit’s ag zone

August 11, 2023
Adam M. Sowards

A proposal that would constrain Skagit farms in operating as event venues has prompted discussion on the future of the area’s sense of place.

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Wireworms pester new farmers, puzzle the seasoned

June 16, 2023
Kai Uyehara

Growers who are farming organically on converted pastureland tend to face what amounts to an entry fee in the form of a hard-to-manage pest that bore into the below-ground portions of potatoes, lettuce, tomatoes, corn and other crops, killing or stunting the plant.

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Back to the land in the islands — Part 2: Women who farm

March 31, 2023
Kathryn Wheeler

Island farming is an experiment in sustaining a lifestyle — but much more, as young farmers look for ways to support and feed the community.

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Back to the land in the islands — Part 1: Locally growing

March 24, 2023
Kathryn Wheeler

Can there be more than tourism in the San Juan Islands?

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By the numbers: wealth gap grows in the San Juan Islands

December 16, 2022
Kathryn Wheeler

A shortage of affordable housing, increasing affluence and tourism, and loss of island culture top lists of negative trends reported in the San Juan Islands.

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Farmer-artist counters food, fuel uncertainty — through permaculture

March 23, 2022
Chris O'Neill

The past two years since the outbreak of COVID-19 have been turbulent and uncertain times for many. As fuel and food prices rise, the drive to become more self-reliant is also on the increase. A Whatcom farmer and glass artist suggests the path to that is permaculture.

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Food security requires connection to land, to each other

March 10, 2022
Sarah Reeves

Feeding communities is particularly challenging now, in the face of systemic upheaval, climate change and uncertainty. San Juan islanders making key connections to build resilience for future food security met recently in an ag summit.

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Streamside shade: fish and farm advocates struggle to find common ground

February 24, 2022
Lauren Gallup

Salmon recovery is a priority for many in Washington who see vegetated streamside buffers as important to salmon-friendly habitat. But some in the state’s agricultural community see the threat of loss of productive farmland from proposals such as the Lorraine Loomis Act discussed earlier in this year’s legislative session.

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Floods, fish and farming intersect in Nooksack Basin’s complex challenge

February 17, 2022
Clifford Heberden

As Whatcom County works to prepare for the next major flooding events and to foster community resilience, a discussion on long-term solutions and ways to promote salmon population and environmental preservation along the Nooksack River is taking shape.

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Community Voices / Nooksack flood, water solutions to protect families, fish and farms will require collaboration

January 5, 2022
Rich Appel

Whatcom farmers are calling for communitywide collaboration in pursuing solutions to flooding and water supply issues in the Nooksack River Basin.

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photo: Amy Nelson © 2021

Clock starts on Nooksack basin water rights inventory; stakeholders yet to discuss solutions

July 9, 2021
Mike Sato, Managing Editor

Weeks of sparse rainfall and a historic heat wave marked the end of June — and the start of a process to establish water rights among various users in Whatcom County’s Nooksack River basin.

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photo: Alex Meacham © 2020

New report details action plan for fixing Padilla Bay fecal coliform sources, urges participation

November 20, 2020
Alex Meacham

The Padilla Bay Freshwater Tributary Fecal Coliform Total Maximal Daily Load (TMDL) Report is due to be submitted by Ecology to the Environmental Protection Agency at the end of 2020 and lists fecal coliform bacteria sources and strategies for cleanup.

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Community Voices / Nooksack water rights adjudication is an existential threat to farming’s future

November 13, 2020
Henry Bierlink

Whatcom County farmers say they view water rights adjudication as an existential threat to their future, in their long-term battle to maintain farming as part of the local economy and culture.

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photo: Ann Potter © 2020

Toxic tansy ragwort is having a boom year

September 14, 2020
Alex Meacham

Pernicious, invasive and even sometimes deadly for livestock, tansy ragwort has enjoyed a booming bloom this summer in Whatcom, Skagit and San Juan counties and across the rest of western Washington and Oregon.

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photo: Amy Nelson © 2020

Farming is more challenging than ever during the pandemic

August 7, 2020
Kimberly Cauvel

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, farms are facing more challenges than ever during the busy season, with their workers among the most vulnerable to the virus and produce reaching fewer buyers through usual markets, festivals and tourism outlets.

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