Skagit County

Predicted sea-level rising along with extremely high tides and storm surges pose increasing risk to coastal waterfront homes. How much are those trends affecting property values?

Commentary: Proper disposal of food waste is something every household can do to limit climate change, advise teens engaged in climate action.

A cultural shift is underway from traditional burials and cremations to terramation, a composting process, and aquamation, a water-based process.

Whatcom and Skagit farm centers equip and empower a new generation of farmers. As their predecessors age, farmland prices increase while affordability of land decreases.

Whatcom County voters will decide in November whether they will fund change for an overburdened child care system: Part 2.

Demand far outstrips the supply of available and affordable child care locally. The problem is multifaceted, as solutions also will need to be: Part 1.

With bans on abortion rolling out in many states after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, it can be difficult to know what to do and what to expect when seeking reproductive health care.

China’s 2018 steps back in accepting the world’s throw-aways have resulted in better local systems for managing our millions of tons of waste and recyclables—but more needs to be done.

Washington residents won’t be required to wear masks inside many public areas starting March 12. But experts advise not to throw out those masks yet and caution that vulnerable groups are still at high risk of infection from COVID-19.

2021 was a year like no other, with themes such as public health vis-à-vis COVID-19 and opioid addiction; social justice in the courts, the arts, housing and policing; and climate change and natural resources including water rights management. Salish Current offers a look back via articles published during the nonprofit newsroom’s first full year.

Flooding in Whatcom and Skagit counties in November put major stress on local dairies, including lost animals and lost revenues for some. Now there’s another hurdle: With storage lagoons overtopping, where can they store all that manure? Farmers and county and state agencies are stepping up to the challenge, to prevent pollution downstream and restore infrastructure.

Mostly rural Skagit County — with a population density about half of Whatcom County to the north and one-sixth of Snohomish County to the south — has a big-county problem: housing. Planners are looking at solutions including a comp plan amendment to allow “fully contained communities,” or FCCs, to create urban villages in currently rural zones.

A complex housing and food resources proposal for the Bellingham waterfront aims to employ a fusion of community and economic development in “a once in a lifetime opportunity” to meet local food supply needs — with the help of local farmers and suppliers.

As the Delta variant of COVID-19 ravages the unvaccinated population, killing some and filling hospitals, public, private, and government entities have renewed masking mandates, and more are enacting vaccination mandates and requiring proof of testing to stamp out the virus from places of both work and play.