Monthly News Archive:
December 2006
Table of Contents:
- Dam is gone, salmon are back
- Coal fueling energy debate
- Farmers and Conservationists Form a Rare Alliance
- State upgrades water-quality rules in bid to help fish, wildlife, people
- Saving farms may aid cities
Dam is gone, salmon are back
SHELTON, Mason County — For more than a century, salmon followed Goldsborough Creek as it passed through the grounds of a sawmill, into the middle of Shelton and toward the woods beyond — before bumping smack into a 30-foot-high wall called the Goldsborough Dam.
And for decades, the salmon runs limped along, blocked from prime spawning grounds by the manmade barrier of wood and concrete.
Then, five years ago, with the rumble of bulldozers and backhoes, the dam was taken down. Today the descendants of those earlier salmon now splash through a series ...Read the full story
December 28, 2006
Add Comments...Coal fueling energy debate
On the outskirts of Centralia, the state's only coal-fired power plant stands like a factory from another world, shining bright around the clock, steam and smoke pouring forth as it generates enough electricity to light all of Seattle.
But that power comes at a price — pollution.
Until new equipment went in about five years ago, the plant was blamed for much of the haze that obscured views of Mount Rainier. Today, the 470-foot-tall smokestack remains the state's largest single source of poisonous mercury.
But efforts to crack down on that mercury pollution may ensure...Read the full story
Farmers and Conservationists Form a Rare Alliance
MOUNT VERNON, Wash. — The standoff here between farmers and environmentalists was familiar in the modern West.
With salmon and wildlife dwindling in the Skagit River Delta, some environmentalists had argued since the 1980s that local farms should be turned back into wetlands. Farmers here feared that preachy outsiders would strip them of their land and heritage.
This year, though, the standoff ended — at least for three longtime farmers in this fertile valley, who began collaborating with their former enemies to preserve wildlife and their livelihoo...Read the full story
State upgrades water-quality rules in bid to help fish, wildlife, people
OLYMPIA -- The state is upgrading water-quality standards concerning pollution, temperature and dissolved oxygen levels in a bid to make dozens of watersheds healthier for fish, wildlife and people, the Department of Ecology announced Wednesday.
The new standards, which take effect later this month, aim to maintain the health of lakes, rivers and marine waters.
They require colder water and in some cases more dissolved oxygen to assure healthy summertime spawning and rearing habitat for the region's salmon runs, many of which have been listed for pr...Read the full story
Saving farms may aid cities
Under a county plan, cities would reward developers for buying building rights from farmers.
EVERETT - A program to preserve rural Snohomish County farmland might lead to taller buildings and more retail shops per block in Everett and other cities.
County and city of Everett officials are working to design a kind of commodities market to let developers buy up and use building rights from farmers.
If the program works, cities would reward developers with taller buildings or bigger shops and offices if they first buy building ...Read the full story
