By Mike Petersen
March has arrived and as I write this, temperatures in Spokane are supposed to reach 60 this week! I, for one, can’t wait to see birds coming in from the south, willows that we planted last year budding out, and the pandemic easing day by day.
It was really good to get out last week with the WA Department of Natural Resources and do a biochar burn. Our biochar program continues to draw interest and the long-term goal of turning forest slash piles and residue into sequestered carbon continues to move forward.
The past administrations efforts to rush forest and energy projects through without adequate consideration of the environmental impacts has created some new challenges for working with agencies. The Lands Council joined in a lawsuit in northern Idaho to stop the Bog Creek project, which would sever the Selkirk grizzle bear population from Canada. A road that had long been closed (and overgrown) because it is in prime grizzly habitat is now proposed to be opened. This could actually make our border less secure, and put the small population of grizzlies at greater risk. A new push to log large trees has also strained our collaborative relationship with the Forest Service. But, I am confident that we can agree on the science that says we need to retain critically important large trees and old growth. We have increased our (virtual) meetings with the Forest Service and all of us are looking forward to meeting onsite later this year to find common ground on a path forward. I have also had two good meetings with county commissioners from Stevens and Pend Oreille counties in the past month. I look forward to progress on legislated protection of key roadless areas, as well as help for rural economies and tribal interests in the next few months.
We are in the midst of the Washington State Legislative Session, with many good bills on climate, racial and environmental equity in communities, and forestry coming up for votes soon. Thanks to all of you who have responded to our media posts to support good legislation – it makes a difference. I have also been doing some virtual lobbying to support the work of the Spokane River Toxics Task Force – and we are leading a national campaign to reduce PCB’s in our Spokane River. Speaking of campaigns, we are endorsing the efforts of groups like Save Our Wild Salmon, and leaders like Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson, to remove the lower Snake River dams, and make eastern Washington farmers and energy producers thrive. There is a great photo story here about those efforts: https://tinyurl.com/snakerivervision
Finally, I am getting excited about our upcoming virtual auction – which starts March 25th. There are lots of great items, including a couple of river trips that I am leading. I hope to see many of you join in and support our most important fundraiser!