By Monica Nickelsburg
When the worst wildfire season on record in the West finally subsides, it will give way to another potentially devastating environmental crisis: toxins from charred and melted plastics, electronics, and other household materials leaching into watersheds, endangering residents, agriculture, and ecosystems.
Local artist, Vanessa Swenson, is a Spokane native and her artwork is shaped by her love of the outdoors and her experiences in the Northwest. Her artwork features original paintings and sketches, art prints, and letterpress prints. For the month of September, Vanessa is generously donating 15% of her art sales to TLC.
By Mike Petersen
The Lands Council, along with our partner Spokane Ponderosa, is dedicated to the preservation and revitalization of the native Ponderosa pine urban forest found throughout Spokane County. The cities of Spokane County are enriched by the native Ponderosa forests that distinguish us from Midwestern and Eastern cities. Our goal is to help retain as many Ponderosa pine as possible and plant new ones in many areas such as the North Spokane Corridor - and your yard!
This Labor Day weekend, I went kayaking on the Spokane River and noticed litter along the riverbank and in the water. Litter takes away from the beauty of our beautiful river. And we can actually do something about it! You can volunteer with others (safely and distanced) in our community for the annual Spokane River Clean-Up. You can make the Spokane River a safer and healthier place for wildlife and people.
On the same day as the Spokane River Clean-Up, millions of volunteers from all over the world will be picking up trash, litter, rubbish along rivers, in public parks, on hiking trails, and more.
By Lindsay Box
Improperly discarded items that end up in our waters can cause harm to human health, wildlife, and recreation. While trash and litter can be removed from inside the Spokane River each year, we must also focus on preventing trash and litter from entering the river in the first place. That is why the annual Spokane River Clean-Up is so important.
But what does that mean?
Every year, hundreds of people make a huge impact in just a couple of hours during our annual Spokane River Clean-Up. This year, we are hoping to make a big impact, just with a few changes. You can sign up to clean individually, with your family, or with a group (5 or less at a time, please). You will still go along the Spokane River bank, collect litter, and place it in our designated locations. However, we won’t have a big gathering that morning and we won’t be assigning HUGE groups to clean-up all together. Luckily, the Spokane River is pretty big, so we’ll have plenty of space to social distance while we work.
Most of us are old enough to remember what it sounds like when the needle on your record player reaches the end of the album, a repetitive sound that signals the end without the anticipation of a new beginning. Wolf recovery is stuck in this cycle. The grazing season started in 2020, without change, without hope for a new, more enlightened beginning.
