“This has to be a process of the community coming together. ... Hearing everyone’s concerns and working together to make real, long lasting solutions, rather than hashing it out in a courtroom where everyone is pitted against each other.” Governor Inslee recently signed his $59 million budget, which ...
(ACME, Wash.) Local farming advocacy organization Whatcom Family Farmers will represent farmers in the Nooksack River’s South Fork Basin in anticipated water settlement and drainage management talks. While six Watershed Improvement Districts (WIDs) united under the Ag Water Board of Whatcom County represent farmers in the main stem of the ...
In response to the state Department of Ecology's ongoing request to the state legislature for funding to begin the process of an adjudication in the Nooksack Basin, Whatcom Family Farmers has sent a letter to the chairs and ranking members of the budget committees in both state legislative chambers. An ...
Although some have suggested that adjudication is the best way to protect salmon runs, the reality is that it will put farms out of business, and put salmon in harm’s way. USDA data shows that Puget Sound has already lost 60% of its farmland since 1950 – ...
Rich Appel farms just north of the Nooksack River in Ferndale. “Our family has been on that farm for about 55 years and my whole life,” Appel said. “I've been living on the river and been been around the river and over the last number of years we've ...
This is an op-ed column that was originally published in the Lynden Tribune Oct. 16, 2020. It was written by Greg Ebe, local engineer, third-generation seed potato grower and a board member of the Drayton and Bertrand watershed improvement districts. Salmon are an extremely important part of the history, legacy and ...
Christine Woodward is the chair for the Portage Bay Shellfish Protection District. “I think one of the first and foremost things about the partnership between farms and salmon is respect,” she said. Farmers play a very important role in Whatcom County, she added. They provide our food source, ...
This op-ed written by Rich Appel originally appeared in the Bellingham Herald on Nov. 13, 2020. Salmon are part of what makes Whatcom County such a beautiful place to live. Farms play a large role in protecting salmon, however, both farms and salmon are in peril. The Lummi Nation and ...
“The availability of water is vital to the future of agriculture in Whatcom County,” Lynne Rainey Wheeler said. She is a dairy farmer in Whatcom County. Her family’s farm, Coldstream Farms, is in the South Fork Valley. They have been farming there since 1978. In that time they ...
Farmers have been accused of not doing their part when it comes to preserving the environment on and around their farm. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Farmers in Whatcom County have taken many measures in recent years to not only improve their sustainability but also work toward the ...
