Critical projects will protect families, fish and farms – but will require community-wide collaboration By Rich Appel, President, Whatcom Family Farmers Families across Whatcom County devastated by November’s flooding disaster in the Nooksack River Basin need our help with more than just putting their lives back together. It is urgent ...
Do you agree that we cannot wait to do everything possible to prevent another Nooksack River flooding disaster? If so, we need your support to get solutions happening right away! Read more on solutions here. Join the campaign to make sure all possible flood prevention and water management options are ...
Some farmers unable to irrigate, want to move any remaining water use off of streams to protect fish and help crops as increasingly dry summers choke stream flow; but antiquated rules stand in the way (LYNDEN, Wash.) - Terry Lenssen doesn’t want to use the Fishtrap Creek ...
“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, ...
