crosscut.com : Agriculture / Aquaculture

Paying for our growing pains

Crosscut — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 04:00:01 PDT

The Growth Management Act serves as a tug-of-war between environmentalists and property-rights advocates, who disagree over rules governing wetland buffers and vegetation removal, and so far, the environmentalists are losing the contest. But it's more complicated than that. Opponents of strict provisions on rural areas say they shouldn't have to pay for the environmental sins of the cities.

The future of 'nowhere'

Crosscut — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 05:00:01 PDT

Urban planners love to hate the suburbs, but what's going to become of them? Will Bellevue eventually become a post-carbon ghost town or a new urban hybrid? Some reflections on the urban/suburban debate.

Sausage Links, ice cream man edition

Crosscut — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:22:01 PDT

Despite the near-record temperatures predicted for the weekend, officials from around the state are asking agencies to "freeze." Last week, Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire ordered a hiring freeze for state employees in an attempt to ease Washington's mounting budget deficit. Yesterday, the Snohomish County Council ordered a hiring freeze for all of their county's agencies. Not to be outdone, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels proposed a $5 million spending freeze for the City of Seattle yesterday. On a related note, Seattle's fleet of ice cream carts are expanding their service around the city, in a move experts say could result in widespread brain freezes. ...

Death by a thousand cuts

Crosscut — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 05:00:01 PDT

Pacific Northwest corporate history began with timber, and with the demise of Weyerhaeuser it's a fast-fading cultural heritage.

(Not) in the garden: bees

Crosscut — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 05:12:01 PDT

When I was growing up, a summer wasn't a summer until my first bee sting. Honeybees, in particular, were everywhere. During picnics we would often have to move from place to place until we found a shady bee-free zone at the local park. Playing kick-the-can in the afternoons, racing through the neighborhood yards was its own Olympics:

A new owl plan with the same old goal: more logging

Crosscut — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:00:01 PDT

The new Northern Spotted Owl recovery plan could be worse, but the Bush administration hasn't given up on cutting a billion board feet a year in Northwest forests.

My day with the ranchers

Crosscut — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 00:00:01 PDT

An urbanite spends two days with ranchers in Montana and comes to see that she has much in common with them: ground.

Gauging the biofuels backlash

Crosscut — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:00:01 PDT

Some would have you believe that making fuels from crops and other biomatter is responsible for food shortages. Probably not, but there are legitimate questions about the net gain — is there one? — of producing and using biofuel versus conventional petroleum.

Salmon on the Columbia: See you in court

Crosscut — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 04:00:01 PDT

The federal agencies are back for a fifth round in federal court, still cooking up very strained arguments for minimal efforts to save the fish. Two things might change the impasse: a new case for saving dams due to climate change, and the bestirring of Congress. Here's a survey of the high-stakes issues.

Conservation groups buy pieces of Montana — a lot of pieces

Crosscut — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 05:00:01 PDT

The Nature Conservancy and the Trust for Public Land are buying 500 square miles of western Montana from Plum Creek, the timber real estate investment trust, for $510 million. It involves a federal financing mechanism, to the consternation of conservatives, and compromise, to the displeasure of some environmentalists. But it is preventing development of forest habitat.

Polimedia lunch links, flip-flop edition

Crosscut — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:05:01 PDT

Jim Camden at the Spokesman-Review mined his YouTube account for videos of Barack Obama's now infamous switch on campaign financing, while also noting John McCain's back flip on the off-shore oil drilling ban. ...

A long wait for Seattle P-patches

Crosscut — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:00:01 PDT

Demand is greater than ever for a 10-by-10-foot urban farm. City officials say 1,650 people are waiting for a plot at one of 54 gardens.

Unearthing baby giant earthworms

Crosscut — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 05:00:01 PDT

Scientists have returned from Peshastin, WA, near Leavenworth, with what they believe may be two juvenile giant Palouse earthworms. Soil scientist Jodi Johnson-Maynard and another researcher from the University of Idaho found the specimens last week after following up on the possibility that the elusive worm species lives in the area.

The farm bill: Great news, but hold your nose

Crosscut — Wed, 28 May 2008 05:06:01 PDT

"Legislative Victory for Land Conservation," reads the alert from the Land Trust Alliance. The e-mail reports sweet news for anyone chafing under the Los Angeles-ization of the Evergreen State: the re-establishment of tax incentives for donated easements to conserve sensitive lands and open spaces.

Another Teton Dam

Crosscut — Sat, 10 May 2008 00:00:01 PDT

The golden age of dam building has long since passed, capped by the tragic failure in 1976 of the last big dam, an earthen structure on the Teton River of Idaho. Few new dam projects are being proposed these days, and many dams are being purposefully breached. But that hasn't stopped some from resurrecting the possibility of a new Teton Dam.

A city of scolds

Crosscut — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:00:01 PDT

Seattle City Hall has cracked down on drinking and clubs, it's on the verge of banning fast food and taxing plastic grocery bags, and now even plastic-bottled water is a civic sin. Switch to tap water! says the mayor. Mossback thinks enough is enough.

Greg Nickels' rebel yell

Crosscut — Mon, 05 May 2008 23:00:01 PDT

Seattle's mayor waves the flag of secession. In so doing, he may have waved goodbye to a future in state politics.

Winter in late April

Crosscut — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:53:01 PDT

Up to a foot of snow could fall in the Cascade Mountains over the weekend. And some Snohomish County lowlands are already seeing flakes. This wacky blast of winter has ski areas cheering and farmers worried.

Did I assassinate Garfield?

Crosscut — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:00:01 PDT

When it comes to pissing off rural America, I think I'm one up on Barack Obama.

So much talk about so few fish

Crosscut — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 23:00:01 PDT

The salmon fisheries of the Northwest have spawned a new industry of bureaucrats, lawyers, environmentalists, sport fishers, commercial interests, scientists, and natives, all focused on the absence of fish. Meanwhile, four sockeye returned last summer to a lake in Idaho once teeming with tens of thousands.