crosscut.com : Agriculture / Aquaculture

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.

Go fish: The government's answer to depleted stocks

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

While officials are calling for a moratorium on commercial salmon fishing along much of the West Coast, they're opting for a different tactic in Puget Sound: continued fishing.

Cool ideas for doomsday

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

While global warming is producing an Arctic land rush, climate change could also result in the far north becoming humanity's ark.

Recession alert: Put Oregon on the danger list

Crosscut — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 09:38:01 PDT

Marple's Pacific Northwest Letter, a bible of the Northwest economy, is predicting that Oregon, "if not yet in recession, it likely soon will be." The reasons: sectors like lumber exposed to the homebuilding recession; continued manufacturing decline in computer chips and electronic instruments, which have not fully recovered since the dot.com meltdown; and overall manufacturing decline since mid-2006.

One dam after another

Crosscut — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 05:00:01 PST

The Black Rock reservoir project in arid Eastern Washington might be dead, but there are four more proposed dams where that came from. State lawmakers and two governors have helped keep hopes alive in an area where irrigation politics go all the way back to the New Deal.

Happy day of mourning, turkey!

Crosscut — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 05:22:01 PST

It's an annual rite in Seattle: 'Tis the season to piss on a holiday. One year it was King County discouraging employees from using the phrase "Merry Christmas" because it was not religiously neutral. Last year it was Port of Seattle Scrooges removing Christmas trees at Sea-Tac Airport. This year, we're off to an early start. The Seattle School District sent a widely publicized note to parents about the "myth" that Thanksgiving is a "happy time." Indeed not, if you're Native American, says the district — it's a day of "mourning."

Wheat-country blues in Washington's least-populous county

Crosscut — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 05:00:01 PDT

Walla Walla might be flush with the grape, but just down the road the juice runs out in Pomeroy, Wash. It's the land that agri-tourism forgot — or hasn't found yet. Whiskey, anyone?

Finally, the joy of cooking locally grown food will be conveyed to the rest of us

Crosscut — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 05:00:01 PDT

A film-in-progress in Portland examines ties between local farms and good restaurants, and if a five-minute preview is an indication, the goodness of the relationship will be contagious.

Walla Walla bing bang

Crosscut — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 00:00:01 PDT

Will success spoil southeastern Washington? Tourism and a desirable lifestyle now define the Northwest's hottest wine ghetto.

Eating our way out of extinction

Crosscut — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 05:00:01 PDT

Bruce Babbitt speaks for a strategy to bring down the Snake River dams and save our wild salmon — all while enjoying the taste of success.

Larry Craig: the last of the 'servants of the lords of yesterday'

New West — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 00:00:01 PDT

Environmentalists argue that the disgraced Idaho senator represents a constituency that has declined in importance in the minds of voters — the legacy timber, grazing, and mining interests. Says one: "Now Idaho's a different place."

Nature and the great nearby

Crosscut — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 19:00:01 PDT

An exhibition in Seattle features a 150-year scrapbook of images highlighting our relationship with nature, from dead eagles and illuminated orcas to sacred groves and horned loggers.

Barn Again!

Crosscut — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 05:00:01 PDT

Some of the most interesting and odd-ball historic preservation work is going on outside of Seattle in the land of vanishing farms, strip malls, and "Kung Pao weiner schnitzel."

We must find a way to export our expertise in lobbying, lending, and litigation

Crosscut — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 00:00:01 PDT

Because in the age of globalization, the U.S. can't compete by actually making stuff. Well, except for methane from corn-fed cattle.

The big immigration raid in Portland was likely no surprise to readers of Willamette Week

Crosscut — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 07:00:01 PDT

A writer for the paper got herself hired at Fresh Del Monte Produce and then wrote about it last month.