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Special Event: Sierra Club to Screen
Blue Glacier, Then and Now
Thursday March 21, 6:30-7:30 PM on Zoom
RSVPs Required
Glaciers are the well spring of life for the valleys below and one of our planet’s key indicators of a changing climate. In 2022, father-son duo Chip and Will Freund set out to document how one specific glacier in the Olympics has changed in our lifetime.
This story starts in 1982 when Chip was just 18 years old and he was spending his summer for the Student Conservation Association doing backcountry trail work in Olympic National Park. During that summer, Chip took dozens of pictures of the environment he was working in, including the mighty Blue Glacier that feeds the park’s Hoh River. With all the talk around climate change these days, Chip set out to tell his climate story by heading back to Olympic National Park 40 years to the week of when he was there last to recreate the photos he took and show how the Blue Glacier had been affected by climate change in the intervening four decades.
Chip is a professional landscape photographer based in Raleigh, North Carolina and Will is an environmental documentary filmmaker based in Greensboro, NC. Both will join us after the screening to answer your questions.
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The 2024 Legislative Session Ends
The 2024 legislative session came to a close with mixed reviews for environmental legislation. Unfortunately, the Re-WRAP bill must wait for still another session to be enacted into law (it was first introduced in 2023). This bill would have decreased the growing amounts of trash headed to Washington's landfills by requiring producers to also do their fair share to increase recycling rates and reduce waste.
On a bright note, the legislature approved an annual budget that allocated $15 million for the permanent conservation of legacy forests across the state, $10.8 million for the Trust Land Transfer program that will put 2,200 acres of state land into conservation, and $25 million for the Quinault Legacy Forest Acquisition that will return 11,000 acres of privately owned ancestral forest lands back to the Quinault Nation. And, notably, funding was provided to replace diesel school buses with clean, zero-emission vehicles.
Much of this progress was made possible by funding from Washington's Climate Commitment Act. A few examples include: $45 million to improve air quality and de-carbonize schools, $50 million for community-based development of climate solutions, $55 million for climate-smart, multi-family affordable housing projects, $25 million for salmon recovery, and much more.
Unfortunately, the future of this highly successful act is jeopardized by an initiative funded by an anti-tax, wealthy individual who managed to get it on November's ballot. Stay tuned for how you can work to defeat this initiative and stand up for democracy by all the people, not just a few with some money to burn.
Hear a recap from our 24th District legislators at Tuesday's Town Hall, March 19, at 6PM. Call 877-229-8493 and enter PIN: 116281 to participate.
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North Olympic Group Sierra Club Campaigns
Paving The Dungeness River Levee Trail: The North Olympic Group has joined local activists and the S'Klallam Tribe in opposing this misguided plan. With its rich biodiversity and natural beauty, the Dungeness floodplain embodies the wild places that the Sierra Club has pledged to protect. The proposed road construction threatens not only the ecological balance of this area but also the opportunity for people to connect with nature in its purest form. Continue to let the Clallam County Commissioners know you support a recreational trail and not a road. Check the County's website for details on how to comment at the County Commissioner weekly meetings.
Preserving Our Legacy Forests: Conserving forests is both an effective and low-cost option for managing atmospheric carbon dioxide--and mature and old-growth forests do this job best. Protecting and expanding them does not require expensive engineering or complex energy-consuming technologies, unlike some other proposed climate solutions. The North Olympic Group continues to advocate for preserving our mature forests and welcomes recent DNR decisions to backtrack on cutting important parcels in both Clallam and Jefferson Counties. One way you can stop the clear-cutting of legacy forests on the Peninsula is to support the Legacy Forest Defense Coalition:
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Protecting Miller Peninsula State Park From Overdevelopment: The North Olympic Group supports community efforts opposing State Parks' plan to replace this vital and unique ecosystem with inappropriate development. In eastern Clallam County, the Miller Peninsula State Park is a nearly 3000-acre legacy forest with habitat for hundreds of plant species and wildlife. For thirty years it has served as a day-use recreational park for hikers, bikers, equestrians, and students to learn about and enjoy nature. It serves as a common flyway for resident and migratory birds at the nearby Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge and Protection Island. Join those working to preserve the natural beauty of Miller Peninsula State Park, its legacy forests, and vital ecosystem:
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We'll list more North Olympic Group Campaigns in our next newsletter. Having a presence in these efforts takes volunteers willing to contribute an hour or two here and there or join one of our committees. Scroll down to the bottom to contact us.
Take Action Now
Write DNR Now: Despite recent wins to conserve mature forests, DNR is attempting to rapidly clearcut some of the last remaining, structurally-complex legacy forests on state-owned land. Until we get DNR to enact a mature forest policy, we need your help to stop some of these sales before April 2 when they will go to the Board of Natural Resources for approval. Tell DNR to stop the Power Station sale, a textbook legacy forest in the Dungeness watershed, and the Salt & Pepper sale involving 74 acres of 85-124 year old mature forest between the Elwha River and Salt Creek in Clallam County. (Thanks to Olympic Climate Action for this alert.)
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Enjoy the Outdoors
Saturday, March 23: Take a hike on the Dungeness Levee Trail and see why it's important to keep it as a trail and not pave it over:
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In the News
Lawsuit halts “Last Crocker” timber sale in Jefferson County: Despite over 5,000 comments to DNR opposing this sale, the sale was still approved. The Legacy Forest Defense Coalition (LFDC) filed a lawsuit, arguing that DNR did not follow its own older forest protection requirements in approving the sale. LFDC won an injunction in the case and DNR then canceled the sale. Thanks to LFDC for their leadership in holding DNR to account for not following their own legally required older forest targets!
Olympic National Park Funds Cut: The Park Service has a deferred maintenance backlog of nearly $23 billion dollars--yes billions. This includes everything from mending thousands of miles of crumbling roads, fixing unsafe buildings, and restoring downed power lines or water mains. Additionally, the NPS needs resources to address the impacts of climate change and increase the climate resiliency of our parks.
Unfortunately, our parks and social programs were held hostage by extremists in Congress who threatened, once again, to shut down the federal government without further funding cuts for the National Parks Service. The Olympic National Park is geographically one of the more difficult parks to access, particularly for those who are unable to hike long distances to reach some of its iconic destinations. The continued deterioration of the Park's roads and infrastructure, due to inadequate funding, will only worsen this situation.
The Navy Continues its Disregard for Wilderness: The U.S. Navy has proposed the creation of new military airspaces for jet training exercises in Washington State. Unfortunately, the airspaces would overlap with two Wildernesses—the Pasayten and Lake Chelan-Sawtooth Wildernesses—and threaten to destroy the solitude and silence found there.
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Comments, Feedback? Let us know here:
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The North Olympic Group's website is updated to reflect current environmental issues and events. Members are encouraged to periodically check it out.
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