Cascadia Daily, August 23, 2018

Get Outside to the Paradise Glacier Trail at Mount Rainier

The forecast is calling for the smoke hovering over western Cascadia to clear somewhat, so if you’re in Puget Sound area, you should consider getting out for a hike this weekend. Now online at Cascadia Magazine, hiking expert Craig Romano recommends the Paradise Glacier Trail in Washington’s Mount Rainier National Park. Though the famed ice caves melted decades ago, the trail is still worth your time, with opportunities to see wildflowers, marmots, waterfalls, and views of the glaciers clinging to the flanks of Washington’s highest peak. Plus, this is a less-traveled trail departing from the Paradise visitor center, allowing you a chance to escape the summertime crowds.

Find the full write-up, trail description, and directions online here at Cascadia Magazine. If you found this and other articles we publish informative, please consider becoming a supporting reader of Cascadia Magazine and Cascadia Daily by visiting our donate page. Thanks!

Cascadia Magazine original: The Battle to Ban Fish Farms

First Nations activists are fighting to ban fish farms in the Broughton Archipelago of British Columbia because of the damage they cause to wild salmon runs. Cascadia Magazine has a detailed feature online about how ‘Namgis chief Ernest Alfred occupied a remote island for 284 days to draw attention to the issue. Read the full article and watch a brief video online here.

Smoke clears — for some — in Cascadia

Changing winds and precipitation offered some relief in western Cascadia from a week of intense wildfire smoke, though central and eastern BC still face poor air quality from more than 500 active fires. Find current info on BC wildfires here and wildfires in OR, WA, & ID here. Sharon Riley writes for the Narwhal about the emotional toll from persistent smoke, and the South Seattle Emerald notes that the homeless have nowhere to escape air pollution. Vaughn Palmer at the Vancouver Sun contends that BC firefighting budgets are laughable, while Ed Struzik at the Tyee argues that it isn’t traditional firefighting that needs increased funding, but rather controlled burns and other forest restoration efforts.

Legal pot has a waste problem

Kristen Millares Young, reporting for the Washington Post, observes that Washington state’s legal cannabis industry has a huge waste problem: little of the pot packaging is recyclable, and most of the waste from the $1.7 billion industry goes straight to the landfill.

Activist Jean Swanson goes to jail for pipeline protest

In an interview with the Tyee, activist and Vancouver city council candidate Jean Swanson talks about the four days she spent in prison for protesting expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline across British Columbia. “Just look at the sky. We have over 400 fires going around in B.C. All because of global warming. In the meantime, the government is spending billions of dollars on a project that will burn more fossil fuel and increase global warming.” Meanwhile, the city of Burnaby’s lawsuit claiming KinderMorgan wasn’t complying with local bylaws was rejected by Canada’s Supreme Court.

Seattle considers modular housing to address crisis

According to the Seattle Times, Seattle-area King County is investigating a $12 million plan to create inexpensive modular housing to provide affordable apartments for the city’s growing homeless population. The county is also debating whether to redirect money meant to renovate the Seattle Mariners’ ballpark to housing and homeless services instead. And the public health community on Vancouver Island insists in an op-ed at the Tyee that tent cities aren’t the problem to be eradicated, but homelessness itself.

Portland is now e-scootervile

Now that three dockless scooter-share programs are active in Portland, the question is: will the city accept becoming Scooterville? Willamette Weeks finds that though the issue is divisive, it’s reducing car trips. The paper also interviewed the CEO of Skip, one scooter-sharing company, and asks why Portland doesn’t have more bike lanes.

Portland’s Cult of Orpheus shakes up classical music

April Baer, reporting for OPB, explores the eclectic musical taste of Portland classical ensemble Cult of Orpheus. The group plays avant-garde music composed by Christopher Corbell, which takes inspiration from varied texts, including everything from “the Buddhist Dhammapada, to haiku by Isa, Elizabeth Elizabeth Barrett Browning sonnets and some by Edna St Vincent Millay.”

“Inside the Story of My Brother” — poetry by Erin Malone

Erin Malone, who’s the editor of Poetry Northwest, has a poem online at Crab Creek Review entitled “Inside the Story of My Brother,” an unsettling elegy for a missing child:
“…on the map: They found the denim shirt
he wore, rope around his wrists
It’s hard to believe in endings
when there’s another and
another…”
Read the full poem online here. That’s today’s round-up of news, arts, and culture from across the Cascadia bioregion. I’ll be away the rest of the week on a backpacking trip in Washington’s Goat Rocks Wilderness. Cascadia Daily will resume on August 28. See you then! –Andrew Engelson

Photo credit: Klondike fire in southern Oregon courtesy of Inciweb