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“In the Little Wenatchee Drainage,” poetry by Martha Silano
“we entered ancient forest: grand fir, mountain hemlock,
silver fir. On the forest floor we found the familiar:
wild ginger, twayblade, oak fern, bedstraw.”
Seattle-based poet Martha Silano’s poem, “In the Little Wentachee Drainage,” now online at Cascadia Magazine, explores regrowth in a forest touched by fire. This was a tough year of wildfires in the Pacific Northwest, but it’s good to remember that fire is a necessary and natural process in forests of the Cascade Range. Martha’s poem has reminders of this, as well as touching on how human influence is affecting these cycles: “Here was the lecture on succession,/on fire suppression’s unforeseen consequence.”
The poem is accompanied by photographs of the Little Wentachee region in Washington’s central Cascades by Langdon Cook.
Read the full poem online here.
Now online at Cascadia Magazine: Get Outside! Balch Creek Gulch
Portland’s Forest Park is an amazing 7,000-acre wilderness within the city limits. In his latest column for Cascadia Magazine, Craig Romano takes you to one of the park’s most interesting trails, Balch Creek Gulch. On this easy route, you’ll encounter old-growth Douglas-fir, waterfalls, and a mysterious stone structure. Read more online here.
BC to shut down fish farms in Broughton Archipelago
The British Columbia government today announced plans that to phase out all of the 17 fish farms in the Broughton Archipelgo off the north coast of Vancouver Island. According to the article at CHEK, the government will also involve First Nations in consultation throughout the process, which will finish in 2023. There’s more info here at CBC. The closure is a stunning victory for the region’s First Nations, including the ‘Namgis and their chief, Ernest Alfred, who was the subject of a profile and video at Cascadia Magazine earlier this year.
Is Oregon about to end single-family zoning?
As North America’s housing affordability crisis continues, and Minneapolis announced it was ending apartment bans across the city, Oregon may do the Twin Cities one better: according to Willamette Week, House Speaker Tina Kotek is drafting a bill that would ban single-family zoning statewide in cities over a population of 10,000. Meanwhile, Multnomah County voted to extend a growth boundary and allow new housing to be built in additional undeveloped areas, including a former forest reserve.
Want to fix foster care in BC? Ask the kids.
Katie Hyslop, reporting for the Tyee, looks at an innovative project that talked to current and former kids in foster care about what works–and doesn’t work–in the system. In related news, CBC has an article on a new report that finds horrific stories of abuse and neglect in British Columbia’s child welfare program.
Bringing back beavers to restore WA salmon streams
High Country News has a great, detailed feature on how the Tulalip Tribe of south Puget Sound is working to reintroduce beavers to streams in the foothills of the Cascades to improve salmon habitat. “When they catch unattached beavers, they attempt to match them at the hatchery, like a rodent dating service. “If you give them a few nights together, they usually pair up,” Alves says.”
Joy Kogawa advocates for a day commemorating Nanjing massacre
Vancouver-based author Joy Kogawa, whose 1970s novel Obasan broke the silence on the harsh treatment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War, is now leading a campaign to designate a day to commemorate the horrors that war’s Nanjing massacre. The Georgia Straight reprints her letter to Canadian premier Justin Trudeau. Read more about Obasan here.
Seattle Dances’ 2018 “Dance Crush” awards
Over at the great blog Seattle Dances, they’ve announced their 2018 “Dance Crush” awards for dance and choreography in the city over the past year. And to celebrate, they’re sponsoring a performance by many of the awarded artists on January 19, 2019 — find out how to buy tickets here.
That’s this evening’s wrap-up of arts, culture, and news from across the Pacific Northwest. Have a great weekend! –Andrew Engelson