SUBSCRIBE TO THE FREE NEWSLETTER
Marmots are in decline and scientists are trying to figure out why
Award-winning journalist Paul Lask, writing for Cascadia Magazine on assignment, ventures into a remote part of the North Cascades with a group of researchers who are studying why marmots, those furry denizens of the high alpine meadows of Cascadia, are in decline.
They suspect changes in predator behavior and climate change are to blame.
“People have a hard time reconciling the reality of a thrumming meadow with data-driven doom. Logan reminds me the meadow is just a snapshot. It doesn’t mean global warming and mass die offs are not happening.”
It’s a fantastic, detailed feature you should set aside time to read this weekend.
And if you appreciate this sort of high-quality, in-depth reporting at Cascadia Magazine, please become a supporting reader during our Fall Fund Drive. We can’t do this without your financial support. Visit our donate page to learn more. Thank you.
31 Days, 31 Writers at Cascadia Magazine: Chelene Knight
Chelene Knight is a poet, memoir writer and writing instructor in Vancouver. Her innovative memoir Dear Current Occupant is a fascinating fusion of poetry, memories, and photographs that reflect on a childhood in the Downtown Eastside and in other temporary, economically tenuous situations across the city.
Her essay “I’ll Never Own a Home in Vancouver” published last year at Cascadia Magazine, reflects on the gentrification of Vancouver and how people of color are being pushed to the margins and beyond.
If you appreciate great writing like this on issues that matter in the Pacific Northwest, please become a supporting reader of Cascadia Magazine during our Fall Fund Drive by making contribution at our donate page. Thanks!
US announces protections for mountain caribou
Last week, the US Fish and Wildlife Service declared mountain caribou in Idaho and Washington endangered, and called for new protections and conservation efforts in 47 square miles of federal lands in both state, the AP reports. Meanwhile, The Narwhal laments the fact that although the US has moved forward, Canada and BC are lagging behind in protecting caribou habitat, with the BC’s NDP government approving new logging in critical habitat. For more on clearcut logging in north-central BC, read Cascadia Magazine’s feature “Clear Cut.”
Boise mayor’s race divided over homeless policy
Boise State Public Radio examines the Boise, ID mayor’s race, which is dividing over a policy that criminalizes homelessness and may end up the US Supreme Court. Incumbent Dave Bieter supports the current policy, while challenger Lauren McLean agrees with courts that have found the policy amounts to cruel punishment when there are no shelter options available. “Saying that we need to criminalize people that are experiencing hardship and the act of being on the streets, just to me isn’t a solution to getting people off the street,” she says.
Some WA cities rejecting ICE deportation flights
Crosscut looks at how some cities in Washington, including Seattle, Bellingham, and Everett have banned immigration ICE officials from running deportation flights out of airports in their jurisdiction, but Yakima in central Washington, fearing cutbacks of federal funds, is allowing them.
Energy from cow poo in eastern Oregon
The East Oregonian reports on the expansion of an agricultural biogas project in Boardman, Oregon that uses cow manure from the state’s largest dairy farm to process and refine methane and at to pipelines supplying energy to customers all over the west coast of the US.
How classical music composers in OR relate to pop music
Writing for Oregon Arts Watch, Daniel Heila reviews recent performances in Eugene of classical music by contemporary Oregon composers, and has a fascinating dialogue with local composers about how they balance interaction with a longstanding classical tradition, the experimental styles of the 20th century, and references and relevance to contemporary popular music.
An essay by Jackie Shannon Hollis
Powell’s Book Blog has an essay by Jackie Shannon Hollis, who grew up in eastern Oregon and now lives in Aloha, OR and is the author of This Particular Happiness: A Childless Love Story. Her essay explores how curiosity can carve a path between differences in a couple: “I explore how we were each shaped by our histories, and how this shaping is reflected in the small and vast differences between us, as well as the one big difference central to our marriage: he did not want children. I did.”
That’s today’s Saturday edition of Cascadia Daily. What, Cascadia Daily on the weekend you ask?? Yes, it’s all part of our 31 Days 31 Writers promotion during our Fall Fund Drive: where we remind you of the great writing and writers we’ve published at Cascadia Magazine over the past two years, and ask you to become a supporting member so we can continue to publish more. Thanks! –Andrew Engelson
Photo credits: researchers in the North Cascades by Paul Lask, Chelene Knight by Katherine Holland.