Cascadia Daily, Sept. 28, 2018

Happy Birthday, North Cascades National Park!

On October 2, 1968, president Lyndon Johnson signed the North Cascades National Park Act into law, culminating a decades-long effort by hikers and conservationists to protect this gorgeous mountain landscape.In a fantastic feature by Lauren Danner now online at Cascadia Magazine, you’ll learn about the grassroots effort to protect of some of Washington state’s most astonishing mountain landscapes. It’s the story of a group of newcomers to the Puget Sound region determined to stop the clearcut logging and mining that threatened these public lands.

It turns out the region in 1968 and 2018 had much in common: political strife, battles over the rights of minorities and women, explosive growth, and threats to the environment. In her article, Danner (who’s the author of Crown Jewel Wilderness: Creating North Cascades National Park) details how, like today, the Seattle area was booming, and demand for wilderness recreation increasing.

“Today, there are 3.4 million acres of wilderness within a 100-mile radius of Seattle, more than any other major city in the United States, created because people here demanded it.”

Lauren will be giving a reading tomorrow, Saturday, Sept 29 at 2 pm at the Everett Public Library.

Check out the full article online here.

And if you appreciate articles like this at Cascadia Magazine, consider becoming a supporting reader by making  a contribution at our donate page. And if you’re already a supporting reader, THANK YOU!

Now online at Cascadia Magazine: “Interloper,”
new fiction by Matt Briggs

In the nuanced short story, “Interloper,” by Matt Briggs, a man living out of his car arrives outside the suburban home of Maureen Hough, a teenager who practices an act of kindness by offering the man a Creamsicle. But after the car breaks down and the man seems set to stay indefinitely, Maureen’s father is less than supportive, and a slow-burning conflict develops. It’s a timely vignette as the Seattle area faces a crisis of homelessness. Read the full story online here at Cascadia Magazine.

North Cascades threatened by climate change

KUOW reports that climate change is having huge impacts on US National Parks, and Washington’s North Cascadesis no exception, with climate change shrinking glaciers, reducing stream flows, and threatening fragile alpine species of flora and fauna. For more on the contemporary threats facing the North Cascades, read Lauren Danner’s article “Creating a National Park,” now online at Cascadia Magazine. Meanwhile, a disturbing feature at National Geographic finds that PCB pollution could result in declines of orcas worldwide by 50 percent.

In wake of Kavanaugh hearings, reaction & more accusations

Many people in Cascadia were riveted (and horrified, frankly) by coverage of the Brett Kavanaugh US supreme court nomination hearings and Dr. Catherine Blasey Ford’s courageous testimony. Local legislators reacted, and a University of Washington professor reported Kavanaugh was a messy drinker at Yale. Meanwhile, a WA state legislator has been accused of rape, and another legislator was revealed to have had a relationship with an underage woman, but he’s still going to run for re-election.

A Seattle-area football player’s tragic story

The New York Times has a fantastic, sad interactive feature about the tragic life and deathof  Daniel Te’o-Nesheim, who grew up in Seattle, played football for the University of Washington and in the NFL — but succumbed to paranoia and pain. After his death, notes he kept on his experience with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) were found, making for heartbreaking reading.

Oregon’s  long support for legal abortion faces election test

OPB has a detailed feature on a measure on Oregon’s ballot this November that would place limits on state funds for abortion, in a state that has staunchly supported no limits on abortion. Meanwhile, abortion rights groups filed a lawsuit against the state of Idaho for its controversial new law that requires abortion providers to provide detailed information on patients to state officials.

Helping Vancouver drug users by getting out in nature

Travis Lupick, writing for the Georgia Straight, has a great feature on an innovative program associated with Pier Health Resource Centre that takes opioid drug users from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside out into nature on hikes and fishing trips — and finds it helps improve mental and physical health.

Poems to read while hiking Cascadia’s trails

Over at the Washington Trails association, you can peruse suggestions of six poets to read while you’re out exploring the wonders of Cascadia’s magnificent hiking trails (and really, September is the best month to be out in the Cascades!). Among the suggestions: Richard Hugo, Carolyn Kizer, Claudia Castro Luna, and the late Lucia Perillo.

Poetry by Suzanne Bottelli

I highly recommend you head over to Poetry Northwest’s website and read Seattle-based poet Suzanne Bottelli’s poem “The Garment.” It’s a deceptively simple exploration of home:
“A box under a desk with a breathing in it.
Inside the box, a blanket…”
Read the full poem online here.


That’s today’s assortment of news, arts, environment, and great writing from and about the Cascadia bioregion. Have a great weekend — North Cascades National Park and I will be celebrating our 50th birthdays together. ? ?  –Andrew Engelson


Photo credit: tent at Sahale Arm by Andy Porter Images