Category: Cascadia Daily

Cascadia Daily, Aug 16, 2019

Fifty years after Sohappy vs. Smith

This summer marks the fiftieth anniversary of the federal court ruling of Sohappy vs. Smith, which eventually led to a series of rulings that recognized tribal rights to fishing in the Pacific Northwest. The Yakima Herald has more on the landmark ruling, which came after Yakama tribal members David Sohappy Sr. and Richard Sohappy were arrested for gillnetting salmon out of season. The ruling recognized tribal rights to fish and hunt not just on reservations but on lands where Indigenous people seasonally traveled to, such as the former Celilo Falls on the Columbia River

Yakama Nation member and writer Emily Washines will be leading a guided walk and talk about Sohappy vs. Smith on Tues. Aug 20 from 11 am to 2pm at Columbia Hills (Horsethief) state park near Dallesport, WA. For more info, call the Yakama Nation at (509) 865-5121 extension 6757.

“OG Bird Rescue Man,” poetry Robert Lashley

This weekend, take a moment to read Bellingham poet Robert Lashley’s brilliant poem online now at Cascadia Magazine:OG Bird Rescue Man,” in which an elder gangster serves as a would-be savior in a broken neighborhood:
“The arcs of the busted jungle gym
lift and re-sheath their pipe swords,
lift every rock that interacts with his ash
as the swing set chains stop their hanging.”

Read the full poem, paired with gorgeous multi-media art by Seattle’s Barry Johnson here.

Seattle looks to limit campaign spending

After a costly primary campaign for Seattle city council included lavish spending by Amazon and a secretive group called Moms for Seattle, a Seattle city council member is pushing for new limits on spending. But Erica C. Barnett notes that even if passed, they could be vulnerable to legal challenges. Crosscut has more on the effort, and whether it would could find a loophole in the US Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, which allowed unlimited corporate contributions.

BC timber mills continue to lay off workers

Andrew Kurjata at CBC reports on 3,900 timber mill jobs lost this summer in northern British Columbia, due to lower demand, wildfire damage, and the end of mountain pine beetle salvage. In related news, Siuslaw News profiles Dan Waggoner, a sixth-generation logging contractor based in Reedsport, OR who specializes in getting timber out of steep terrain.

Can tiny houses solve affordability in Eugene?

As housing prices climb in Eugene, Oregon (median house price is now $301,000 and median rent $956) and wages stay flat, some nonprofit groups are experimenting with building low-cost tiny houses across the city, Eugene Weekly reports. Among those profiled is drag-queen Labaux, who lives in a little pink home: “I’m living the best version of me now. I should be on Oprah.” Meanwhile, Crosscut looks at a new low-income housing project in Seattle that will provide housing and health care to 177 elderly residents.

Blue whales sighted off Cascadia Coast

Northwest News Network reports rare sightings of blue whales–the world’s largest creature–off the coast of Oregon and Washington this summer. The whales’ range has moved northward, and this is only the fourth confirmed sighting of a blue whale off Washington in 50 years. Meanwhile humpback whales are making a comeback in the Salish Sea, OPB reports, and biologists are studying the creatures to find out why. And High Country News looks in depth at why gray whales are dying in large numbers off the Cascadia coast.

Two new new movies set in Seattle from books set in Seattle

Two new movies opened this week that are based on books set in Seattle: The Art of Racing in the Rain and Where’d You Go, Bernadette. Moira Macdonald has a preview and finds that of course the movies weren’t actually filmed in Seattle: Racing was filmed in Vancouver, and Bernadette was filmed in Pittsburgh and Vancouver. The Stranger’s Ned Lannamann has a review of Richard Linklater’s version of Bernadette, while the Seattle Times reviews Racing.

Poetry by Fiona Tinwei Lam

At Ricepaper, you’ll find Vancouver poet Fiona Tinwei Lam’s “Invisible,” in which she remembers growing up with a single mom whose brash behavior at home, in restaurants and in shopping malls was difficult to bear:
“Tired, so tired,
held up by fraying strings,
she’d drag us through throngs
at sales. We’d shrivel,
she’d fume. “Service!
I need service!””
Read the full poem here. For more of Fiona’s work read “Ode to a Crow,” and “Sea Star” at Cascadia Magazine.


Correction: yesterday’s newsletter mentioned an article at the Seattle Times about a program that helped people struggling with homelessness and addiction get their lives together by climbing Mount Baker. The link was incorrect; you can find the article here.

That’s today’s assortment of news, arts, and culture from across the Pacific Northwest. Have a great weekend! –Andrew Engelson

Photo credit: Portland tiny house by Wikimedia user Tammy CC BY-SA 2.0

Cascadia Daily, Aug 15, 2019

Get Outside: Old Glory Mountain

With fine weather returning to western Cascadia this week, it’s time to plan a summer adventure! If you live in British Columbia and are up for a challenging summit hike, check out Craig Romano’s latest pick at Cascadia Magazine: Old Glory Mountain in the Rossland Range outside of Trail, BC.

It’s not an easy trek, but you’ll be rewarded with fantastic views of peaks on both sides of the BC-Washington border. Not to mention a kaleidoscope of wildflowers on the way to the lookout cabin at the top.

Find the full write-up complete with photos, trail route, and driving directions online at Cascadia Magazine here.

Missing and murdered women of the Yakama Nation

The Yakima Herald-Republic has a detailed on-line feature on the horrible prevalence of murder and disappearance among women of the Yakama Nation in Washington (on some reservations, Indigenous women are murdered at a rate 10 times the US average). The interactive feature includes individual stories, including the recent murder of Alillia “Lala” Minthorn.

Six opponents of BC’s Trans Mountain pipeline

The Star Vancouver profiles six opponents of the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline across BC, looking at next strategies, including legal fights, tiny houses built by First Nations activist Kanahus Manuel, and a young person’s climate-change legal challenge.

Confronting homelessness  through climbing

Crystal Paul at the Seattle Times has a great profile of the Recovery Beyond program, a nonprofit that helps people struggling with homelessness and addiction take control of their lives training for and completing a climb of Washington’s Mount Baker. ““Now I’m climbing up and hiking, surrounded by different people. You’re just going up on this big ol’ mountain away from the city, and I felt free” says a member of the program.

Passionate about the Portland Pickles

While Portland makes a move toward getting a Major League Baseball team, the city’s diehard baseball fans currently flock to see the scrappy Portland Pickles, profiled by OPB. They’re part of the West Coast League that includes a bunch of great Cascadia minor league teams, including the Victoria Harbourcats and the Walla Walla Sweets.

Living on BC’s ferry-less Gulf Islands

Over at BC BookLook you can read Howard Stewart’s review of Joy Davis’ new book Complicated Simplicitty. The book profiles people living on small islands in British Columbia’s Gulf Islands that have no ferry service and often no electricity. Such simplicity of life is often expensive, hence the “complicated” in the title.


That’s tonight’s selection of news & culture from across the Cascadia bioregion. One note of correction: a British Columbia reader pointed out an error in a newsletter this week: the  leader of Canada is not known as a “premier” but rather a “prime minister.” Premiers are heads of states in provinces. Cascadia Daily would like our BC readers to know we’re paying attention and continually learning about life and politics north of the 49th parallel. –Andrew Engelson

Photo credit: logo courtesy of the Portland Pickles.