Audubon Holds State Meeting in Bellingham

Posted on October 12, 2026 by Al Bergstein

I just returned from Bellingham where I participated in the state Audubon society that held their annual meeting with chapter leaders and other interested members.

The agenda was to review the successes that Audubon had achieved in 2026 and the policy goals for 2027. Aububon is a powerhouse environmental organization, both nationally and in the state. Given that one of Washington Audubon’s major achievements in the late 1970s and early 1980s was the work to create the Protection Island National Wildlfe Refuge, I was wondering whether there would be any mention of the brewing controversy over the request by the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe to transfer the refuge to the Tribe. But there was no mention made of it at all.

The primary goal of Audubon nationally is working to reverse the destructive downward trend of wild bird populations . Audubon themselves, though working as best they could, has seen a decline of an estimated 3 Billion birds lost since 1970. Their goal is to reverse this as quickly as possible.

Programs for 2027

Audubon has two main focuses for the state in 2027.

Lights Out Washington Program

A success in 2026 was the adoption of the Lights Out Washington resolution. This program is a state wide effort to educate the public on the issue of mitigating the effects of lights in the night on migratory birds. Huge amounts of light pollution lighten the night sky, whether from cities, harbors, street lights and other general light sources. Anyone walking outside in the middle of the night can likely see stray light sources lighting up the sky. The long term goal is to convince both homeowners, businesses and municipalities to take actions to reduce or eliminate light sources that are not needed. One example discussed was terminal port activities that keep a huge amount of light on all night regardless of whether it is needed or not.

The organization trained the audience to help them prepare for Audubon Lobby Day 2027 to promote additional bills of support for Lights Out Washington and other environmental bills.

Migratory Bird Day

The celebration of World Migratory Bird Day educates the public on challenges of bird migration. Audubon has been promoting an online tool called, “The Migratory Bird Explorer” an amazing compilation of data from scientists and amateur birders across the continent and hemisphere.

Migratory Bird Explorer

Helen Engle Volunteer of the Year presentation

Helen Engle was the president of Seattle Audubon and also Washington State Audubon in the seminal growth period of 1970- 1980s. From Wikipedia: She co-founded various environmental organisations, including the Tahoma Audubon Society, the Washington Environmental council, Washington Wilderness Coalition, The Arboretum Foundation, Nisqually Land Trust, and Citizens for a Healthy Bay in Tacoma. She was a board member of National Audubon Society. The award honors her legacy of environmental activism, a trait sorely missing in so many environmental groups today. I had the honor to meet and travel with Helen to a state convention around 1980. She was a formidable environmental leader.

The Helen Engle Award was given to Alan McCoy from Spokane Audubon. As chapter president he has headed an incredible team of volunteers to expand the chapter and it’s protections for birds in the Spokane area.

Protection Island & Dungeness Spit Land Transfer

I spent a few minutes talking to Csenka Favorini-Csorba, who is the policy director for Washington State Audubon. I asked her about the issue of Protection Island and at first she stated that there is no bill for them to take issue with or support yet so she was not going to comment on it. However as we talked further about the issue, she said that other land transfers, in her opinion, had been very successful. She saw no reason to worry about whether or not the land transfer would be beneficial or not for the birds and the tribes were good stewards of the lands that have been transferred . I reminded her that Jamestown has a significant aquaculture business and that they have already been proposing putting 80,000 bags of oysters on the bottom of Dungeness Bay, right next to the refuge, where diving birds fed .She did not seem to be aware of that or the lawsuit by another environmental organization against the tribe that had stopped this proposal for the time being. Her point of view seemed to be very supportive of tribal land transfers in general saying that the land had been “stolen” (her words) from them long ago and it would be appropriate in some cases to be giving it back to them. (historically it would be more accurate to state that the 1855 treaty that the Jamestown signed along with other tribes ceded land in exchange for the right to hunt and fish in perpetuity. That Treaty and that specific language was the reason for the successful outcome of the Boldt decision in the 1970s for the northwest tribes). I asked her if Audubon Washington might support simply keep things as they were with the tribe co-managing the property so all Americans including the tribe could be able to weigh in on issues of management through the United States Fish and Wildlife. She said that it would be better to wait until the bill came out. It would appear from our conversation that Audubon Washington has little interest in either getting involved in the land transfer when it happens or opposing it in any way shape or form. In her defense, Audubon has to work with many other tribes in the state in order to achieve their goals, and I can understand why they would not be willing to make any statements pro or con until the bill is actually out. I left wondering whether or not Audubon members throughout the state would feel the same way about giving away a refuge that former Audubon leaders including Helen Engle, Hazel Wolf, Lorna Smith (nee Campion in the 1970s), the Nature Conservancy along with thousands of members and the public had spent a huge amount of time putting in the federal reserve system in the first place. That obviously will be a question to be answered next year.

Filed under: Environmental Activism, environmental education, Environmental Law, Environmental Protection, Environmental Science, Olympic Peninsula, Protection Island | Tagged: | 2 Comments »

PT Mill: Leak was far worse than originally reported

Posted on October 12, 2026 by Al Bergstein

The Seattle Times reported yesterday that the supposed minor leak at the Port Townsend Paper mill was far worse than originally reported. A mill worker became a whistle blower with photos to prove it. He was fired for his efforts. The Times story should shock the complacent in this town.

This blog has reported for over a dozen years of the lack of real oversight by the Washington Department of Ecology, which seems to take an approach that it is in coordination with the mill. Some years ago, an effort promoted by local concerned citizens to do random air sampling to determine whether we were being exposed to toxic chemicals from the smell we all smell at times, found the WDOE sharing that they were going to monitor the mill air during a certain week, and surprise! the mill shut down for maintenance that week. Since the Longview mill tank rupture there has been virtual silence on whether the same tank(s) here may be at risk. A recent sighting of a large crane near one of the tanks led some to wonder if work was being done on it. All this is enough to convince many of us there is little use in expecting the DOE to take our side in an issue. And then there is the Port Townsend Leader, which seems unlikely to report anything seriously criticizing one of the largest employers in the area and the advertising revenue it may represent. The story mentions that U.S. Representative Emily Randall is “looking into it”, and of course that makes us wonder how much money the company may have contributed to her reelection campaign. It’s all of a piece. We who live here are left feeling like victims of a corrupt system, and you can read those thoughts on social media week by week. We wonder whether eating crab from the Bay was safe over the last months. Could Ecology even properly test crab for those chemicals? Doubtful.

The following story is behind a paywall. You can either subscribe to the Times (I hope you do, we need this local reporting) or go the the library to read the whole story for free.

WA paper mill reported minor spill; fired worker warns it was far worse
A company report, accepted by state regulators, said that in late November a hole opened within the bowels of a pulp and paper mill and, briefly, poured a small stream of untreated wastewater into the city’s bay….Washington’s Department of Ecology didn’t investigate. That is, until months later, when John Tippins, a veteran millwright, gave inspectors at Ecology dozens of his own photos and videos from the November spill. He described the episode as “catastrophic,” the worst he had seen. Conrad Swanson reports. (Seattle Times)

Filed under: Admiralty Inlet, Environmental Protection, Jefferson County | Tagged: , , | 1 Comment »

Voting guide for Environmental Supporters

Posted on October 7, 2026 by Al Bergstein

It’s time to get out the vote. As the midterm it’s a smaller slate, but the main action is in the Washington State Supreme Court, seeing a lot of judges needing to be re-elected or to fill a seat that has been vacated. Let’s start with the Initiatives.

IP26-645 Trying to overturn the Millionaires tax – VOTE NO

As it states in the voters pamphlet: This measure would decrease funding for public K-12 education, higher education and healthcare. Need we say more?

IL26-001 Would repeal laws establishing children’s rights. VOTE NO

If passed it would remove commonsense protections for child abuse victims. It requires schools to hand over sensitive information to parents who may be under criminal investigation for rape or other abuse of a child. Additionally, it would remove the legal requirement for a school to immediately notify parents when a crime is reported by a child. It would also put LGBTQ+ children at increased danger of violence and homelessness by outing them to potentially abusive families. The WA State Nurses association opposes this bill.

IL26-638 Would prohibit “biologically male” students from competing in certain school athletic activities, even if they are identifying as female. VOTE NO.

It would require verification of biological sex by the students’ healthcare providers. The requirement is only for boys, not girls. Washington state Nurses association, Planned Parenthood and many doctors oppose this. Many girls without a primary care physician would be subject to genital examinations by total strangers.

Representative District 6 – Emily Randall – Vote for her or leave it blank. As disappointing as Emily Randall has been as a U.S. Representative in her first term, we do not want a Republican with no experience and a supporter of Donald Trump to become another House seat. Fox actually went to the Immigrant detention center and argued with protestors. She supports the ongoing kidnapping and deporting of innocent people who have given this country their tax dollars and worked hard to try and establish a home away from violence.

Randall was one of only 4 Representatives to not show up to stop the bill to end PBS and billions of dollars of foreign aid with no excuse for where she was that night. Randall is supporting giving away our wildlife refuges to Tribal interests, locking the public out of a voice in protecting our most crucial environmental lands. She does not deserve to be returned to office. Vote for her if you will, but leave it blank if you wish. She’s likely to win in a landslide so I doubt any vote is going to count much.

These two incompetents should have a real opponent. Unfortunately this is what the Democratic and Republican parties have chosen to shove at us. Pathetic.

Legislative District 24 – Take your pick: Kaylee Kuehn or Marcia Kelbon. I am endorsing both for different types of voters.

Kaylee Kuehn: Democrats will be voting for Kaylee. She is a very nice person, my interview with her is on this site, my concern is that she is very inexperienced in general, with very little background that would recommend her for the position. She is supported by the unions, so you should expect essentially the same votes as all the other Democrats. She did say she does not support giving Protection Island and Dungeness Spit to the Jamestown S’Klallam, favoring the status quo. She says she is in favor of tax overhaul and universal health coverage. So those are some of the positives. If you are a Democrat that expects the status quo in Olympia, continuing the work that Steve Tharinger was successful at, then Kaylee will probably provide you with that. Given the nightmare budget scenario the State is facing, whoever wins will be looking at significant budget cuts to bring back to the district.

Marcia Kelbon – Independent – Marcia has broken from the Republican party, as her views overlap with Democrats when it comes to a woman’s right to choose, and LGBTQ+ rights. (Her interview is also on this site). By her own admission she was a Democrat for part of her life and a Republican in the past more from a pro business perspective. She did not vote for Trump in primaries and she hoped he would be something better than he was. Her pro business stance is aligned with talking point from both parties in our district. She is what used to be called a Moderate Republican, one who went to the legislature to promote business issues and sometimes supported environmental ones as well. We all know what happened to that party and those voters, who are now called “independents”. But Marcia is a very smart, experienced woman, with a great resume of significant achievement. She is critical of the laws such as the Growth Management Act, and Climate Commitment Act, Democratic achievements that are worthy of being questioned or modified at this point (i.e. is the GMA, done in the early 1990s, really still valid for our counties in 2026? Is the CCA actually reducing CO2 or is it raising taxes on gas and spending it on minor issues, like being used to fund electric ferries? Should they be modified?). She opposes giving the wildlife refuges to the tribes.

My recommendation on Marcia is that if you are a moderate Republican or true Independent who doesn’t support either party, then Marcia is a solid vote for you. If she gets elected, she will likely find herself on the outs by both parties, might have a hard time finding committee assignments, but could be an effective independent vote at times. I doubt she will vote for tax increases. She is more likely to support the timber industry. But she is very likely to vote to support women’s issues, healthcare, alternative energy and other areas that are more traditionally thought of as ‘liberal’.

State Representative District 24 Position 1 – Adam Bernbaum (D) Adam has done a solid job as first term Representative. It’s worth giving him another term to expand on his insight into the way laws are crafted. He is supported by Planned Parenthood, Washington State Labor Council and others.

Judges for the Supreme Court:

Colleen Melody – Yes.

Jamie Michelle Hawk – Yes.

Birk or O’Donnell take your pick – Both highly endorsed by powerhouse supporters. Both rated “Exceptionally well qualified” which is a big deal, according to my wife, who was a lawyer who at one time headed that committee!

Theo Angelis – Yes

Deborah Stevens – Yes.

Clallam County PUD: Randy Brackett

Endorsed by the Olympic Climate Action. Sophisticated understanding of the intertwining of science, technology, economy, politics, and culture. Supports reasoned, incremental development of clean tech, local generation & storage. Wants to be an agent for positive change at the Bonneville Power Administration

Filed under: Clallam County, Environmental Law, Government, Jefferson County, Olympic Peninsula | Tagged: | Leave a comment »

EVENTS: Upcoming events at Fort Flagler

Posted on October 1, 2026 by Al Bergstein

Some great new environmental educational events happening over on Marrowstone Island’s Fort Flagler WWII Theater

Ocean with David Attenborough, 10/15@6:00pm, WWII Theater

Registration:Register for Ocean with…

“Ocean with David Attenborough” is a 2025 National Geographic documentary in which Sir David Attenborough explores Earth’s oceans, their threats, and the hope for large‑scale marine recovery. The documentary highlights the beauty and ecological importance of coral reefs, kelp forests, and the open ocean while addressing industrial fishing, ocean warming, and mass coral bleaching. Attenborough emphasizes that restoring ocean health is essential for planetary stability.

Fort Flagler State Park, WWII Theater

Critters of the Salish Sea: Underwater Photography 10/17 @ 4PM

Registration: Register for Critters…

Larry McGaughey is a retired Environmental Engineer. He spent his career working primarily in Texas and Washington, characterizing and cleaning up contaminated industrial and governmental sites as well as doing environmental permitting. He holds degrees in chemical and environmental engineering. Larry also served 9 years as an interpretation volunteer at the Seattle Aquarium and as a docent for about 2 years at the Port Townsend Maritime Center aquarium.

Larry got his scuba diving certification in 2008, doing open water dives in Puget Sound, just north of Seattle. He soon began cold-water diving regularly, initially logging around 100 dives a year and got his wife and daughters into Puget Sound diving. Larry got his first underwater camera setup in 2010 and started taking photos on almost every dive. Diving and underwater photography have taken him and his wife to Mexico, Honduras, Grenada, Iceland, St. Eustaitius, Turks & Caicos, British Columbia, the Philippines, the Maldives, Palau, and Indonesia.

Fort Flagler State Park, WWII theater

Filed under: environmental education, Events | Leave a comment »

A word from Eleanor Stopps’ Granddaughter about Protection Island

Posted on September 21, 2026 by Al Bergstein
Eleanor Stopps. Named Citizen of the 20th Century in Jefferson County and creator of the Protection Island Wildlife Refuge

Donna Armstrong, Eleanor Stopps granddaughter sent this to me for publication.

Protection Island is more than a place on a map. It is an island in the Strait of Juan de Fuca that provides nesting habitat for tufted puffins, rhinoceros auklets, pigeon guillemots, and many other species. After failed farming and development attempts, parcels were purchased for the purpose of creating a public wildlife refuge. In 1974, Eleanor Stopps (my grandmother) and Fayette Krause of The Nature Conservancy helped create the 48-acre Zella Schultz Washington Seabird Sanctuary.

Over the next decade, Eleanor, Lorna Smith, and many individuals and organizations volunteered to acquire private lots. One example was the “Adopt a Seabird” campaign, which raised $50,000 to purchase 23 lots. I was eight years old when I adopted a seabird.

Now, U.S House of Representative Emily Randall will be sponsoring the Jamestown S’Klallam Land Transfer Act of 2026, which proposes transferring ownership of Protection Island and Dungeness Spit National Wildlife Refuges into trust through the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe.

Eleanor, Lorna, and many others worked tirelessly for years with elected officials and public agencies. In 1982, Congress established Protection Island National Wildlife Refuge, with conservation purposes that included protecting wildlife, scientific research, education, and interpretation.

Since then, Protection Island has been stewarded through collaboration among the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, conservation organizations, scientists, and the public. In August 2024, the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe joined this framework through a co-stewardship agreement, creating opportunities to include Tribal knowledge and perspectives. When environmental challenges arise, this model brings Tribal partners, public agencies, scientists, and managers together for solutions.

Representative Randall’s proposal would repeal the 1982 law and remove Protection Island from national refuge status and the protection that provides. I am firmly against taking this action and I am sure my granddmother would have been also. Protection Island exists today because Eleanor, Fayette, Lorna, and many others gave their time, resources, and determination to establish it from private land. That history is part of public trust, future generations can believe in a democracy that can still work for them.

To learn more, visit the protect refuges website https://protectrefuges.org and People for Protection Island & Dungeness NWR on Facebook People For Protection Island & Dungeness NWR | Facebook

Editor’s Note: Eleanor Stopps was named Citizen of the Century by Jefferson County for her efforts.

Zella Schultz & Eleanor Stopps

Filed under: Environmental Activism, environmental education, Environmental Protection, Jefferson County, Protection Island, Straits of Juan de Fuca | 1 Comment »

A talk with Kaylee Kuehn

Posted on September 4, 2026 by Al Bergstein
Photo provided by the campaign.

I sat down over coffee in Port Townsend with the Democratic candidate for the 24th District Position 2, Kaylee Kuehn. We had a candid talk on a wide range of issues. The following interview was edited for brevity.

Kaylee Kuehn (pronounced Keen) is running for the open seat vacated by long time Olympia powerhouse Steve Tharinger. Kuehn was raised in Sequim, attended Evergreen college, and has a Masters in Education from Grand Canyon University. She is a mother and her husband is a former prosecuting attorney and now serves as an Assistant Attorney General for Clallam and Jefferson counties. She beat out two other Democrats and one Democratic Socialist of America for her place in the fall elections.

The defining factor in her running is her youth. At 28, she does not bring huge range of experience to the position, but does bring a youthful energy and has worked in education as a high school teacher and as a volunteer for a regional union, the Association of Western Pulp & Paper Workers in partnership with Pacific Northwest Regional Strategies. She is the first to admit that she does not have a lot of background on the issues facing the Peninsula.

KK: When I decided to run for this seat I wasn’t spending years of my life planning and prepping for doing this. I’m not trying to sell myself as more knowledgeable or experienced than I am. I can ask questions gather all the information and hopefully make the right decisions. That’s what I’m hoping to bring to this seat. I understand that a lot of people want a politician to come in and make all these sweeping changes and solve everything, and I just don’t view politics that way. I think that is very rare. I think there is a lot of value in pragmatism and balance to decision making about really important things that affect all of us.

Q: Steve Tharinger has been there for a long, long time. Where do you see your differences from Steve? Do you feel like you just take over where he left off, or do you see some, you see some differences between what you bring versus what Steve brings?

K.K: I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Steve several times, talking with him, and getting to know him a little bit more, and now that I’ve made it through the primary, he’s now gotten involved in the race. I see that we’ll be similar in a lot of ways, how we treat people.

I think where we differ is just our perspectives. I think the biggest difference will be that I am a young working mom. I’ve been riffed from a union job before. I know what that feels like. I know what it’s like to move every single year because of the rising costs of rent. But I would also like to bring my voice to this because I think that in the 24th, we’ve had nobody liked me before. With so many more working families living throughout the district, I think it’s good to have someone who actually has experience with the challenges that we face.

Q: What committees are you wanting to be assigned to if you win?

KK: I don’t have specific committees I am targeting. I think what’s important as a legislator is understanding how the process works. I would like to be on a fiscal committee, maybe on a policy committee. I was thinking about education, coming from that world. Adam (Bernbaum, the other Representative in the 24th) is going to be on healthcare and transportation, they don’t put freshmen on appropriations, so the capital budget makes sense for me. And perhaps housing. I think that would be a really impactful way that I could make a difference for our district, because it does come up so much.

Q: What do you think that you can actually address in housing?

KK: I do think we get very focused on process over outcome. So with housing in particular, I talked to so many people who said, I want to be able to make my property livable for somebody. I want to be able to rent it out. But the financial and timeline barriers are too much for virtually every person I talked to. And I think at the state level, we can ease those requirements. There’s probably something in between that just gets people housed and gets people into a situation where they can work towards.

Q: That sort of circles to the Growth Management Act (GMA).What do you think that needs to be fixed or changed in it?

KK: It’s pretty important. I’m not a planner. I don’t have those answers right now. I would like to understand it. There are definitely areas where I am not there yet about knowing the specifics of what I would like to propose or change, but I will learn it, and do what’s right for folks.

OPEN: What are your priorities?

KK: Number one, I would like to talk to the cost of living, affordability. I know that it’s a very big area. I am supporting the millionaire’s tax. I do think that it’s horrific that we have the second most regressive tax system in the United States. I don’t want to push business out. I feel like I want to be a friend to business and to understand the issues and want to keep them here. I also think that there have to be decisions that ultimately level the playing field. We need to be a lot more open to embracing just everyone having an equitable share so the burden isn’t more on working folks.

Q: The Climate Commitment Act (CCA) has been very controversial. We’re using the money (from the CCA) to build new electric ferries. That great. But I thought that the goal was to reduce carbon? And it’s causing the state to add more taxes to gas for blue collar people. So what do you say to those people?

KK: I was one of the only ones in the primary other than Marcia to be critical of the CCA. With the CCA, this is something that people have very strong feelings about. I just think that we have to look at, like, practical outcomes. It would benefit us politically, to not keep raising regressive taxes. We say there are benefits, but actually, a lot of people, especially out here, don’t see them. They feel they get hurt by them.

Q: So where do you cut the budget?

KK: I’ll bring up a kind of controversial thing, you know? One of the best things that we’ve done in Washington, I think, is implement paid family medical. It’s also a massive part of our budget. People say, why did the budget get so, so much higher? It’s because of things like this that are really good. I got a benefit from that (law), to stay home with my daughter for a long time and my husband did also.

But that’s a giant part of our budget. I think we shouldn’t be cutting from anything that has to do with children. Cutting the budget, it’s not just numbers to me, it’s real outcomes.

Q: So where do you cut? I mean, you have a pie that’s just so big. Right? We just don’t have the revenue stream to be able to do everything that we used to do or want to do, and so where do you see yourself supporting cuts? Former Governors Gregoire and Locke along with Ferguson say you have to cut. Would you support an across the board 5% of everything? Or only a specific cuts?

KK: I think I think it would come down to what makes the least direct impact? So unfortunately, if there’s some type of subsidy or something, or a decision like taking away spots that kids would have had to transition into kindergarten. I would not want to cut there. I am obviously not against kids getting school lunches. In an ideal world, we just would have all kids get free lunches all the time. But we probably need means testing. I work and I can afford to give my child lunch and pack their lunch for school. I think most people, that are lower middle class can do that. And I’m gonna piss some people off, saying that, but why not?

Q: On the environment, there is this whole issue of forest cutting. Out in Port Angeles right now there’s many environmentalists I know fighting for saving these small older growth parcels. $40,000, I think, is what Port Angeles would have gotten or will get, whatever, from that cut. So that’s something that they needed to budget for, and now that’s $40,000 out of their budgets for schools and police and all the rest. That’s mainly handled by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) but I would assume that the legislature has some impact in being able to talk to DNR about budgeting issues.

KK: I think that one thing that’s kind of misunderstood is that a lot of this land, when it’s being sold, was already designated as needing to be sold. I’m kind of unsympathetic, because I understand that people want to protect these old growth trees. I would also like to, but to what extent, to what end? And what are we missing by doing that?

Q: Have you talked to those folks that are opposing the cut out there?

KK: You mean has every side has been talking to me? Yes. I had lunch this past weekend with Dave UptheGrove (the director of DNR). It was a great chance to sit down, ’cause I’m getting pressured on both sides. I agreed not to take timber money, and now I’m getting timber folks saying, can we send you campaign money? You know, for me, the funding thing. I’ll take all the campaign contributions I can get because now I’m not bought and I don’t care what anybody thinks. My vote is not bought by anybody. Someone wants to help me pay for my childcare (by donating to my campaign). They can. They get a meeting just as much as any other constituent would get a meeting and small business owner. Nothing comes above my constituency, if I’m elected.

Q: So have you made a decision yet on this issue?

KK: I just haven’t made up my mind yet. This is probably the biggest area out of any other policy area where I feel like I cannot, in good conscience, make a firm decision right now about what type of policy I’m gonna make, because I want to look it. I with talked with our mills and the industry and union were very aligned. because they’re concerned we’ve had so many mill closures.

Q: What are your thoughts about the Protection Island / Dungeness Spit Land transfer. Have you come down, one way or another, on what’s going on with this possible land transfer, that U.S. Representative Emily Randall is promoting?

KK: I know. I heard her talk about it at the little recent meeting. Yeah very contentious right now. I understand that.

I haven’t got the tribal perspective from it. I was hoping to sit down with Ron Allen but we haven’t managed to get together yet. The biggest concern is that it’s their sovereign status. Once they get the land they get to make their own decision and we don’t have any way to have input. Emily Randall said that there’s going to be a lot of conversations before this happens. It is not going to pass for several years if it even does, and we’re really going to work on it and get a lot of public comment. And at the end of the day, it is just the fact that it’s transferring it over and we’ll have no say. The US government would have no say in it.

I’m interested to hear different perspectives. I’m not saying I don’t have an opinion on it. One issue that I really do understand, and I take it very highly right now. is that I don’t I don’t trust the Trump administration.

Q: No, I don’t either.

KK: I don’t trust them (the Trump Administration) to manage it properly. What is great is that, like you said, it’s a co-management right now.

OPEN: What are your thoughts about your opponent, Marcia Kelbon?

KK: I really respect her independence. But to do this job, to be effective, to be able to secure funding for, is it a department or a district, to be able get in the majority caucus room and have be a voice for our district. You have to play the system. You have to. You have to understand it.

Last night (at the Marrowstone debate) she was very optimistic. That whole thing (about having a voice in Olympia) came up, and she said, “Well, I think that I can build a relationship with people.” I don’t doubt that. But Olympia is a machine. It’s serious. I mean no disrespect to my opponent. But no one cares about one person’s agenda. They really don’t. They have stuff to get done. Everyone’s got their own little game. And it’s sad, I think, but that that’s how it works.”

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An Independent Challenges Democrats On The Olympic Peninsula

Posted on August 19, 2026 by Al Bergstein

Over coffee in Port Townsend, I met with Marcia Kelbon, the independent candidate for State House of Representatives in Washington’s 24th Legislative District. The district spans the liberal stronghold of Port Townsend, the retirement community of Sequim, blue-collar Port Angeles, multiple Tribal reservations, and the economically struggling region of Grays Harbor County. She arrived on her Harley, from her home in the small town of Quilcene along Hood Canal. The Harley is not the only unusual thing about Mrs. Kelbon. She is a former Republican who has left the party to challenge for a State House seat that has been solidly in Democratic control for a couple of decades.


Mrs. Kelbon has an extensive professional background which includes work as a civil engineer, senior executive for a biopharmaceutical company and as a patent attorney. Her law degree is from the University of Washington. She currently serves as Fire Commissioner in Quilcene. She describes her family home as a “tree farm” located next to Rayonier forests whose clear cutting has raised concerns from her about the herbicides used after harvest.


Kelbon left the Republican party over platform disagreements in order to launch an independent bid for the open seat vacated by retiring Representative Steve Tharinger. She won a spot on the November ballot primarily because the Democrats split their vote between three candidates and a Democratic Socialist of America.


Q: What caused your split from the Republican party”


MK: “Well, I always disagreed with a number of issues, including hard-right stances by some in the party on abortion and marriage, and the party’s enthusiasm for Donald Trump. Contrary to what some claim, I did not vote for Donald Trump as a candidate in the primaries of 2016, preferring instead John Kasich of Ohio. I am dissatisfied with party extremes on both sides. As an independent I aim to bring a moderate point of view to the race and the legislature.”


Q. I understand that you support abortion access and LGBTQ+ rights. Those are positions usually thought of as Democratic positions. Are there other issues related to this that are not aligned with the Democrats?”


MK: “I don’t support minors undergoing gender-affirmation surgeries. I believe children are too easily swayed into irreversible decisions before knowing who they truly are.”


Q. What is your position on immigration?


MK: “I support closing the borders to stop illegal drug and human trafficking. But I don’t support the deportation of immigrants who aren’t criminals – we should instead create paths to green cards. We need immigrants in many sectors.” She named high tech and medicine as areas needing more immigrants to fill roles.


Her position on healthcare comes from personal experience.
MK: “I raised three children, all of whom were adopted including one through the foster care system. Two of our adult children have used the Affordable Care Act.”


She advocates the idea of a base support of government provided healthcare without insurers making profit in the mix, allowing everyone to get some coverage. She believes that would save a huge amount of money while obtaining better outcomes by getting insurance companies out of the job of providing basic healthcare insurance. While a great goal, that has proven to be almost impossible for either party to get close to doing.


Q. “What new ideas would you bring to the issue of criminal justice and the linked issue of addiction?”


MK: “Some people on the streets, not all – truly have had a stroke of bad luck or bad experience. But for many, there are issues of addiction and mental illness. Our current approaches… don’t appear to be effective in stabilizing people and preventing them from getting worse. Sheriffs and police chiefs tell me that the current gross misdemeanor penalty is not enough. I would like to restore a felony penalty for knowing possession of hard drugs – not so we can lock people up and throw away the key, but so that we can convince people to get into drug court and treatment rather than jail. I would also like to fund adequate facilities for addiction and mental health treatment.”


Q. “We have a lot of people wanting solutions to entry level homes for lower income people. What concrete ideas do you have for helping get more homes built here on the Peninsula?”


MK: “My father-in-law was a union electrician, and we have completed several builds, including with solar, so I do understand the issues facing the building trades. I would support revising the latest energy code applying to residential construction based more on a cost/benefit analysis. We have to lower the cost of buying homes for young buyers. I would also like to modify the Growth Management Act to make it easier to build in village centers.”


Q. “Taxes are something that Republicans always are complaining about, wanting to drive down taxes. What’s your position on taxation. What makes you different?”


MK: “Our current tax structure is inequitable, but layering an income tax on top of the current regressive sales tax system is not the answer. While voters have time and again rejected an income tax, I suspect they might support a comprehensive restructuring of state taxes that does not increase the overall tax burden. I am willing to collaborate with either party on meaningful tax changes.”


Kelbon remains opposed to the proposed land transfer of Protection Island and Dungeness Spit to the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe.

Mk: “I am not in favor of that transfer at this time,” she explained. “I am concerned about commercial oyster farming and potential herbicide applications on Protection Island.” She also wondered about whether the Elwha and Port Gamble S’Klallam are supporting this land transfer.


Her path to victory is uncertain. She is banking on the fact that while Jefferson County remains solidly Democratic, Clallam and Grays Harbor counties are more conservative.

Even if she does win, it is unclear what she can accomplish in Olympia. Committee assignments are assigned by the two main parties. With the Democrats holding a large majority, it could be very hard to find an assignment. But that’s a long ways off. Until November, she needs to convince independents, disillusioned Republicans, as well as the people who never vote to turn out for her in this huge geographic district. She is trying to do that with a minimal campaign staff. That is not a small challenge. But if she can win and bring an ability to force the Democrats to modify positions to accommodate her vote, it could see some new policies that bring change to the Peninsula.

Filed under: Government, Olympic Peninsula | Tagged: , , , , , | 5 Comments »

Tribes seek ownership of National Wildlife Refuges in the Salish Sea

Posted on June 23, 2026 by Al Bergstein

Exclusive to the Olympic Peninsula Environmental News

Protection Island National Wildlife Refuge

In a surprising statement Monday in a meeting of the Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners, Jamestown S’Klallam Chairman and CEO Ron Allen stated that a number of tribes in the Salish Sea and coastal waters seek to transfer ownership of National Wildlife Refuges (NWR) and incorporate them into their tribal reservations.

This proposed transfer of numerous public lands to private entities like the tribes, is unusual and raises questions about the process of transfer of public lands out of public hands.

Chairman Allen came to the meeting to discuss the proposed “Land Transfer of Dungeness Spit and Protection Island”, and was commenting on this transfer to the three County Commissioners (and public in attendance) when he mentioned that this land transfer is only part of a larger effort by all the tribes to take back public lands that are National Wildlife Refuges. He said that the Makah tribe was seeking land transfers of three properties off the coast, the Nisqually were looking to transfer one adjacent to theirs, and the Lummi Nation or Swinomish (he wasn’t sure which) were looking to transfer the San Juan Islands Wildlife Refuge.

“…Because we know (the) Makah’s going to go after the three (refuges) on the coast. And we’re pretty certain that (the) Lummi or “Swin” (Swinomish) will go after the San Juan (reserve)… We know that that once we get this done they’re gonna go after the other three or four.” Allen said.

He went on about the Nisqually Tribe: “…There’s other tribes doing exactly the same thing just like this…. They’re (The Nisqually Tribe) are always pursuing the refuge in their area in Nisqually Valley area.” It is likely that what Chairman Allen was referring to was the current Nisqually Clear Creek Land Transfer Act of 2026 which is sponsored by Representative Marilyn Strickland and Senators Cantwell and Murray. The tribe is in the process of having U.S. Fish and Wildlife transfer buildings at the hatchery which sits on tribal land to the tribe. It is not seeking to transfer the Billie Frank National Wildlife Refuge to them at this point, but Allen’s comments raise questions about the future of the refuge.

There are six maritime National Wildlife Refuges in Washington State managed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. They are considered the Washington Maritime National Wildlife Refuge Complex:

They include:

The Jamestown S’Klallam currently have been in a co-management agreement with Fish and Wildlife, being paid approximately $800,000 for their work on Protection Island and Dungeness Spit. It is unclear if the Trump administration would be in favor of granting these annual funds if the properties were no longer owned by the Federal Government. It is agreed by all parties that they have been doing exemplary work for the government, and their ability is not being questioned. There have been no calls from the Trump Administration, the Federal government nor the State government to transfer these two particular lands. The request has come only from the Tribe and not from the public. Many public comments ask that nothing change in the relationship.

Washington U.S. Representative Emily Randall (D) has been in talks with the tribe for months if not years, and has openly acknowledged her support of the goal of a land transfer of Dungeness Spit and Protection Island to the Tribe. At a recent public meeting Representative Randall seemed taken aback at the level of public concern over the transfer. The public has only been aware of this land transfer since April. The Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners, City of Sequim and Clallam County Commissioners meetings have been the only local way for the public to comment in person despite this being a federal issue. The Clallam County County Commissioners meetings have been very contentious. The lack of federal sponsored meetings from Randall on the subject is unusual, given the outpouring of negative comments at both counties meetings.

The Trump Administration has been giving up public lands like these refuges as part of their announced Project 2025, which calls for government to get out of the vaguely worded business of “conservation”. In Texas, the administration is in the process of giving away part of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge in south Texas to SpaceX in exchange for other properties by SpaceX. A lawsuit has been filed on June 10th to stop this transfer.

Chairman Allen said that they took a big ad in the Peninsula Daily News and Port Townsend Leader because they wanted to be as transparent as they possibly could be …but he added, “Congresswoman Randall asked us to kind of back off on it and we said, okay, that’s fine.” (emphasis mine) This raises the question of whether Congresswoman Randall asked the Tribe to not advertise their intentions to the public.

Washington Senator Maria Cantwell has also been in discussion with the Tribe but has not yet fully committed to the transfer and would like to see more public input, according to a person who discussed it with her staff. However she has not held any public meetings on this. There has been no mention of the Governor being involved in the discussions at this time, but it could be deduced that this kind of large scale planning would have been mentioned at some point to him.

This reporter has seen the draft bill that has been written by tribal lawyers that is assumed to be entered into the U.S. Congress at some near future date. The draft bill does not contain any legally binding language that would protect the island, spit, nor the nearshore waters that are owned by DNR from the tribe using it for commercial aquaculture. The concern by the environmental community is that the rare protected species on the island feed off the marine flora and fauna of the waters and beaches around the island. Creating a monoculture “farm” could impact the amount of food available for the birds. The current tribal council and Chairman Allen claim they have no plans. But it is easy to petition the Washington State Department of Natural Resources to open privately held shoreline to commercial use. DNR have a long history of supporting aquaculture and the State of Washington legally views aquaculture as a desired commercial priority. Once it becomes part of tribal lands, it would also be exempt from state or federal oversight as negotiations would be nation to nation based on treaty law.

The Protection Island National Wildlife Reserve was created in 1982 after almost 20 years of work by bird lovers Zella Schultz, Eleanor Stopps and the coordination with Seattle Audubon. It is the breeding ground of most of Puget Sound’s glaucous wing gulls as well as rare Tufted Puffins and Rhinoceros auklets. It’s creation was supported by virtually all the Washington State federal and state senators and representatives, including Senators Warren Magnuson, Henry Jackson and Slade Gorton along with Republican governor John Spellman.

The tribe has admitted that they look forward to writing their own rules for use of the island. In an interview in the local Port Townsend Leader Tribal Vice Chair Loni Greninger stated, “If we’re able to have that fuller ownership instead of co-management, then I don’t have to rely on any other government and their rules and regulations. I can take my deeper regulations from an ancestral standpoint and be able to infuse that and implement it.”

Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our website.

Filed under: Clallam County, Government, Jefferson County, Olympic Peninsula, Straits of Juan de Fuca, Washington State | Tagged: , , | 12 Comments »

Gray whale safe haven in Puget Sound takes on new significance amid population decline

Posted on October 7, 2026 by Al Bergstein

Puget Sound and the greater Salish Sea have become something of a safe haven for gray whales. Why they are dying is still somewhat of a mystery, with starvation being one of a number of causes due to changes in the ocean, some brought on by our use of fossil fuels, aka Climate Change.

Almost 200 gray whales have washed up dead along the West Coast in 2026. A small group of gray whales who feed in Puget Sound is surprisingly central to understanding the crisis. Sarah DeWeerdt reports. (Salish Sea Currents Magazine)

Graphic by NOAA (UMEs are Unusual Mortality Events)

Filed under: Climate Change, Environmental Protection, Environmental Science, Global Warming, Salish Sea | Leave a comment »

Pump the Brakes on the West Coast Oil Pipeline, Washington Says

Posted on September 30, 2026 by Al Bergstein

The Tyee is reporting that there is a letter that was written by the director of the state’s Department of Ecology to the government of Canada, urging them not to fast track the West Coast pipeline. This is just another example of the outcome of Trump‘s insanity, he has given the Canadian government the ammunition to be able to push even more oil through to the West Coast and threaten everyone’s waters here. I want to remind you that an election is coming up and we need to do everything we can to make sure that Democrats take control of at least one of the houses of power in Washington.

The state of Washington is urging the Mark Carney government not to fast-track the new West Coast oil pipeline, saying shared waters are “too valuable” to expedite a project that could lead to a catastrophic oil spill and harm ecosystems and the maritime economy.

In a Sept. 18 letter to the government, Casey Sixkiller, director of the state’s Department of Ecology, wrote that the proposed pipeline would double the volume of crude oil exported through the Salish Sea.

“Not only would this increase the risk of an oil spill exponentially, but the spill response resources available on both sides of the border are not sized for the risks” posed by larger oil tankers travelling more frequently, Sixkiller wrote in the letter to Dominic LeBlanc, minister for Canada-U.S. trade, intergovernmental affairs, internal trade and One Canadian Economy.

Read the whole story at the Tyee. Support local journalism, subscribe..

https://thetyee.ca/News/2026/09/29/Pump-Brakes-West-Coast-Oil-Pipeline/

Filed under: Around the Salish Sea, Environmental Protection, Straits of Juan de Fuca | Tagged: | Leave a comment »

WA public lands commissioner scales back order protecting older forests

Posted on September 26, 2026 by Al Bergstein

The Seattle Times reported on the 24th about the change in rules for older forests, due to the extreme budget problems Olympia is facing. The head of DNR is caught between the legal requirements of his job as currently legislated and the demands of environmental activists wanting to protect remaining older growth forests. The money from this logging helps cities like Port Angeles meet their budgets for critical local services. It will be up to the legislature to fix this problem starting in January. If you care about this, you should write your state Senator and Representatives now.

“Without the (legislative) tools Upthegrove is pursuing, the roughly 55,000 acres could be included in timber sales after 2030. Staff estimates based on similar forests suggest that with no change to state policies, managing these 55,000 acres in ways other than traditional harvest would result in tens of millions of dollars lost.“

Read the whole story in the Seattle Times. Support local journalism. Subscribe to the Times.

WA-Public-Lands-Commissioner-Story

Filed under: Clallam County, Environmental Activism, Environmental Law, Environmental Protection, Jefferson County, legislation, Olympic Peninsula | Tagged: , , , | Comments Off on WA public lands commissioner scales back order protecting older forests

Protection Island: 1st Public Meeting with Randall’s staff.

Posted on September 25, 2026 by Al Bergstein

Read the whole article on my new Substack site: https://olyopen.substack.com

Citizens showed up to be treated to a Zoom rather than a real person in attendance. Photo courtesy of Darrell Smith.

On Wednesday, Sept 23rd, the opponents of the land transfer proposal that U.S. Representative Emily Randall is getting ready to introduce into Congress, finally got an opportunity to talk directly to her staff about their points of view. It did not go well.

Staff members had originally said they would have one person there, so people came expecting to hear them and instead were only allowed a “Zoom” call, and Representative Randall decided not to attend at all. (Congress is currently out so she was in the area). If the staff would have simply started by saying they would not be in attendance, perhaps a larger audience would have attended online.

Her staff gave a short overview of the “process” that the draft bill is going through at the moment, stating that:

  1. It was a process started in 2025. (it was not made public until spring 2026).
  2. It was already going through the backchannels of Congress to prepare for Randall to present it to Congress.
  3. “There is a long way to go”. One staffer said.
  4. Finally, “It’s only the start of the process and you still have an opportunity to put your feedback into it.”

The last sentence received a roomful of boos from the 30 or so people in attendance.

I think that the staff member did not fully understand that a bill that was being discussed behind closed doors for over a year by Ron Allen of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and the Representative of hundreds of thousands of constituents who have not had a chance to comment on it , was not at a point anyone would call, “the start of the process”. The bill is very far along the “process” and Representative Randall still has not held a public meeting with her present to discuss it at all. Once proposed into Congress, the public will have little opportunity to realistically kill this proposal as the meetings are likely to be held in Washington D.C. and Randall is making no promises yet to hold meetings throughout her district.

There is also the small fact that Chairman Allen has donated over $1000 for the last two years, along with the Jamestown S’Klallam donating over $9000 to her campaign. This makes the whole sordid issue seem like a back room deal done for money and votes. No one other than the Tribe has asked for this transfer to happen. Other S’Klallam Tribes apparently were not consulted nor have weighed in as to why they are getting nothing out of this, odd because it is part of the “usual and accustomed” land from the 1855 Treaty that all of them share.

Ron Allen himself has said that other tribes like the Makah and Lummi have been looking at this to decide whether to ask for other National Wildlife Refuges. When asked whether Representative Randall was in talks with them as well, since the Makah, Quinault, Hoh and Quileute are in her district, her staff did not reply.

The meeting was hosted by Lorna and Darrell Smith. Lorna was one of the original people who worked with Eleanor Stopps to create the wildlife refuge in the 1980s. Without their work, the Tribe would have no opportunity to ask for it back, as it would have become a white man’s subdivision.

Many people got up to ask questions of Randall’s staff. Very few questions were answered. No one asking them was in support of the transfer. One surprise guest was Marcia Kelbon, who is the independent running for the State House position given up by Steve Tharinger. Mrs. Kelbon stated she was opposed to the land transfer. It was gratifying to see a person running for state Congress come out and state a position on the issue.

What is Randall thinking? Neither Clallam nor Jefferson County commissioners have come out in support of this, mainly due to the extremely negative public feedback on this proposal. And Senator Murray and Cantwell have yet to weigh in.

This entire exercise is a P.R. disaster for the young, naive Representative Randall. While she has been anointed the Representative of the 24th district, she is a shadow of the former representative, Derek Kilmer. Kilmer had better political instinct than to take on an issue like this without getting significant public input first. Unfortunately, no one was willing to run against Randall, so the Democrats gave us no choice but to not vote or support her.

Filed under: Environmental Law, Environmental Protection, First Nations, Jefferson County, legislation, Olympic Peninsula | Tagged: , , , , | 2 Comments »

Judge allows transfer of land in wildlife refuge to SpaceX, for now – NY Times

Posted on September 21, 2026 by Al Bergstein

As we see across the nation, the Trump administration is dumping National Wildlife Refuges to private entities like SpaceX. This Trump nominated judge is going along with it. The plaintiffs will be appealing up the court system. It raises the question of why is U.S. Representative Emily Randall running the playbook of Project 2025 and attempting to dump our local national wildlife refuges to the privately held Jamestown Tribe? Especially since we are so close to an election that we are hoping will turn the tide in Congress?

SpaceX’s operations have caused significant damage to the fragile bird habitat surrounding the launch site, according to a New York Times investigation. A rocket launch in 2024 sent debris flying into the refuge, crushing birds’ nests and igniting a small fire, the investigation found.

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/judge-allows-transfer-of-land-in-wildlife-refuge-to-spacex-for-now

Filed under: Environmental Law, Environmental Protection, Government, legislation | Tagged: , , | 5 Comments »

Trump administration moves to gut a core endangered species protection 

Posted on September 18, 2026 by Al Bergstein

We knew that this would be coming. And here it is.
In what would be a seismic shift, the Trump administration is quietly moving to strip a core protection of the Endangered Species Act. At the center of the change is what it means to “take” an endangered animal, something that has long been prohibited under the act. Under a new interpretation of the law’s language outlined in the memo, the accidental killing or injury of an animal would no longer be considered illegal; only actions specifically intending to target an animal would. The change would be transformative because, in the United States, the killing of endangered animals almost always happens incidentally, in the course of economic activity. Catrin Einhorn reports. (NY Times) 

Filed under: Endangered Species, Environmental Law, Environmental Protection | Comments Off on Trump administration moves to gut a core endangered species protection 

State of Washington DOE fines Port Townsend Mill record fine

Posted on September 17, 2026 by Al Bergstein
PTPC Aerator Ponds (courtesy of Google Earth)

The Seattle Times is covering the story of the Washington State Dept. of Ecology (DOE) issuing the largest fine ever to the Port Townsend Paper Company (PTPC) for it’s Glen Cove paper mill. The violations that occurred related to the aeration ponds malfunctioning and the actual removal of some of the aeration equipment comes in the wake of the disasterous rupture of a badly maintained tank at a Longview mill that killed 11 and injured more.

This could be the reason for the increasing reports of excessive mill odor reported on Next Door for many months by local residents around the Port Townsend neighborhoods.

After decades of local complaints to DOE it appears that the cozy relationship with the mill owners may be over. As usual that took a disaster with deaths and serious injuries. The Mill<>DOE relationship led to one event in which the mill was given advanced notice of State air quality monitoring, which not surprisingly allowed it to shut down for “maintainence” the week of the monitoring . While Mill shutdowns are scheduled long in advance, the timing of this by both parties was suspect.

The inspections that led to the fines happened almost a year ago, which makes one wonder how long a pollution violation may go before DOE actually does something about it.

The Times quotes DOE as saying, “Other portions of the aeration system were malfunctioning or had been removed.”

These aeration systems are critical to reducing the smell that permeates the area. During periods of calm winds the smell can move into large areas of Port Townsend, causing many people to report headaches and other unusual ailments that were not present prior to the air pollution cloud moving uptown. The pollution is also highly variable to the prevailing winds, which usually blow the smell out to the Bay. When the winds shift from the South or simply stop altogether the reports of the smell increase.

The mill is important to the town and county due to the hundreds of jobs at stake. Paper mills have been shutting down for decades, leaving a legacy of highly toxic soils. Many are Superfund sites. In Port Angeles, the Federal government has simply been up fences and cleanup is just in the discussion phase as it has been for over a decade.

The full article can be found on the Seattle Times web site. Please support the Times with your subscriptions as it remains one of the only local independent newspapers in the Pacific Northwest.

WA fines Port Townsend paper mill for chemical spill, poor maintenance

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/climate-lab/wa-fines-port-townsend-paper-mill-for-chemical-spill-poor-maintenance/

Filed under: Environmental Protection, Jefferson County, Port Townsend | 1 Comment »

Beach cleanup event at multiple locations Saturday 

Posted on September 17, 2026 by OlyOpen

from the Washington State Parks

OLYMPIA — Washington State Parks will co-host the International Coastal Cleanup at beaches on the Pacific Coast and Salish Sea on Saturday.

The annual event, co-sponsored by Washington Coastsavers, is conducted on the third Saturday in September.

So far this year, Coastal Cleanup volunteers have collected more than 162,000 pounds of debris from Washington beaches.

Events will take place at the following locations: 

• Fort Flagler State Park, with check-in from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at The Resort at Port Ludlow, 1 Heron Road, Port Ludlow.

• Fort Worden, with check-in from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center, 502 Harbor Defense Way, Port Townsend.

A Discover Pass is required for vehicle access to state-managed lands.

Washington Coastsavers also will support cleanups at: 

• The western Strait of Juan de Fuca, with check-in at the Clallam Bay/Sekiu Visitor Center, 16753 state Highway 112, Clallam Bay, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

• The eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca, with check-in at Harborview Park, 700 Ediz Hook Road, Port Angeles, from 9 a.m. to noon.

Volunteers should come prepared for variable weather conditions, wear sturdy footwear and bring a packed lunch with plenty of water.

To ensure a successful cleanup please be prepared to:

-spend time walking over uneven and slippery surfaces

-be able to walk over 1-mile carrying debris (some beaches will require more walking)

-wear proper footwear, layers and plan for inclement weather

-bring water, snacks and your own gloves if you have them

For more information, visit www.coastsavers.org

The following link has specifics for where to go at all different locations on the western coast, as well as along the Strait of Juan de Fuca

ICC 2026

ICC 2026

Media contact

Name Emily Masseth
Department Communications
Email media@parks.wa.gov

Filed under: Olympic Peninsula | Tagged: , | Comments Off on Beach cleanup event at multiple locations Saturday 

Trout Unlimited & the Hoh Tribe restore Owl Creek

Posted on September 2, 2026 by OlyOpen

Some good news for all of us. Restoration is one wing of the environmental movement (activism is the other). This is good restoration work. From the Trout Unlimited web site.

On the Olympic Peninsula, Owl Creek, a tributary of the iconic coastal Hoh River, lost its natural logjams after immense flooding over two decades ago.

This past year, Trout Unlimited and the Hoh Tribe brought them back. Twenty-two engineered logjams, over a mile of stream, were built by helicopter to restore stream habitat and function. These logjams slow the water, capture sediment, sort spawning gravel and carve out the pools young salmon and steelhead need to thrive.

Almost immediately, Hoh Tribe and TU staff found Chinook and coho salmon taking advantage of the new habitat soon after the first autumn rains

“Kʷokʷolísdo Ḳ̓á yika xa’bil-ts” means “restoring Owl Creek” in Quileute, a Chimakuan language traditionally spoken in coastal indigenous communities. The translation was provided by the Hoh Tribe. The Hoh watershed—including Owl Creek—is part of the Hoh Tribe’s Treaty-reserved Usual and Accustomed area. The Tribe has been fishing for salmon and steelhead, and stewarding these lands, since time immemorial.

For the video only:

https://youtu.be/lwvEiLY_Gns?is=_WBCcnjF1MliUwUp

Here’s the blog on from Trout Unlimited.

Restoring Owl Creek |  Kʷokʷolísdo Ḳ̓á yika xa’bil-ts

Filed under: Environmental Protection, First Nations, Olympic Peninsula | Tagged: , , | Comments Off on Trout Unlimited & the Hoh Tribe restore Owl Creek

New Canadian Tariffs Crush State Businesses

Posted on August 26, 2026 by Al Bergstein

Trump’s insane tariff battle hurts the very businesses who love his deregulation.

Today’s Seattle Times has an article detailing the crushing blow to Washington State businesses due to King Trump’s personal vendetta with our Canadian neighbors.

Washington State does a huge business with Canada, from exports of a wide variety of products to tourism. Canada is our number two trading partner (China of course is first but much a lot of that trade is made up of Boeing planes). Many of these tariffs hurt industries that have loved having Trump’s deregulation to do away with environmental concerns. It appears that Trump has bit the hand that has fed him.

Times columnist Danny Westneat stated in his article on the tariff war:

Last year, Canadian visitors to Seattle plunged by 600,000, from 1.7 million in 2024 to 1.1 million, Visit Seattle announced last month. Canadian tourist revenue dropped by $215 million just in Seattle, the group estimated.

We just were recovering from that previous fiasco in the last months, but now it may be even worse than that.

A separate article behind the Times paywall points out that the hardest hit agricultural industry is shellfish, and the largest shellfish grower is Taylor Shellfish. This blog has documented over the last twenty years the lobbying against regulations on their industry, including undermining Marine Resources Committees in the north Sound while buying their support by offering to help with the restoration of Olympia Oysters. Their employees showed up to jeer anti-net pen lecturers and a manager of their Jefferson County operations attacked anti-net pen leaders like Alexandra Morton. The company has fought lawsuits by local landowners in the Hood Canal and Puget Sound that have attempted to slow their relentless conversion of virgin bays and shorelines into industrial monoculture aquaculture farms. The industry has spent a minimum of tens of thousands of dollars lobbying in Olympia and Washington D.C. with success. As significant employers in these small rural counties they have supported both Democrat and Republican politicians who hew to their demands in Olympia. I have no doubt that they supported and were thrilled at Trump getting elected a second time. They likely saw his new regime as one that would finally eliminate environmental regulations entirely. And that has been happening.

Now, they unfortunately have found out the cost of that support.

Trump’s insane decisions have not only affected the shellfish industry but might also sink our local paper mill. While I am not clear how much of their output gets shipped to Canada, they are owned by a Wall Street firm (Atlas Holdings) that has also owned a Canadian paper mill that is a sister company to Port Townsend Paper. Crown Packaging is a large corrugated packaging facility in British Columbia. Additionally, there may be sawdust supply that comes from mills in Canada by barge, given the strength of the U.S. dollar to purchase Canadian raw materials at a discount to U.S. ones. The mill in Port Townsend runs on a slim profit margin, and a huge tariff could conceivably see the closure of the mill.

According to the Times article, Washington State sells $460 million in paper and paper board goods to Canada.

The closure of the Port Townsend mill would be an economic disaster to the town and the Peninsula. Many of the mill employees live out of town, due to high costs of living in Port Townsend. Their incomes help prop up not only P.T. but also the towns they live in, like Sequim and Port Angeles.

So we wait to see whether Trump wakes up tomorrow and is given a sound tongue lashing behind closed doors in the White House and changes his mind. He seems to take great relish in attacking “Blue” states like Washington, giving us far less FEMA support for our wildfire victims, the majority of whom likely voted for him, since they live in districts that went heavily Republican in all three of the last elections. While he thinks he is simply hurting Canada, the real victims are his supporters in industries across this state.

Filed under: Around the Sound, Clallam County, Government, Jefferson County, Jobs, legislation, Politics | Tagged: , | 3 Comments »

How a WA lab tests shellfish for dangerous toxins

Posted on August 25, 2026 by Al Bergstein

The Seattle Times covers an incredibly important but little known lab that checks local shellfish for toxins. Given the recent closing of virtually all shellfish harvesting in the Hood Canal and nearby, this is worth reading. One of the scientists in the lab is quoted as saying that the recent closure was the worse outbreak he’s seen in 25 years. Another small example of the issues we face with global warming from our never ending use of fossil fuels.

The story is behind the Seattle Times paywall, but I recommend supporting the work of the Times.

Here at the Washington State Department of Health’s humble (read: small) public health lab, scientists process hundreds of samples of shellfish each week to help keep people safe from illness. If you like to shuck ‘em, enjoy a chowder or geoduck ceviche, these are some of the people you can thank. And their work is becoming more important as Washington warms due to climate change.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/climate-lab/how-a-wa-lab-that-tests-shellfish-for-dangerous-toxins

Filed under: Climate Change, Environmental Science, Global Warming, Jefferson County, Olympic Peninsula, Shellfish, Washington State | Tagged: , , | 1 Comment »

Event: Stream Stewards – Salmon Biology & Restoration

Posted on August 23, 2026 by Al Bergstein

Here’s a great volunteer opportunity to get you outside and into the stream of things! Watching salmon counting in the stream was a fun morning. Plus you’ll see places you rarely get to see without being part of one of these trainings. Check it out

The Stream Stewards Program, originally developed by Washington State University’s Jefferson County Extension and now hosted by the Salmon Coalition, provides Jefferson and Clallam County residents with the opportunity to turn environmental knowledge into action. Through this 5-week course, participants learn about connections between our lands and waters by diving into topics such as stream ecology and restoration, salmon biology and habitats, managing urban watersheds, riparian forests, tribal roles in restoration, and fisheries management. You will connect with local natural resource experts in classroom sessions and field experiences and learn about opportunities to get involved in local efforts to steward and restore our local watersheds.

Upon completion, volunteers are asked to commit to 20 volunteer hours to an organization of their choice over the following year. Volunteer hours can be applied to a wide range of opportunities that work toward the larger goal of improving local ecosystem health. From getting involved in a citizen science project to engaging in public outreach, volunteers can connect with opportunities that fit their skills and interests. Through this program, we hope to connect you to many of these organizations that host volunteer opportunities.

Throughout the training, organizations will provide participants with information about local projects and offer exciting opportunities to plug in and make a difference on the Olympic Peninsula.

The 5-week course fee will be $100 and classes will take place every Wednesday in September from 9am – 2pm at various locations in Jefferson and Clallam Counties.

Want to just take one or two of the classes? We have now opened up single session registration. You can register for one or multiple sessions individually. Each single session is $25.

Filed under: Clallam County, education, Environmental Activism, environmental education, Environmental Science, Events, Jefferson County, Salmon | Tagged: | Comments Off on Event: Stream Stewards – Salmon Biology & Restoration

Cougar Sitings along the Dungeness

Posted on August 6, 2026 by Al Bergstein

The Peninsula Daily News today reports on a man who had two cougar encounters over two days along the Dungeness. Luckily his dog was well trained and did not chase the cat. But it points out that we live in cougar country and it is well advised to be alert and prepared to back away and not do anything to engage a cat if seen. The PDN allows three free articles before you need to be a subscriber.

Sequim man recounts cougar encounter

Filed under: Clallam County, Wildlife | Tagged: , | Comments Off on Cougar Sitings along the Dungeness

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