Orcas Islanders are passionate about their environment, and we want our coverage to reflect that. So when staff reporter Meredith Griffith was accepted into a week-long fellowship with the Institutes for Journalism & Natural Resources, we knew her experiences would result in better stories about the local environment.
IJNR’s mission is to advance public understanding and civic engagement about issues of environment protection, resource conservation and responsible economic development through better journalism. Griffith spent 14 hours a day with fellow journalists, tallking to Pacific Northwest scientists, tribal elders, utility managers, farmers, corporate executives and community leaders.
Here is a sampling of what she learned.
To create the 2011 Puget Sound Learning Institute, former Wall Street Journal environmental editor Frank Allen, and Ross Anderson, 30-year Seattle Times reporter and Pulitzer winner, meticulously scouted out speakers to illuminate ecological, political and energy issues affecting the area’s watershed.
Our trusty Beachliner bus rumbled from “Estuaries 101” with Seattle Aquarium biologists to the heavily polluted Duwamish Waterway, where the Duwamish people shared their efforts at restoring their ancestral lands, and the tribe’s 128-year wait for federal recognition.
We followed the Skagit River north past Concrete to see Diablo Dam hydro turbines churn out power for Seattle City Light. The utility’s salmon biologist explained how river flows augmented by humans can destroy salmon spawn buried beneath the gravel.
At a Mt. Vernon dairy we learned that Organic Valley cows spend 20 hours per day in pasture; Darigold cows, none. The owner of an 85-year-old berry farm spoke of the industry’s key reliance on undocumented workers. Envision Skagit 2060 representatives spoke of the obstacles to preserving farmland in the midst of explosive growth.
Salmon specialists described how diking the Skagit Valley delta turned its 70,000 acres of wetlands and estuaries, crucial for salmon rearing, into rich and productive farmlands – and how runoff from local cattle operations now threatens both salmon and shellfish. Estuary restoration projects are working to re-flood some farmlands.
On the Kitsap peninsula the Port Gamble S’klallum tribe welcomed us with a steaming heap of cockles, crabs and clams, just after a historic Port Gamble logging company explained its need to sell off the S’klallum’s ancestral lands to private developers to satisfy shareholders.
At Taylor Shellfish Farm on Hood Canal, NOAA oceanographer Adrienne Sutton explained how the ocean’s changing pH is killing shellfish. Physicists at the US Department of Energy showcased proposed tidal turbines, and NOAA scientists explained computer modeling of tsunamis.
In all, over 56 speakers shared their time with us while 18 seasoned journalists probed, questioned and analyzed their responses.
In the coming months, we’ll be parlaying Meredith’s experiences into renewed focus on island environmental issues. If you have story ideas, give us a call.
