Northwest News

Rethinking levees to reduce flood risk

By Lauren Gallup
The Calistoga Reach Levee Set Back in Pierce County is an engineered levee set back to help the river flow in a more natural way. The project was part of a larger Floodplains by Design grant. // Courtesy the Washington State Department of Ecology
Washington Rep. Steve Tharinger of the 24th district became intimately acquainted with levee setbacks when he discovered the levee protecting his house on the lower Dungeness River was not only not protecting his house, but harming the ecosystem too. “I sold my house and the five acres in a barn we had, so that we'd have more room to move that levee back and give the Read More

The increasing risk of flooding

By Lauren Gallup
Aerial photo of flooding on the Skagit River in Nov. 2021. // Courtesy Brandon Parsons, with aerial support by LightHawk.
Jason Vander Kooy said the potential for flooding weighs on his mind every November. Vander Kooy is a dairy farmer — one of many in northwestern Washington. Two years ago, some farmers there dealt with flooding that killed livestock, damaged fields, and overtopped manure lagoons — meaning the basins that store cow waste filled with water and, like a bathtub too full, Read More

Seven fires burning in Olympic National Park; one evidence of what could come with climate change

By Lauren Gallup
Smoke plume from Delabarre Fire on Sept. 16, 2023. (Courtesy: InciWeb)
Visible from the smoke they’re emitting, seven fires are burning within the wilderness of Olympic National Park on the Olympic Peninsula. Lightning strikes ignited the fires Aug. 28 and all were burning relatively small until this past weekend, when the Delabarre fire took advantage of hot, dry conditions and took off like a bandit, growing to over 3,500 acres. Read More

Tales of the forests through which we tromp

By Lauren Gallup
Olympic National Park, summertime, sun cascading through trees. // CREDIT: Lauren Gallup NWPB
Moss drapes over trees in Olympic National Park like the table dressings of fairies and the blankets of sprites. This place inspires writers — from amateurs to poets to public radio reporters — and welcomes visitors each year into its majesty. Our national parks tend to do that; be places of awe-inspiring beauty, great adventures through bushwhacking and overnights Read More
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