The immediate impact of levee setbacks in Pierce County

By Lauren Gallup
The Orville Road Setback Revetment was completed in 2022, to set a levee back from the Puyallup River in Pierce County. (Credit: Lauren Gallup / NWPB)
In the foothills of Mt. Rainier runs the Carbon, the Puyallup and the White Rivers, meandering through towns and cities, along roadways and near homes, the paint strokes of the natural environment now surrounded by a human-built ecosystem. Once tightly restricted by levees, these rivers are beginning to again flow closer to how they would have, not adhering to the confines Read More

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

Support outside of the classroom: how one western Washington school district aims to help families

By Lauren Gallup
Attendees of Pan con Café sit with Blanca Sagastizado during a spring meeting. (Credit: Claudia Miller)
Just minutes away from busy Pacific Avenue in Pierce County, the Franklin Pierce School district administration office sits inside a nondescript, gray building. Inside, a group of women are gathered in a conference room Thursday morning, eating brightly colored Pan Dulce, laughing and sharing their trials and tribulations. Blanca Sagastizado, a family resource navigator Read More

Get ready for the heat, west-siders!

By Lauren Gallup
Beachgoers stay cool Monday afternoon at Owen Beach in Tacoma. (Credit: Lauren Gallup NWPB)
Just in time for the Fourth of July holiday, the west side of Washington is going to see some sunny, hot weather. The daytime highs of 80- and 90- plus degrees being predicted might still seem abnormal to those who call the Puget Sound basin home, but those temperatures are on trend with the hotter summers climatologists have been tracking. Historically, Western Read More

Electron Hydro dam could face largest fine for environmental crime in Washington history

By Lauren Gallup
Artificial turf found in the Puyallup River on Nov. 11, 2020, after the materials flowed into the river from a construction project on the Electron Hydro dam in the summer of 2020. Photo courtesy of the Puyallup Tribe.
Electron Hydro dam and its chief operating officer could have to pay the largest fine and restitution for an environmental crime in Washington state history. COO Thom Fischer and the company, pleaded guilty to a gross misdemeanor permit violation for allowing the toxic contaminants crumb rubber and artificial turf to flow into the Puyallup River during a construction project. Read More

Process to tackle Washington’s future aviation needs faces skepticism from inside and out

By Lauren Gallup
Lawmakers are considering restarting the process to find a location to build a new airport after months of community backlash to current recommendations. One member of the Commercial Aviation Coordinating Commission, which was formed in 2019 to address aviation capacity shortages, agrees more review is needed. Bryce Yadon represents Futurewise, an environmental land use Read More
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