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Based on recent opinion pages in the La Conner Weekly News there appears to be a lack of clear or accurate information regarding protections for riparian zones adjacent to salmon streams in general and the Lorraine Loomis Act in particular. Intact riparian zones (the land along stream banks) provide immense benefits to salmon. They provide shade to keep streams cool, they provide large pieces of wood where juvenile fish take refuge from floods and predators, they provide bank stability, they filter and absorb nutrients coming off of farms and...
For farmers evaluating Governor Inslee’s Salmon Recovery bill, the devil is in the details. Details like what exactly constitutes a Riparian Management Zone and whether the riparian buffers proposed in the now withdrawn HB 1838 will not just target salmon-bearing streams and side channels but encompass delta farmland behind Skagit River dikes. The million-dollar question: Inside those buffers, is farming permitted? The bill is clear about the need to maintain and enhance natural resource industries like agriculture and to encourage the conserva...
Gov. Jay Inslee recently patronized the Swinomish and other local Indian tribes drumming up support for the proposed Loomis Act, HB 1838. (Weekly News, Dec. 22) The act is intended to “save salmon” and would impose enormous costs on local farmers, landowners and taxpayers by requiring the planting of trees and vegetation on public and private lands bordering streams and waterways. The Skagit Valley Herald’s lead article on Jan. 23, “Creating Division,” addressed local opposition to the proposal. Further, an opinion piece published in the Everet...
Changing county planning rules to permit fully contained communities (FCCs) “opens the door for making this county suburban,” said Margery Hite last Tuesday, Jan. 11, during an online Community Conversation sponsored by the Skagit Valley Food Co-op. “Growth in Skagit Valley: Our Future, Farming & FCCs” drew about 90 Zoom participants, La Conner residents among them. Hite is on the grassroots campaign ‘Right Growth, Right Place’ advisory group, which opposes permitting FCCs. She described FCCs and their likely impact on Skagit County in g...
Curt Buher was a big guy. The hole he leaves behind is big, too. Buher, who died Dec. 20, came to town with his wife Lori in 1979 to housesit for Maxine Wyman and never left. “They knew that La Conner was where they wanted to be,” said Cathie Wyman, Maxine’s daughter-in-law and Buher’s sister. As a clerk and driver for Nelson Lumber and as a freelance laborer, Buher grew to love construction. He started Atlas Construction in 1983 with Jim Robertson, his partner for about ten years. Over the next 30 years, Buher and a crew of locals that in...
First published Nov. 23, 2021 at 6:43 PM PST Chris Sybrandy, a Skagit County dairy farmer, says he recently helped haul more than 40 dead animals out of barns for his friends nearby. “I made a decision that I needed to help them take their cows out, so they didn’t have to take their own animals out,” Sybrandy says. “Having raised these cows from babies, I didn’t want them to have to take them out themselves.” The worst of mid-November’s flood waters are slowly starting to recede in northern Washington, after about 100-thousand cattle were j...
Last week’s local flooding and storm conditions were bad. Still, as anyone who was here in 1990 can attest, it could have been worse. Far worse. Then, Rexville Grange was converted to an emergency staging area for National Guard members called in to provide relief on Fir Island, which witnessed mass evacuations after a 40-year-old Skagit River dike broke, inundating the area. Fast forward to last week and impacts from relentless rain and high winds in and around La Conner and Skagit County were again severe and stressful, but less so than w...
This is the last week of national co-op month. The theme this year, “Build Back for Impact,” is a rallying cry for all of us, whether we belong to a cooperative or not. Many – perhaps most of us – do, as consumers, producers or workers. Credit union members – not account holders, but owners – mutual insurance company policy holders – owners, again – and, of course, members of the Skagit Valley Food Co-op and Skagit Farmers Supply are owners. So are Organic Valley farmers. The theme, as co-op websites sum up,...
Monday, October 18 4:24 p.m.: Ounce of prevention– Caller wanted to discuss safety measures that could be taken at Padilla Bay Trail south parking area. Bay View Edison Rd., Bay View. Tuesday, October 19 10:51 a.m.: Harvest/rainy season – Caller concerned about mud being left on the roadway by farm trucks leaving the fields. McLean / La Conner Whitney Rds., Greater La Conner. Wednesday, October 20 12:13 p.m.: Power tools unplugged – Caller reported a burglary of power tools from their carport. Valentine Rd., Greater La...
Katherine Paul is pretty good at pulling strings. After all, she does it for a living. A very good living, at that. The local singer-songwriter, a multi-instrumentalist who is the face of rising band Black Belt Eagle Scout, was back to doing what she does best in late September, helping headline the virtual Love the Land concert that netted over $250,000 for startup Skagit farmers. Paul, who learned to play the guitar, piano and drums while growing up on Swinomish Reservation, was among top regional musicians who took part in Love the Land,...
Don Kruse, long-time resident of La Conner and owner of Skagit Sun Berries was one of five farmers gathered in 1989 to discuss serious development challenges that faced farmers and farming in the Skagit Valley. The chat around that table led to the formation of Skagitonians to Preserve Farmland. We all should be thankful for SPF, for the few who were there at the beginning for the many who continue to support its essential work. Don died late last week at his home in La Conner. He leaves his family, his friends, employees the fields of Skagit...
Donald R. Kruse passed away at his home with his son by his side on August 27, 2021 after an 18-month battle with Leukemia. He was the owner of Skagit Sun, a berry farm in La Conner, Washington. Don Kruse was born in Jefferson City, Missouri on July 12, 1948, the youngest of three children born to Eleanor (Stratton) Kruse and Raymond Kruse. He finished high school in Jefferson City. During his formative years, Don’s family lived in the city but also had a farm where they spent much of their t...
Elizabeth Rubenstein’s love of baking has proved to be a recipe for success after having lost her job during the COVID-19 economic shutdown last year. Her “Good Eats, Sweet Treats” promotional banner and product line of artisan cookies have opened eyes as well as taste buds in La Conner and throughout Skagit Valley this summer. The new business venture, every bit a mission, is a collaborative effort among partners designed to provide a meaningful career for Rubenstein, who has Down syndrome, whi...
Since purchasing the Scone Lady bakery from Christie Eichler in January 2020, D.J. Gallegos and Keneisia Smart-Gallegos have gotten some puzzled looks. When customers ask Smart-Gallegos whether she is the Scone Lady, she politely says no, she is the Scone Lady’s wife. Then she introduces her husband, D.J. – Mr. Scone Lady to his bankers. Still others tell Gallegos how glad they are that his mom reopened the bakery. Confusion vanishes with the first bite. Gallegos, who met “honorary mom” Eichler when he was earning his associate degre...
There are about 200 families living full-time on Fir Island. The Goods, this year’s Skagit County Pioneer Family of the Year, were among the first of those to put down roots, arriving before Washington was a state. There have been Goods on the island since the 1870s, when settler Edward Eady Good came from New Brunswick to farm some of the richest soil on the continent. “He bought up claims and owned almost all of Section 14 on Fir Island,” says Laurie Good Olds, a descendant who has collected, preserved and studied much of the family history....
For three or four days, Dean Swanson could hear the corn grow. The corn he planted Saturday, June 26 was up four days later. Stalks that was already a foot tall doubled in a week. “It was fun to watch things grow so fast,” he said. “Like they say in the Midwest, you could hear it!” Meanwhile, Swanson’s raspberries took it on the chin. He estimates the heat bleached about 20 percent of his crop, mostly berries on the west side of north-south rows. Kai Ottesen saw the same phenomenon at Hedlin Fa...
A Good family that has had a great impact on the history and agricultural development of Fir Island and whose members have since been actively engaged in an array of public service projects will be honored at the Skagit County Pioneer Association Picnic Aug. 5 in La Conner. Descendants of William and Rebecca Eady Good, who emigrated from Ireland to North America in the 19th century will be saluted as the Skagit County Pioneer Family of the Year when the annual picnic resumes after a one-year...
New COVID-19 cases have dropped dramatically in Skagit County and across Washington state in the three weeks since Gov. Jay Inslee bet on opening the entire state to increased social and economic activity. An ongoing successful coronavirus vaccination campaign has driven down the virus infection rate and corresponding new cases. The state’s Department of Health reported 128.8 new Skagit County cases per 100,000 residents June 5. Only seven of 39 counties have over 200 cases per 100,000 population, a 67% reduction from 22 counties reporting a...
Most of the poems 4-year-old Lenore Micka-Foos dictates to her dad find homes with her admiring relatives. The first-place poem she wrote for the Great Hunt for Magic Skagit Stories will find a home in print. Lenore’s “The Great Skagit List” was one of 61 entries in the Skagit Historical Museum’s debut writing contest. Youth, teen and adult winners in the poetry and essay categories were announced last Friday during a Facebook Live broadcast from the Museum. “A big part of this contest w...
The final day to drive-up or make an appointment for a first-dose COVID-19 vaccine at the Skagit County Fairgrounds is Saturday, June 5. Skagit County Public Health is closing out first-dose vaccine services at the fairgrounds following this date and will focus primarily on second-dose vaccinations until June 26 when the site will close permanently. This allows Public Health to right-size operations and serve the community via convenient locations at additional mobile clinics. Anyone 12 years and older are encouraged to access their first-dose...
The Skagit Valley Farmers Market at Christianson’s Nursery makes its debut May 30 on a site once central to the pea harvest on the Skagit Flats. The market will be open 10 a.m.-2 p.m. most Sundays through the summer. The new kid-and-dog-friendly market will feature a nice mix of produce and crafts, says manager Kathryn Shiohira, who just happens to be food safety specialist and a driver for the Puget Sound Food Hub right next door. “The cool thing is these farmers are already set up and ready to go, because to be part of the Food Hub you must h...
Merchants and restaurateurs throughout La Conner share Julie Lennartz‘s “2021 Tulip Season has been spectacular!” assessment of business in town this month. The co-owner of La Conner Pub & Eatery reported “the week and weekend of April 12 was record breaking with the number of people we saw. Our staff worked hard, we ordered for an army and started running out of our delicious seafood late Sunday afternoon.” Other local eateries report similar experiences during April. Santo Coyote’s...
As we dive into spring, our minds may turn to what new things it will bring. Certainly the birds will sing, and the trees will spread their pollen, and some insects will buzz, when they flap their wings. Some of us have been busy reading and writing, trying to figure out what to share, and what to keep in. Sometimes some of us struggle with all sorts of notions, and motions. How do we explain ourselves so we come off like a soothing lotion, rather than a spouter of toxic quotations? I know that I sometimes come across quite gruff, I write...
No fooling: the Tulip Festival season is here. A week into April, it is for sure: The month long Skagit Tulip Festival has blossomed. Flower fields unfold in every direction this year, south, north and east of La Conner. They are in full press daffodil yellow, spectacularly so, some 500 acres of bright yellow. While tulips are starting to flower in a variety of colors, the dominant tone is green, as in leaves. The late tulip blossoming may mean Washington Bulb Company’s workers will wait u...
Thank you dear Pope Francis, and Debra, and Rich, and Bill and Fr. Treacy, Ken and the Michael that has come to help us row the boat ashore. We have so much to be thankful for, even when the storm batters our shores. But being thankful is only just a part of the chore, we also must repair and innovate new infrastructure. Yeah, we are mostly a great group of folks, trying to find solutions to vexing issues, and we often do the right thing. We just had a great show of support for our schools, hooray! The election to the tribal Senate was what...
