Aiming for clear, cold water

More people responded to last week’s editorial, "Farmers, fish, trees, cold water," than any other on this page in four-and-a-half years. Their questions showed that none understood that the bulk of the editorial was intentionally left blank. It is the editor’s fault when the point is not clear or missed entirely.

It is good that readers paid attention, wondered, questioned and reached out.

Perhaps you get financial or other information, sometimes pages and pages of materials and at the end, typically, pages are marked “this page intentionally left blank.”

Why was the editorial space empty of words?

There was a long introductory sentence on top of the empty space let week. Maybe the sentence was a bit convoluted so by the time its end was reached its point was lost.

That sentence was “Here is an editorial aimed to gain agreement from all sides for restoring riparian tree habitat to achieve robust, comprehensive, long-term and adequately financed investment into ensuring cold water for salmon migration waterways.”

The key noun in the sentence, with its modifier, was “all sides” and the critical action word – the verb – was “gain,” as in create an agreement.

The rest of the terms defined the components: achieve robust, comprehensive, long-term and adequately financed investment for ensuring cold water for salmon migration waterways

Words define visions, goals, hopes and sometimes, eventually legislation that funds programs and efforts that shape actions toward a more sustainable future.

Orcas need large, stable salmon populations to feed on to maintain their viability. For the five Skagit River salmon species to thrive, cold freshwater passage up to their spawning grounds is essential. Writing an editorial that gains agreement from readers and parties on all sides of the issue is as difficult as passing legislation in a short legislative session in our state legislature.

HB 1838, the House bill to restore riparian vegetation along waterways, did not gain passage by last Friday’s deadline to initially pass bills out of committee.

All parties say rebuilding salmon populations is critical to maintain – indeed, restore – the Washington of our ancestors. All parties could not find an agreement that guarantees “restoring riparian tree habitat to achieve robust, comprehensive, long-term and adequately financed investment into ensuring cold water for salmon migration waterways” as last week’s editorial stated.

Today, tomorrow, this coming year there is no assurance of significant acres of riparian vegetation getting reestablished to shade the waterways of this county or throughout the state. The only for-sure cold water is that thrown on proposed legislation to restore salmon habitat. That legislation is, as the political insiders say, dead this legislative session.

That is completely clear. There is no misunderstanding there.