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Spring is Here--Explore, Enjoy and Protect the Planet
Thursday, May 18, 7:00 PM on Zoom
RSVP Required
Inspiring and energizing, the Sierra Club Outings program connects people with nature for the benefit of both! Hear from our certified leaders who are trained to ensure the safety of our participants, and to share their knowledge about the environment and history of the places we love.
We're rebuilding our outings program that paused during the pandemic. Find out about opportunities to join us hiking, kayaking, canoeing, bicycling and, during winter months, snowshoeing and skiing. Better yet, become an outings leader! Join us on Zoom to get the ball rolling for one of the best reasons to be a Sierra Club member:
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Legislative Session Ends With Strong Environmental Progress
Carbon Sequestration: $83 million was allocated to boost carbon sequestration on state lands. This funding marks the first time the state government will set aside timber acreage strictly for its carbon value, by designating it a high-impact “natural climate solution” worthy of funding under the Climate Commitment Act. This new funding will permanently conserve 2,000 acres of older, carbon dense, structurally complex state forests across Western Washington and buy younger replacement forests to provide revenue to rural communities.
Growth Management Act: The largest and fastest-growing Washington counties and cities are now required to plan for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle miles traveled and to address the impacts of climate change in land use plans.
Snake River Dams: Funds were allocated for critical studies needed to advance the removal of these dams and restore Columbia and Snake River salmon runs.
Preserving Legacy Forests: The legislature approved funds for five new Trust Land Transfer (TLT) projects across the state, including permanently protecting 370 acres of state forest within the boundaries of Devil's Lake Natural Area, including one of mile pristine shoreline along Dabob Bay south of Quilcene.
Talking Trash: The "WRAP" bill failed. It would have established several mechanisms to reduce excess packaging, improve recycling outcomes, including establishing a bottle deposit system and a producer responsibility system for packaging that assigns the costs of recycling to the companies that produce the packaging waste in the first place. The groundwork was laid, however, for future success.
For more information of the recently concluded session and Sierra Club's lobbying efforts:
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Port Angeles Harbor Hazardous Waste Cleanup
Friends of Ennis Creek, the Olympic Environmental Council and Sierra Club pressed Ecology for an update on plans to clean up the Rayonier site on Port Angeles Harbor. We expressed our disappointment and frustration with staff’s dismissal of public input and lack of communication with the community. Ecology now promises to move these cleanups forward and keep the public informed. One result from our meetings was that Ecology produced a public document with timelines on actions (see button below). If staff stays on schedule for moving the cleanup process forward, there will be multiple public input opportunities in 2023. We support complete removal of the toxins, something Ecology has yet to commit to. We also long supported the posting of warning signs to alert people to the hazards, something Ecology is now planning to do.
Some good news: Ecology, DNR and the Interior Department agreed to coordinate their efforts regarding cleaning up the Rayonier site. Much work still remains to be done. A follow-up meeting with Ecology is planned for in June. By then we’ll have a better idea how far along they are with finalizing documents for public comment.
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Protect Our Local Forests--Stop Clearcutting the Elwha
The City of Port Angeles has asked DNR to pause upcoming timber sales in the Elwha River Watershed, including "TCB23" and "Power Plant" which are set to be approved by the Board of Natural Resources on June 6 unless we act now! Visit the Elwha Legacy Forests website (below) to learn more. Also, on Tuesdays this month at 10 am, you can ask the Clallam County Commissioners to join the City of Port Angeles in asking for a pause on these timber sales. The County has a great deal of sway in this matter, and their support will be critical. Meetings are held at the County Courthouse, 223 East 4th Street, Room 160, Port Angeles.
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Biochar to the Rescue
In 2004, Sierra Club activists Norm and Peggy Baker retired and moved from Minnesota to Sequim after running a daylily nursery for many years. Since biochar was supposed to be the new miracle for crop production, they started tinkering with biochar, looking at ways to make it and incorporate it into soil.
There are two reasons for making and using biochar: First, it increases crop health and production. Second, according to the Intercontinental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), biochar is the third best way to sequester carbon into the soil and fight global warming from CO2 and fossil fuels. The first two best ways are forestry and re-forestation of cleared land.
Find out more about this promising approach here:
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Also Around the Peninsula
Don't Pave the Dungeness Levy Trail: Clallam residents are trying to save the Dungeness Levy Trail as Clallam County wants to pave it over. Property owners and residents in the area are all against paving the trail as it would increase the run off of pollutants into the Dungeness River. To date, Mark Ozias, a County Commissioner, has heard from 200 people wanting to keep it unpaved as a walking trail. Join them by signing this petition:
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Hike Miller Peninsula State Park: A three-mile, round-trip trek in Miller Peninsula State Park will take place on Friday, May 12. Miller Peninsula State Park is a beautiful, undeveloped natural area that State Parks wants to develop with incompatible recreational amenities. Meet in the main parking area on the left side of Diamond Point Road at 10:30AM. We will car pool from there to the trailhead. This is an easy/moderate trail (with slight elevation gain) through the forest and along the bluff overlooking Discovery Bay. The guide for this adventure will be Darlene Schanfald from the North Olympic Chapter of the Sierra Club who knows the history and politics of this park. Bring water and snacks.
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Protect Our National Forests
Last Earth Day, President Biden issued an executive order calling on the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management to conserve mature and old-growth forests as a climate solution. This was a momentous step towards meaningful protections, but now it's up to us to ensure that this turns into real and lasting changes in how federal agencies manage and protect older forests.
This executive order comes after the creation of the Northwest Forest Plan (NWFP), which was adopted by the Clinton administration in 1994 after decades of pernicious clear-cut logging in our National Forests that targeted the oldest and largest trees. The NWFP was intended to limit the severe ecological impacts these logging practices had on local wildlife, most famously the Northern Spotted Owl.
The Forest Service is now amending the NWFP in an effort to update it to the realities of climate change and help further President Biden's Executive Order to catalog all remaining old growth on federal lands. Today, hundreds of thousands of acres of federal mature and old-growth forests are still on the chopping block. It's critical that we show the White House that there is widespread, overwhelming public support for letting these trees grow.
Make your voice known on this important matter here:
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