This 2005 file photo shows Pine Ridge police officers Mirian Laybad (left), Sgt. Oscar Hudspeth and Lt. Mitch Wisecarver confiscate cases of beer at a checkpoint just north of Whiteclay. (Lincoln Journal Star photo)
The Oglala Sioux tribal council voted Tuesday night to allow the tribe’s members to decide whether to legalize alcohol on the tribe’s South Dakota reservation.
“Let’s hear the voice of the people,” said council member Robin Tapio during the council’s meeting in Oglala, S.D.
Tribal President Bryan Brewer said he doesn’t support legalizing alcohol on the reservation, at least until the tribe develops a plan to address the likely increase in crime that would occur after legalization.
“That alcohol that’s coming on the reservation is killing our children, killing our people,” he said.
The vote to allow the tribe’s members to decide whether to legalize alcohol is closely intertwined with efforts to stop the flow of beer from the Nebraska village of Whiteclay, which is about a mile south of Pine Ridge, the tribe’s largest village.
Last year, four beer stores in Whiteclay sold the equivalent of 3.9 million 12-ounce cans of beer, according to the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission.
The tribe’s reservation, about the size of Connecticut, has struggled with high alcoholism rates for generations, though alcohol has been banned there since 1832. The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation makes up all of Shannon County, S.D. — the third poorest county in America, according to the U.S. Census.
Pine Ridge legalized alcohol in 1970 but restored the ban two months later, and an attempt to allow it in 2004 died after a public outcry.
A date for the Oglala Sioux Tribe’s members to decide whether to end the alcohol ban hasn’t been decided.
On Friday night, the tribe also voted to create ports of entry at every entry point onto the reservation, starting with the entry from Whiteclay. The tribe hopes the ports of entry will allow it to stop alcohol importation onto the reservation.
Brewer said he is planning to visit Lincoln soon to talk to Gov. Dave Heineman and other state officials about ways the state of Nebraska can address alcohol sales in Whiteclay. On Tuesday, he told his tribe’s council that he plans to protest Whiteclay alcohol sales on Monday morning and invited council members to join him.
“If we close up Whiteclay, it’s not going to stop the liquor on our reservation,” he said. “But we’re going to send a message to our young people: We do not want this.”
Council member Larry Eagle Bull said he expects crime and substance abuse will spike if alcohol is legalized.
“It’s going to peak but then it’s going to come down once our people get educated about alcohol,” he said. “The people have to have a voice.”
Gov. Jay Inslee chided the state Senate, which is controlled by a mostly Republican coalition, for what he called its budget intransigence in a Monday news conference. He urged the chamber to move toward meeting the proposal put forward by the state House, which is controlled by members of Inslee’s party. (STEVE BLOOM/Staff photographer)
If the Legislature’s second special session that begins Wednesday runs as long as its 30-day allowance, the Capitol might be one of the few state buildings with the lights still on.
Jordan Schrader, The News Tribune
If the Legislature’s second special session that begins Wednesday runs as long as its 30-day allowance, the Capitol might be one of the few state buildings with the lights still on.
The state constitution does not provide for spending money if no budget is in place July 1, but it does mandate some services that would be required to continue.
Contingency plans for entering July without a budget are the topic of ongoing research in Gov. Jay Inslee’s office and a Cabinet meeting set for 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.
“It’s never happened before,” the Democratic governor told reporters Tuesday. “So our lawyers are trying to untangle the skein of the services the state provides and see which ones are constitutionally mandated or mandated by federal law, and which ones are not.
“This would be a major, major disruption of government services, no question about it.”
But Senate Majority Leader Rodney Tom was coolly emphatic Tuesday, saying that a shutdown is not in the offing. “Any talk of a shutdown – it might make great press, but it’s complete nonsense,” he said.
ANSWERS SOUGHT
Inslee said notifications would need to go out to the state’s 60,000 general-government employees about their employment status, which would vary by job title and agency. Many could be furloughed until a budget is signed.
State lawyers are looking into other questions:
• Even if a program is mandatory, would it have to run on a skeleton crew? Would prisons have to be locked down, for example?
• Can other services keep running because they are paid for with federal money or are not subject to appropriation by the Legislature?
• Can much of the Department of Transportation and State Patrol remain at work, since those have already been funded in a separate transportation budget?
• Can lawmakers simply avoid a shutdown by passing a temporary – 30-day, perhaps — budget?
Officials have reviewed 2001 preparations then-Gov. Gary Locke made as lawmakers flirted with a shutdown.
Locke drafted an order asserting his executive power to keep the state taking care of people in its custody, providing federally required social services and keeping the State Patrol on duty, while furloughing less essential state employees.
That year, lawmakers passed a budget June 20, the 17th day of their second special session, and Locke never had to issue the order.
SCHOOLS WAIT
Some deadlines are approaching even before July 1.
Tax refunds start going out Thursday to wealthy estates that sued to recoup estate taxes and won, according to the state Department of Revenue. That tax money goes to schools. The Senate majority has agreed to address the court ruling and hang on to the money, but only if some of its policy proposals are approved.
Saturday is the deadline for school districts to notify employees of potential layoffs. State schools chief Randy Dorn wrote to lawmakers calling for an extension.
Dorn also said districts should be allowed to wait longer to finish their budgets, which are due in August.
State payments to school districts come at the end of each month, so they wouldn’t be threatened right away. But a shutdown at Dorn’s Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction could affect schools early next month.
ASSIGNING BLAME
Inslee placed the blame squarely on the Senate majority for delay. He argued the Senate hasn’t made concessions even as House Democrats abandoned more than half of their $1.3 billion in proposed tax revenue.
But Tom, a Medina Democrat who leads the mostly Republican caucus controlling the Senate, sees major progress in recent days, including his caucus’ offer to trade about $300 million in new tax money sought by the House for Senate proposals on teacher assignments, workers’ compensation and a cap on growth in noneducation spending.
State government should make plans, Tom said, but he and Speaker Frank Chopp, leader of the Democrats who run the House, have assured each other they would avoid taking state government off a fiscal cliff.
But Chopp’s top lieutenant, House Majority Leader Pat Sullivan, wasn’t so optimistic.
He said lawmakers haven’t been able to “negotiate the details of the budget” because Republicans are holding it hostage for their favored policies.
Of a shutdown, the Covington Democrat said: “I think it’s a legitimate threat that needs to be evaluated.”
While entering a two-year budget cycle with no budget would be a first, a precedent of one sort exists: In August 1951, the state stopped paying bills after the state Supreme Court threw out a budget deemed unconstitutional because it contained a corporate income tax.
In that case, the divided Legislature rushed back to Olympia to pass a new budget that Gov. Arthur Langlie could sign. It still took lawmakers nine days to get a new budget done.
Staff writer Brad Shannon contributed to this report.
Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2013/06/11/2634910/gov-inslee-plans-for-major-major.html#storylink=cpy
Casting for the Navajo-language version of Star Wars has completed, and Navajo Nation Museum director Manuelito Wheeler is confident in the selections. “All the people that were cast fit the voice perfectly and they gave awesome performances,” he said, according to the Navajo Times.
Several of those cast offered personal thoughts on the characters they are voicing. The actor chosen to play Obi-Wan Kenobi compared the old Jedi master to a Navajo medicine man, while the actress who’ll play Princess Leia said she felt that her own personality mirrored that of Carrie Fisher’s character. The actor chosen for Darth Vader is a coach at Rock Point High, and said that he identified with Vader’s leadership skills. The role of Han Solo — Star Wars‘ cocky “scoundrel” — went to James Junes of the comedy duo James and Ernie.
Radmilla Cody, former Miss Navajo Nation and a 2013 Grammy Nominee, auditioned — alas, unsuccessfully — for the part of Princess Leia. “It was quite the experience in the sense that it was fun, nerve wrecking, and exciting all at once!” she tells ICTMN. “At one point during the audition, I was reminded of the Miss Navajo pageant panel questions. I am excited for everyone involved especially Shi yazh Herman Cody who did the voice-over for Uncle Owen.”
Organizers are keeping the identity of the actor who’ll voice bronze protocol robot C-3PO a secret. According to AZCentral.com, some 115 Navajos attended the casting, which took place May 3 and 4. In all, 20 actors were chosen to lend their voices to the production, says Dan Bloom of TheWrap.com.
In a recent interview with NPR, Wheeler revealed some of the plans for the premiere. “The premiere sponsor that came forward was Navajo Nation Parks and Recreation,” Wheeler said. “They do that Navajo Nation Fair and the Fourth of July fair. So, I will premiere it at the Fourth of July celebration on July 3. We have a grandstand there on the fairgrounds and we are having a screen built on a semi-flatbed trailer. So, when we’re ready we’ll drive that out and set up chairs … and have popcorn for as many as we can make popcorn for.”
The following Navajo-speakers have been chosen:
Luke Skywalker: Terry Teller (Lukachukai, Arizona)
Princess Leia: Clarissa Yazzie (Layton, Utah)
Darth Vader: Marvin Yellowhair (Rough Rock, Arizona)
Han Solo: James Junes (Farmington, New Mexico)
Grand Moff Tarkin: James Bilagody (Tuba City, Arizona)
Obi-Wan Kenobi: Anderson Kee (Cottonwood, Arizona)
Aunt Beru: Elsa Johnson (Scottsdale, Arizona)
Uncle Owen: Herman Cody (Ganado, Arizona)
C-3PO: To Be Announced
Mark Mulligan / The Herald Returning Everett AquaSox player Jamodrick McGruder throws from second base during a drill at Everett Memorial Stadium during the team’s first practice of the season Tuesday afternoon.
By Nick Patterson, The Herald
EVERETT — Meet the new Frogs, same as the old Frogs — at least more than usual.
The 2013 Everett AquaSox took the field for the first time Tuesday afternoon in preparation for the upcoming Northwest League season, conducting their initial practice at a rainy Everett Memorial Stadium. And moreso than in a typical season, there was a familiar feel about the players on the diamond.
“I think it’s good,” said second baseman Jamodrick McGruder, part of the large contingent of players who have experienced Everett previously. “A lot of us have already had this season, so it will be good experience-wise. Guys know what to do and I think we should come out and be pretty strong.
“It’s kind of an older team, which is good,” McGruder added. “We don’t have a lot of young guys. A lot of the guys were at extended spring training, so we should be very experienced and very well put together.”
Usually the AquaSox almost completely turn over their roster from year to year. Last year, there was just one player who opened the season with the team who played in Everett the previous year, and Marcus Littlewood was in the process of converting from shortstop to catcher.
But Tuesday afternoon there were nine players on the field who appeared last season for Everett, which finished 46-30 and won the West Division’s first-half title. Those nine include five who spent all of last season with the Sox. Second baseman Jamodrick McGruder, who led the league in stolen bases with 30, and outfielder Alfredo Morales were everyday players for Everett. Pitcher Steven Ewing made 12 starts and finished third on the team in innings pitched; outfielder Michael Faulkner finished second on the team in steals with 15; and reliever Mark Bordonaro was a regular presence out of the bullpen.
The four who had shorter stints with Everett last season were pitcher Jose Valdivia, outfielder James Zamarripa and catchers Christian Carmichael and Carlton Tanabe.
“We’ve got guys who have that experience, know the league, know what it takes to win ballgames, and won’t be shocked by pro baseball right away,” second-year Everett manager Rob Mummau said. “I think we’ll have a good start.
“I expect those guys to succeed at a high level, and hopefully they’re not here too long and get to move up eventually,” Mummau added. “But I definitely expect a lot out of them.”
Everett’s initial roster doesn’t have any prospects generating a large amount scouting community buzz, like pitcher Victor Sanchez generated last season. However, there are a number of players who bear watching.
Mummau singled out infielder Martin Peguero and outfielder Phillips Castillo as newcomers to watch. Both are 19-year-olds from the Dominican Republic who had moderate success with Pulaski of the rookie Appalachian League last year.
Meanwhile, the 20-year-old Carmichael and 19-year-old Zamarripa are the highest draft picks on the initial roster, being selected by the Seattle Mariners in the sixth rounds in 2010 and 2011, respectively.
As for the pitching staff, it’s largely an experienced group.
“It’s different from last year’s staff,” Everett pitching coach Rich Dorman said. “This year we’ve got a lot of guys from extended spring training, last year we had a lot of guys from college (who were selected in the 2012 draft). It’s a big year for a lot of these guys because they’ve been in the organization for a while.”
But while it may be an older staff, the Sox will be leaning heavily on the youngsters in the rotation. The team’s two youngest pitchers, 19-year-old Dominican right-hander Rigoberto Garcia and 19-year-old Dutch right-hander Lars Huijer, are scheduled to start the team’s first two games in Spokane on Friday and Saturday. Dorman said the towering Garcia, who’s listed at 6-foot-5 but looks taller, is one of the best prospects on the staff.
The remainder of the rotation to begin the season includes Brazilian right-hander Thyago Vieira, the right-handed Ewing and Venezuelan right-hander Ricardo Pereira.
Dorman said there is no designated closer and the Sox bullpen will fill that role by committee.
Everett’s roster is not complete. The Sox will see college players from last week’s draft trickle in after they sign contracts. Pitcher Tyler Olson, the Mariners’ seventh-round pick, already has arrived while first baseman Justin Seager, Seattle’s 12th rounder and the younger brother of Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager, was expected to report shortly.
Everett gets a rehearsal tonight when the Sox take on the Pacific International League’s Everett Merchants in the 10th annual Everett Cup exhibition game. The Merchants, a team comprised primarily of community college and small college players with local ties, upset the Sox twice in the previous nine meetings. The Sox won last year’s contest 5-2.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Executive Vice President for Government Affairs Bruce Josten sent a letter to members of the House Committee on Natural Resources in support of H.R. 1548, the “Native American Energy Act.”
As the letter states:
H.R. 1548 would be an important step in furthering efforts by Congress to encourage economic development throughout Indian Country.
It would do so by fostering tribal sovereignty and eliminating cumbersome Federal bureaucratic processes, which we believe to be a sure path to economic growth.
Furthermore, we believe the bill would make further headway towards American energy independence while it would also provide much needed employment to hard-stricken regions of the country.
The U.S. Chamber has recently established the Native American Enterprise Initiative (NAEI) in recognition of the revolution in entrepreneurship occurring amongst the nearly three million people of American Indian and Alaskan Native heritage. Drawing on the Chamber’s record of business advocacy, the NAEI seeks to remove legislative and regulatory roadblocks to their economic success, which H.R. 1548 would do.
UCR’s annual Gathering of the Tribes encourages academic success, consideration of college degree
Albert Rodriguez (l-r), Paakuma Tawinat, Joshua Gonzales, Brandon Duran and Randy Plummer sing Cahuilla bird songs during the 2012 Gathering of the Tribes.
By Bettye Miller, UCR Today
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — Thirty Native American high school students will get a taste of college life when they arrive at the University of California, Riverside on June 23 for the Gathering of the Tribes, the longest-running program of its kind in Southern California.
The eight-day event, which began at UCR in 2005, invites Native American students to experience life in a residence hall and the classroom, and provides information about admissions and financial aid requirements and deadlines.
“We want them to see that the university is an exciting place, and encourage them to do well in high school and consider going to college,” said Cliff Trafzer, professor of history and the Rupert Costo Chair in American Indian Affairs at UCR. “We need future American Indian leaders going to college.”
Parents will drop off their students on June 23 and participate in an orientation lunch.
Throughout the week students will attend classes in video production and creative writing, participate in various exercise and recreation activities, and hear from motivational speakers, career counselors, and advisors on how to apply for admission to college and financial aid. One activity added to the program last year is practice writing personal essays based on prompts contained in the UC application.
A majority of the students come from Southern California, but in the past have included others from Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, Arizona and Alaska, said Joshua Gonzales, director of Native American Student Programs at UCR.
“More than 90 percent of these students do go on to some form of college,” Gonzales said.
Gathering of the Tribes is sponsored by Native American Student Programs and the Native American Education Program, a UCR chancellor’s initiative intended to encourage American Indian students and parents to embrace higher education.
Richards Studio Collection : On March 11, 1958, Miss Tacoma Home Show of 1958, Marilyn Ganes, was photographed leaning out of the front door of a BMW Isetta 300 parked near the Tacoma Totem Pole.
Lewis Kamb, The News Tribune
TACOMA, Wash – They mulled over its decrepit condition, speculated about who carved it and discussed its historical and cultural significance – both as a potential sacred artifact and a beloved object of commercial kitsch.
But in the end, all voting members of a specially convened review panel agreed Tuesday: Tacoma’s totem pole should remain part of the city’s art collection.
“I think it’s important to keep it,” said Jack Curtright, a longtime Tacoma dealer of Native American art. “It’s been here, I grew up with it. It’s been an icon of this community.”
Tacoma’s Arts Commission took the unusual step of convening the so-called deaccession review panel to determine whether the aging totem pole, which has become a falling hazard in downtown Fireman’s Park, should be removed from Tacoma’s collected public artworks.
On May 26, 1924, the Los Angeles Newsboys’ Quartette posed in front of the Tacoma Hotel and totem pole. Source: Marvin D. Boland Collection, Tacoma Public Library
Commissioned by civic boosters in 1903, the more than 80-foot long cedar log carved in what’s purported to be Native iconography aimed to help put Tacoma on the map.
But age, rot and insect infestation have structurally weakened the pole, forcing public works officials to fence it off and temporarily brace it with steel rods. City officials are now grappling with what to do with a historic object that’s become a public safety threat.
“If it falls to the south, it will fall on a freeway ramp,” said Frank Terrill, the city’s senior plans examiner, who’s been monitoring the pole since the 1990s. “…I think we’ve reached the limits of the ability for it to stand (on its own) before it’s toppled by high winds.”
As both a designated city landmark and a public art piece, the pole falls under the dual authority of Tacoma’s Landmarks Preservation Commission and Arts Commission.
Last month, a landmarks subcommittee unofficially recommended it be taken down and publicly left to rot – once considered a customary Alaskan Native practice for poles at the end of their lifespan. The arts board then sought to separately consider the pole’s significance as a public artwork and called to convene Tuesday’s review panel.
Made up of arts and landmarks commissioners, a city planner, an art dealer, museum curators and a Native carver, the review panel held a ranging discussion about the pole’s cultural and historical importance, its artistic merit and its condition.
Then, members were tasked with deciding whether — based on a list of critieria in the city’s deaccession policy, including public safety and damage considerations – the pole should be removed from Tacoma’s arts collection.
Robin Wright, curator of Native American art for the University of Washington’s Burke Museum, noted the checkered history of the pole’s creation may never be resolved.
“The 64,000 dollar question is: Who carved it,” Wright said. “And I can’t tell just by looking at. It’s sort of been mysteriously hidden, and over time the story has changed.”
Records variably describe civic boosters hiring Alaskan or British Columbian Natives to carve the pole, partly to best a 60-foot tall totem pole erected in Seattle. As the story goes, for $3,000, the commissioned tribal members secretly carved a log donated by the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company, until its public unveiling in 1903 – a day before President Theodore Roosevelt visited town.
But Native art authorities among the panel agreed the iconography appears inauthentic and the carving less than expert.
“It’s entirely possible that it was even a non-Native person” who carved Tacoma’s pole, Wright conjectured, “and they kept them secret because he was not Native.”
But while its cultural value remains dubious, panel members agreed its historical value as a city icon is undeniable.
JD Elquist, a member of the arts and landmarks commissions, said he reconsidered his previous recommendation — that the pole be removed, laid down and left to decay — as some tribes traditionally have done. Some experts noted — and Elquist acknowledged — that decaying poles are also commonly preserved.
Curtwright added that because “it doesn’t look like it’s a sacred artifact,” it’s probably not culturally appropriate to let it decay.
Elquist said his change of heart largely came from the panel’s recognition the pole is more important as a city artifact than a Native one.
“Due to the history of what it means to the people of Tacoma,” Elquist said, “it’s important that it stay around as long as possible.”
Elquist ultimately made the motion that the pole not be “deaccessed” from the municipal art collection; all other voting members agreed.
But the panel could not come up with a clear recommendation as to what the city should do next – whether to brace the pole in place, take it down, find a place to house it indoors or erect a new pole.
“Money, of course, does come to play,” city arts administrator Amy McBride said. “But there are funds to stabilize it and there are funds to remove it. Whether there are funds to do anything after that remains to be seen.”
Estimates to secure the pole in place run as high as $44,000, with a thorough restoration running as much as $45,000, and cleaning and ridding it of pests about $20,000, she said.
City engineer Darius Thompson noted the city can store the pole in the Sea Scouts building on Dock Street “for a number of months until we figure out what we can do with it.”
For now, all such options remain on the table for the landmarks commission to consider, said Reuben McKnight, the city’s historic preservation officer. A staff report, including cost analyses for various options and a summary of the review panel’s discussion, will be presented to the landmarks board on June 12, he added.
Read more here: http://blog.thenewstribune.com/politics/2013/06/04/tacoma-review-panel-unanimously-agrees-that-totem-pole-should-not-be-removed-from-citys-arts-collection/#storylink=cpy
submitted photo Kit Wennersten, of Marysville, takes a practice ride in Skagit Valley before embarking today on a cross-country trip to raise money to help veterans.
Gale Fiege, The Herald
MARYSVILLE — On his recumbent tricycle, veteran Kit Wennersten plans to make a cross-country ride to raise money to support veterans.
The 65-year-old Marysville man is scheduled to begin his trip today in Astoria, Ore. His goal is to ride with a group across 4,250 miles to Yorktown, Va.
Wennersten served in the Navy and the Marine Corps. After 23 years in the military, he retired as a Navy lieutenant and then worked as a police officer for 17 years. “I understand what our injured service members are going through as they return home,” Wennersten said. “My goal is to support our wounded veterans and their families. During the Iraq and Afghanistan wars many Marines sustained life-changing injuries and they need our help more than ever.”
Wennersten is raising money through the Semper Fi Fund while participating in the Ride Across America for Charity 2013. He is riding an ICE Adventure tadpole trike, he said.
“Any amount people can give will help. No donation is too small, even 1 cent a mile is great,” Wennersten said.
Wennersten, who did a lot of his training rides on the Centennial Trail in Snohomish County also plans to maintain a blog for the trip at www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/12286.
A new nonprofit group is making strides to establish a coastal trail along the inland marine waters of Washington and British Columbia.
The Bellingham-based Salish Sea Foundation also wants those waters designated as an international marine sanctuary.
Doug Tolchin, an organizer of the foundation, said the effort is in its early stages, but the goal is firm.
“We recognize the Salish Sea as an international treasure of exceptional importance, where mountains, rivers, creeks, estuaries and islands come together in an explosion of amazing landscapes,” Tolchin said. “Its wildlife populations deserve all the protection and restoration they can get.”
Four years ago, a Western Washington University professor convinced the U.S. and Canadian governments to ascribe the name Salish Sea to the regional name for the complex 5,500-square-mile body of water that includes the Georgia Strait, the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound.
In Snohomish County, those bodies of water include Port Susan, Possession Sound, Tulalip Bay and Port Gardner. Salish Sea hasn’t replaced the names of the many canals, straits, bays, ports, sounds and inlets that make up the inland waters, but the term has helped naturalists and scientists describe a unified ecosystem.
The term “sea” is a good one because it’s a large body of salt water partly enclosed by land and protected from the open ocean, said Bert Webber, the retired marine biology professor who championed the Salish Sea name. The name Salish recognizes the indigenous people of the same region who are connected by various Coast Salish languages, he said.
Officials with the Tulalip Tribes and other regional American Indian tribes and First Nations in Canada supported naming the region the Salish Sea and to the effort to restore and improve its ecosystem.
Hundreds of years after the first European exploration in the region, about 8 million people now live on or near the shores of the inland sea. Their accompanying activity has taken a toll on the Salish Sea, Tolchin said.
“The biggest source of pollution here is us,” he said. “We have to get people to stop their use of detergents and chemicals that pollute the waterways, to keep pet waste out of the storm water runoff and other simple changes.”
Tolchin said there is another way people can get involved.
“We would like to see people study our Salish Sea marine sanctuary vision map, so that they can clearly understand where and what is the Salish Sea,” Tolchin said. “People also can take a look at their own watershed areas and see what they can do to keep those clean.”
The foundation’s trail map is not set in stone, but generally gives the viewer an idea about how existing trails might be linked together along the water, he said.
Salish Sea Foundation also is in the process of assembling the group’s board of directors and advisers. Suggestions are welcome at www.salishsea.org, Tolchin said.
“Our big effort will be to get the marine sanctuary designation on the ballots in Washington and British Columbia in 2014,” Tolchin said. “We want people to feel ownership in this project.”
In a statement from the Tsleil-Waututh Nation in British Columbia, tribal leader Rueben George said protection of the Salish Sea as a marine sanctuary will benefit all people.
“There is no price for the sacred, whether it is the mineral, plant, animal or human. This is not just an environmental challenge; it is an issue that pertains to all of us, including our future generations and all life on Mother Earth. …,” George said. “The creation of the Salish Sea Marine Sanctuary (will be) a beautiful example of protecting and restoring the sacred.”
Everett, Wash., June 10, 2013—Each year five million people visit the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. They drive forest roads to get to their destinations, to experience spectacular vistas at places such as Big Four Ice Caves, Mt. Baker, Heather Meadows, Skagit Wild and Scenic River and Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail. But what does the future hold for these beloved places?
Approximately 2,500 miles of roads crisscross the forest, from the Canadian border to the Mt. Rainier National Park on the western Cascades. The Forest Service can afford to maintain about a quarter of them.
Guided by mandates in the 2005 Travel Management Rule, each national forest must identify a road system by 2015 within budget for safe travel, use, administration and resource protection. To complete this report, the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest staff wants to find out what roads are important to the public and why.
Eight meetings are scheduled June through October in Seattle, Sedro-Woolley, Issaquah, Bellingham, Enumclaw, Monroe and Everett. Those who do not attend a meeting will be able to give their input online. Partners and stakeholders representing a broad range of interests, from environmental, timber industry to off-road vehicle groups, have formed a “Sustainable Roads Cadre” to engage the public in the process.
A science-driven approach developed by the Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research Station and Portland State University will be used to understand how people use and value landscapes and resources. Social scientists from the lab will guide meeting participants in using maps to identify places of significance and assign values or activities associated with them.
This process creates socio-spatial layers that will be incorporated into digital map data to contribute to the report and can be used for future recreation and stewardship planning. The results will provide visual displays of visitor destinations, routes, and show places with special meaning or value.
The forest will share the results with the public in the late fall after the report is compiled and analyzed. No decisions will be made. Before doing road upgrades, closures, decommissioning or road conversions to trail, the forest will execute the National Environmental Policy Analysis.
“The future is uncertain. But that doesn’t mean we can afford to stand back and let circumstances dictate our decisions for us. This analysis will guide us, in a holistic forest-wide approach, choosing the roads we can afford to keep open,” said Jennifer Eberlien, forest supervisor.
