Since 1979, Washington Wild has played a key role in protecting nearly three million acres of Wilderness throughout Washington State. They bring people together in the defense of our remaining wild forests, waters, and wildlife area. Chris Chappell frequently asks the Environmental Coalition to join their list of groups that ask Congress, the Forest Service […]
by Kirk Kirkland In Minneapolis, the chief of police took a strong position regarding the federal administration’s handling of apprehensions of immigrants. He stated, “If ICE agents use unlawful force in this city, my officers must intervene.” To translate that into plain, street-fighting English: “The city of Minneapolis does NOT belong to federal bullies.” In […]
by Kirk Kirkland & Al Schmauder Before the 1970 housing boom in the Pierce County’s Urban Growth Area, Spanaway and Clover creeks had salmon in their streams. After 25 years of restoring the creek by adding fish ladders and implementing various restoration plans for Chambers Canyon and Clover Creek, this summer it was time to […]
by Kirk Kirkland Ten years ago, in a conference hall on the outskirts of Paris the leaders of almost every country agreed to try to slow down global warming. The new idea was for each country to set its own targets to reduce climate pollution in ways that made sense for them. So, here we […]
by Brett Johnson With most of the ballots now counted for the 2025 local election, turnout in Pierce County topped out around 34%–a strong turnout for an off-year election. We are incredibly proud of our endorsed candidates for running effective campaigns, and in many cases winning. Well done! Bryan Yambe secured over 57% of the […]
Fall has arrived with a windy, wet, and brilliantly colored bang! As the landscape soaks up the long-awaited rain, mushrooms are popping up, and the big leaves of maple trees, osoberry, and vine maple seem to have turned bright yellow overnight. When the first heavy rains hit in early October, visitors spotted an incredible variety […]
Protestors on Saturday October 18 were calling for No Kings in the kingdom of the once United States of America. In small and large towns on this Saturday the reigning King in Washington D.C was introduced to the U.S. Constitution and the Rule of Law and a government by the people. This was not a […]
by Marianne Lincoln; photos by Al Schmauder It is the end of October 2025 and salmon are coming up Chambers Bay. Some have even been allowed over the fish ladders to span naturally rather than be taken at the hatchery. Sadly, there is no water in Clover Creek. The fish cannot get any farther than […]
Running Against the Odds TACOMA, Wash. — Cyrus Donato is defying expectations in his campaign for Port of Tacoma Commission, Position 4, running a people-powered race against an opponent who has vastly out-raised him. Despite being outspent, Donato has proven that grassroots support can make a real difference. In the primary election, Donato finished […]
by Kirk Kirkland During the first week of the shutdown of government by the Republicans in Congress, it was difficult to find successful ways to push back the polarization that has occurred between these two political parties. But in this dark hour several leaders in both parties spoke out about violence and called for people […]
by Kirk Kirkland “Last week NY Times reporters found a policy change made in the spring by the Department of Defense (DOD). This policy change was made without public notice. The change removed $200 million for PFAS remediation in the 2026 National Defense Authorization Budget. The cities of Lakewood and DuPont use these funds to […]
By Kirk Kirkland The bad news is that the Chambers Creek Dam is not going to be removed until the bridge upstream is funded. With two county bridges closed and needing priority funding over the White River and the Carbon River, the Chambers Creek bridge is going to remain a low priority for the foreseeable […]
In such turbulent times as these, the nation’s attention is almost constantly pulled from one breaking news event to the next. Too often it is President Trump destroying essential parts of our economy, or making war on Chicago’s residents and other large cities. Meanwhile, what is arguably the most important story of our time has […]
Voters shuffled the candidates around bringing some exciting people forward after the August primary election. The City of Lakewood will have some close races if the voters want to make some changes and turn out in force. Ellen Talbo in position 1 ran away from the field with over 41% of the vote in Lakewood. […]
After the first 500 salmon were released above the Chambers dam it has been a long wait to see them upstream. Summer drought has affected the creek. Will the fish make it, were our previous restoration efforts enough? Online comments discuss the past efforts describe the next phase of creek restoration. In August we learned […]
Kingfisher Village includes 60 new tiny homes offering safer transitions from the street to housing in Tacoma and Pierce County. County Budget to tackle leading social and environmental issues This year’s proposed County Budget is tackling some of the leading social problems from drug programs to funding affordable housing for low income people to building […]
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: In response to recent federal actions that have undermined the independence of the CDC and raised concerns about the politicization of science, Washington, California and Oregon Washington are beginning the process to provide evidence-based unified recommendations to their residents regarding who should receive immunizations and to help ensure the public has access […]
by Kirk Kirkland Last week fishermen in their boats appeared at dawn around the Browns Point lighthouse as the August salmon run began. By 10 am there were 50 boats fishing off of Point Defiance Park. As of August 21, this year, 132 hatchery Chinook salmon ran the gauntlet of fishermen and found their way from […]
On August 16, the Guardian reported that President Trump declared at a White House press conference that Washington DC had been ‘overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals’” – a typical flourish untethered from reality – and announced he would seize control of the city’s police force. By Tuesday night, national guard troops were patrolling the […]
County environmental groups oppose the repeal of the EPA’s Endangerment Finding ordered by President Trump. During August two environmental groups in Pierce County joined forces to express their concern regarding the repeal the EPA’s 2009 “endangerment finding” for greenhouse gases. Their letters urged the Federal agency to uphold its legal and scientific integrity by rejecting […]
