WACD Reading List

If you lived in Twisp after the town lost its water rights, irrigated spawning salmon in your farm fields or waited in vain for water to appear at the empty end of the Methow Valley Irrigation District’s ditch, you understand water trouble.

St. Louis, March 23, 2021 – U.S. Farmers & Ranchers in Action (USFRA) is celebrating National Ag Day by announcing the growing list of companies, organizations and individuals who have joined the Decade of Ag, the first sector-wide movement to align to a shared vision for the next decade centered around investing in the next generation of agricultural systems, restoring our environment, regenerating natural resources and in doing so, strengthening the social and economic fabric of America.

SB 5126 passed out of the Senate Ways and Means Committee last night, bringing one of the legislature’s most ambitious pieces of climate legislation ever considered one step closer to enactment. The bill creates a system referred to as “cap and invest” where funds generated from auctioning the rights or licenses to create carbon emissions will be invested into capital infrastructure. In the case of the current bill, this would equal between $272m and $551m per year dedicated to transportation infrastructure starting in FY 2023.

But just having a brain isn’t enough. It’s using the power of this small, mighty organ to do what technology can’t do nearly as well: adapt and create.

A phishing attack last week gave attackers access to email and files at the California State Controller’s Office (SCO), an agency responsible for handling more than $100 billion in public funds each year...“This isn’t even the full extent of the breach,” said the California state employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“Soil Health is, simply put, the ability to produce marketable outputs with minimal inputs. It’s very important for people to understand that multi-dimensional property is dynamic, it changes over time and it’s dependent on environmental conditions like temperature, moisture and even the microorganisms and worms and all other life that’s present there.”

On March 17, the Washington State Economic and Revenue Forecast Council released updated revenue forecasts bringing the budget writers very good news – the state is expected to collect an additional $1.3 billion in state revenues for the current two-year budget, and an additional $1.9 billion for the 2021-2023 biennium, leaving the state with a net surplus of nearly $3 billion – including reserves – at the end of the current biennium.

With nearly two-thirds of the United States abnormally dry or worse, the government’s spring forecast offers little hope for relief, especially in the West where a devastating megadrought has taken root and worsened.

The media is full of stories suggesting that global warming has greatly reduced the mountain snowpack in the Pacific Northwest...Yes, there are some random, low snow-depth years (like 2015), but no trend is apparent during the period when global warming has been greatest.

As of Monday, all of Washington state has now moved into Phase 3 of reopening, affording restaurants and other indoor spaces more flexibility with looser restrictions.

Water scarcity is baking cropland and ramping up wildfire risk from California to Texas

Did you think DDoS attacks were over? They are not. Actually, recent research has discovered that these attacks attained a record high during the pandemic.

With over 59 million acres of Native-operated farms across over 30 states within the United States, Tribal Nations and Native producers are perhaps the single most underappreciated resource for sustainable, rural economic development in the U.S.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack stressed the need for structural changes to U.S. food distribution systems in order to tackle hunger, strengthen equity, and increase access to school meals during his keynote address Wednesday at the National Anti-Hunger Policy Conference...

While all runs of salmon on the Skagit River experienced declines, Seattle City Light left 20-year-old glowing messages on its website – touting the utility’s stewardship that led to “strong” and “landmark” returns of salmon.

Reliable and affordable high-speed internet e-Connectivity, or electronic connectivity, is fundamental for economic activity throughout the US.

With nearly two-thirds of the United States abnormally dry or worse, the government’s spring forecast offers little hope for relief, especially in the West where a devastating megadrought has taken root and worsened.

The country’s average for the deadliest type of air pollution rose nearly 7 percent over 2019

OLYMPIA — All timber sales conducted by the Washington Department of Natural Resources would be subjected to an "environmental justice assessment" under the Healthy Environment for All Act, which has passed the Senate and is poised to advance in the House.

$3.7 million to acquire 1,550 acres in the Yakima River Basin for the Washington Cascades Project. Supported by a wide coalition of public, private and nonprofit partners, this project seeks to ensure a long-term water supply in the face of climate change.

COVID-19's arc of brutal consequences will stretch far into the future.

RAVE to the people who worked at the annual Snohomish Conservation District plant sale. It’s a huge effort even before the pandemic. The required changes to be able to hand the plants out made it even more so. Thank you!

OLYMPIA — Washington’s state tax collections are roaring back, with an estimated additional $3.2 billion projected through 2023 as parts of the economy brighten and people get vaccinated amid the COVID-19 pandemic. That’s a big chunk of money for a state with a $53.3 billion, two-year state budget that funds schools, parks, prisons and other programs.

Washington’s economy continues to improve, with the latest state revenue forecast showing that lawmakers will have more than $3 billion more to work with as they prepare to unveil budget plans next week, plus money the state will receive from the latest federal stimulus package.

As organizations grow, they progress through somewhat predictable patterns of culture change. This happens because culture is an expression of how a group of people works together to solve collective problems...

The fastest way to get back to a safe, mask-free life is for everyone to get a Covid-19 vaccine. But just because you've gotten a shot of protection doesn't mean you should rip off your mask immediately. That could actually set you back and put your friends and family at risk.