Salish Current

This summer, Whatcom Transportation Authority implemented its 2026 service changes, aiming to simplify routes, improve reliability and better match service to actual demand. The most significant changes center on routes serving Western Washington University. Previously, the Blue Line consisted of six overlapping routes that funneled through campus, often creating confusion and inefficiency.

According to a recent Convention of Migratory Species Report, migratory freshwater fish populations have dropped 81% worldwide since 1970. While Northwest Washington species face many of the same pressures as other species across the planet, the story here is a bit more nuanced, and researchers point to a unique interagency collaboration in the state as a pathway forward.

Ed.: The essays, analyses and opinions presented as Community Voices express the perspectives of their authors on topics of interest and importance to the community and are not intended to reflect perspectives on behalf of Salish Current. In its 2024 report, the Washington State Traffic Safety Commission lays out a vision for zero roadway deaths, achieved through coordinated safety and transportation planning.

Summer in Bellingham means sunlit trails and a steady stream of cyclists cruising through town. For local riders looking to ground their usual weekend ride in something deeper, a new self-guided route offers a journey through the city's Indigenous heritage: the Salish Tribute bicycle ride. The route is the latest creation from Sarah Burch, founder of BIKE Bellingham.

A new report argues cross-border waterways in the Columbia Basin need more coordinated governance; officials believe that work is already being done. The need for careful management of waterways to control pollution and flooding, and to satisfy hydropower needs, doesn't magically stop at an international border. The Columbia River Basin includes a chunk of British Columbia and territory in seven U.S. states including Washington.

I am writing to thank Salish Current for publishing the opinion piece by Taimi Dunn Gorman. Although I am not hostile to bikes and improving bike infrastructure, I absolutely agree that the city's elimination of parking requirements is a boon for developers and a huge problem for all Bellingham residents. Everyone I know in Bellingham has at least one car. Even the most devout bike riders own a car that has to be parked somewhere.

I read Taimi Dunn Gorman's piece on parking requirements and I think the framing gets it backward. In the 1970s, Amsterdam was headed in the same direction as every American city: wider streets, more parking, more traffic. After a wave of children were killed by cars, residents pushed back hard, and the city redesigned around people instead of vehicles. Today Amsterdam is one of the most livable cities in Europe, the result of a deliberate choice.

Whispers of the original Word Found within the depths Of bark, trunk, of sap and roots And nestled in cone spirals. Word made wood Unique to planet Earth. We have Irrational and Soul needed connections To what's unseen, but felt Between thee and tree. Will there be a ghost vibration When separation is enforced? Will it seem right when No legacy is left? What else is there, only love? Does the truth of love mean Letting trees "Be"? Is the story of Odlin An epic? Or a single song?

Though logging could potentially be on the horizon near one of the Skagit Valley's most iconic landmarks, the way ahead remains unclear. On Aug. 1, the state Department of Natural Resources approved a forest practices application for timber harvest of a 10-acre parcel adjacent to Little Mountain Park.

More American white pelicans are migrating to Padilla Bay each year, but there's no evidence of successful nesting - birders ask: Is a permanent colony possible? To many in Western Washington, the American white pelican is an unusual sighting. Native to inland regions of the United States and Canada, as well as coastal areas of Mexico, these birds generally migrate far south of Washington in the winter, returning to freshwater lakes and marshes to breed in the summer.