Watch Out, Monsanto!

Trey Smith

When it comes to citizen activism, I live in a very pedestrian area. People around here don't tend to get collectively up in arms about anything. Use of drones? Yawn. Bailouts to Wall Street? Blink. Even hot-button social issues like abortion or same sex marriage don't cause the local minions to awaken from their lethargy.

So, it was rather shocking last weekend when a march (and informational booths) was held to protest the agri-giant, Monsanto. It wasn't heavily attended, but Della and I happened by near the end and the adjacent parking lot was crammed full of vehicles. This was at the point when things were winding down.

As reported by Democracy Now!, "actions were held in 52 countries and 436 cities around the world, including New York City and Mexico City." One of those cities happened to be Raymond, Washington!

You may not have realized that hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets last Saturday because, by and large, the mainstream media decided not to cover these events. No matter. The lack of coverage didn't dissuade people from joining in.

If I was Monsanto, I would be more than a bit alarmed. While I'm sure the corporate big wigs aren't shaking in their boots due to a small protest along the southwestern Washington Coast, they should be. If even people here are fed up with Monsanto and their GMOs, that would seem to indicate that a groundswell is growing against this corporate bully. Maybe, just maybe, the unwashed masses are starting to wake up.

AWOL: Economic Recovery

Trey Smith

Officially, since June 2009 the US economy has been undergoing an economic recovery from the December 2007 recession. But where is this recovery? I cannot find it, and neither can millions of unemployed Americans.

The recovery exists only in the official measure of real GDP, which is deflated by an understated measure of inflation, and in the U.3 measure of the unemployment rate, which is declining because it does not count discouraged job seekers who have given up looking for a job.

No other data series indicates an economic recovery. Neither real retail sales nor housing starts, consumer confidence, payroll employment, or average weekly earnings indicate economic recovery.
~ from The Missing Recovery by Paul Craig Roberts ~

Yesterday, President Obama said that the "sequestration" would slow the nation's economic recovery. To that I ask: What recovery?

Though I don't do it as often now, I still hang out a bit at my friend's mini mart. His customers represent a fair cross-section of folks from this general area and, sometimes, beyond. The topic of the economy often comes up in conversation and I know of NO ONE around here who has seen much of any evidence for this supposed economic recovery.

Poor people are just as poor. The middle class folks continue to struggle. Fellow business owners grouse about the poor economic climate. Several truckers have said that, if things don't get better soon, they may have to park their trucks. And the people employed at this part of the counties two major employers -- Coast Seafood and Weyerhauser -- are worried that, due to the continued economic downturn, one or both may shutter their doors! If that were to happen, the exodus from North Pacific County would be dramatic and the area would soon resemble a virtual ghost town.

As Roberts suggests above, I believe that much of the vaunted economic recovery is being done with smoke and mirrors. It is a charade to keep the common folk from taking to the streets and demanding justice. It serves as a diversion so that most people don't notice that Wall Street continues to bleed us dry.

I certainly agree with Roberts' closing refrain:

This situation is untenable. Sooner or later something will pop these bubbles, and the consequences will be horrendous.

Falling Off

Trey Smith

For over a decade, Della and I called Salem, Oregon home. We owned a little house on the west side of the Willamette River in a quiet neighborhood with tree-lined streets. We had a nice life there, but the Pacific Ocean was calling us. We wanted to live in a coastal community and, while Salem wasn't very far from the ocean -- only one hour away -- we wanted to be closer.

After a brief sojourn in Aberdeen, Washington, we moved to South Bend about 5 years ago. By air, South Bend is much closer to the ocean than Salem, but it's about the same distance by car. While we still entertain the fantasy of having an oceanfront home, I'm glad we don't have the financial wherewithal to make that dream a reality!

It's not that I still wouldn't like to see the ocean from my living room window. That thought makes me swoon romantic. It's more that I wouldn't want to wake up some morning to find the ocean...IN my living room!

In the coming years, many who live in oceanfront homes face this possibility. Why? Because of something that's going on in Greenland and other places in the Arctic and Antarctica.

A massive iceberg twice the size of Manhattan has broken off one of Greenland's major glaciers -- a development which scientists say is due to alarming warming in the region.

The iceberg, measuring 46 square miles, is the second of its nature to break from Greenland in just two years. In 2010 an iceberg twice its size, one of the largest ever recorded in Greenland, broke free.

"It's dramatic. It's disturbing," said University of Delaware professor Andreas Muenchow, one of the first researchers to notice the break. "We have data for 150 years and we see changes that we have not seen before. It's one of the manifestations that Greenland is changing very fast."

"This is not part of natural variations anymore," said NASA glaciologist Eric Rignot, referring to the vast changes the glacier has seen in the past three years.

Scientists are concerned about rising sea levels due to melting ice in the north. The Arctic had the largest sea ice loss on record for June, scientists reported this week, and Northern Greenland and Canada are warming five times faster than the average global temperature.

"Rising sea levels" seems like a clinical term, one divorced from everyday living. So what if the ocean is a little bit deeper? But rising sea levels mean that communities and homes that abut the ocean are in peril. More water means more beach erosion and, if your house is ON the beach or in dunes NEAR the beach, you may have a big problem on your hands.

There is a community near here that straddles the line between Pacific and Grays Harbor Counties. Over the past decade, several homes in the North Cove area have been claimed by the sea. When these homes were built years ago, there was a buffer between the houses and the beach, but, as time passed, those buffers were wiped out by the tides. Every year or so, there is an article in the paper about another house that falls into the Pacific Ocean.

So, it turns out that South Bend is the perfect place for us. We're close to the ocean (there's an ocean viewpoint high on a bluff at Bruceport County Park about 6 miles west), but we're not right on it. We get to enjoy the perks of living in a small [near] coastal community without sharing the immediate worries of the encroaching ocean via global warming.

This is not to suggest that towns like South Bend would not be impacted in any form by rising sea levels. Our town is nestled along the south bend of the Willapa River just before it empties into Willapa Bay. As sea levels continue to rise, it will alter the bay and I am sure this will impact the river, but I don't think we have any homes in this area that will be falling into one body of water or another.

Of course, if we're hit by a tsunami, all bets are off!

No Visas Required

Trey Smith

When a floating dock the size of a boxcar washed up on a sandy beach in Oregon, beachcombers got excited because it was the largest piece of debris from last year's tsunami in Japan to show up on the US west coast.

But scientists worried it represented a whole new way for invasive species of seaweed, crabs and other marine organisms to break the earth's natural barriers and further muck up the area's marine environments.

And more invasive species could be hitching rides on tsunami debris expected to arrive in the weeks and months to come.

"We know extinctions occur with invasions," said John Chapman, assistant professor of fisheries and invasive species specialist at Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine Science Center. "This is like arrows shot into the dark. Some of them could hit a mark."
~ from As Japan Debris Washes Up in the US, Scientists Fear Break in Natural Order via The Guardian ~

Living very near the Washington coastline, I am close to ground zero for these unwanted Japanese visitors! Who knows what kind of invasive species will wreak havoc in the environs of Pacific County.

One such visitor the article mentions -- though this one immigrated here from the East Coast -- is Spartina.

Spartina, an invasive cordgrass that’s not native to the west coast, is believed to have arrived in Willapa Bay in the late 1800s with oysters from the east coast. During the next 100 years, the plant invaded the tidal mudflats of Willapa Bay and currently infests up to 32 percent of the bay, destroying habitat for native plants and wildlife and threatening the important flyway used by migratory shorebirds. In addition, Spartina eliminates shellfish seed beds, threatening the $30 million local shellfish industry.

As mentioned above, this cordgrass arrived in our area very innocently. Unfortunately, it has taken root and our cash-strapped county spends millions of dollars each year to try to eradicate it...with little success!

What's worse is that the county employs all sorts of noxious chemicals to try to get the job done. Not only have these poisons not proven to be all that effective, but now the bay is in even worse shape because of all the toxins introduced.

So, while beachcombers get all excited at the idea of finding debris washed ashore from Japan, county officials are holding their breath.

And the Sirens Wail

There are a lot of things that separate small town and/or rural living from what others experience in larger towns and cities. As I've mentioned before, I live in a small hamlet with NO stoplights. Our sister city, Raymond, which is about 5 miles east, has 4 stoplights on the highway, but none anywhere else in town. In the south part of the county, Long Beach has 2 or 3. All told, in a county of 933 square miles, there are no more than 10 stoplights.

I was reminded of another major difference yesterday afternoon when the town siren began to wail. Every fire department in the county is of the volunteer variety. Because we have no staffed firehouses, each town and community has a siren that is used to announce that the volunteers are needed to go fight a fire somewhere.

It really takes one back a century or so when most fire departments were of this kind. At least our engines are no longer dependent on horses!

Not Singing the Blues

My wife and I headed out to the Smith Creek Blueberry Farm this afternoon. Their U-Pick season started this past Friday and we wanted to get in on the pickings of the first go around.

To our surprise, no other vehicles were in the grassy parking area across from the large blueberry patch. A young woman (one of the proprietors -- I forget her name) came out to greet us with her three dogs. She told us that the lack of sunshine and cool temperatures this summer meant that we would find very slim pickings.

Last year they had a bumper crop. The berries were bursting with sweetness and that wonderful deep blue color. As we waded through the bushes today, we saw very few ripe berries and the few we sampled were very sour and bitter.

The forecast is looking up for later in the week. It might reach the low 70s for a few days with a smattering of sunny skies. She told us they really need several consecutive days of upper 70s and low 80s with sunshine or else this years crop will end up being a dud. The birds seem to like them quite fine, though.

As we prepared to leave, she said she was sorry we drove all the way out and were going back home empty handed. We told her that the drive itself was worth it. (It's very lovely out here in the boonies.) Besides, isn't driving part of the American Dream? Burning gas just for the sake of burning gas? :-D

Wednesday's Weather Report

We're getting ready here for Round #2. Initially, this storm was supposed to be a little less fierce than the last one, but now they say it will be worse! The entire western half of Washington is under a flood warning and we may get above 5" of rain in the next 24-36 hours (that's on top of the 4 -5 inches of the past 2 days). In the mountains, the forecast is for upwards of 3 feet of new snow.

Tomorrow afternoon looks to be dicey, at best. Besides the copious amount of rain, the forecast calls for sustained winds of around 50 mph and gusts of 90 mph and higher. Them is hurricane force gusts!

Of course, sometimes the weather forecasters cry Wolf! and nothing much comes of it. On the flip side, we've been blindsided by some really bad storms. So, we'll have to wait and see if the current prediction pans out. All I know right now is that the wind is howling and torrents of rain are falling.

The Inexact Science

While Taoism may be an inexact philosophy, predicting the weather is an inexact science!! When I posted last, our area was being pummeled by gale force winds and rain. The rest of the night looked to be a wild ride and the prediction was that it would last until midday today. So much for predictions!

I awoke at 8:30 a.m. to partly sunny skies and no wind to speak of. In fact, by midnight last night the winds had already dropped by several notches, though the rain kept coming down in torrents. We finished our Monday with 3.25" inches of the wet stuff and, as it now stands with several more storms lined up to slam into us for the next week or so, we've accumulated 13.04" for the month to date.

Normal rain totals for the entire 30 days of November is 12.67". As you can readily see, we're already above that and there are two weeks left in the month! It won't surprise me in the least if we end up over 20" when all is said and done. But hey, it is autumn and this is the southwest Washington coast. Copious amounts of rain are to be expected.

Officially, the highest wind gust reported in South Bend was a meager 44 mph. Our weather station is located at our elementary school in a sheltered area of town. Della & I live on one of the two large hills that bracket the town and, since we're on the western most hill (the ocean side), we typically see much stronger winds that they do down below.

Tokeland, which is at the mouth of Willapa Bay on the north side, clocked a gust as high as 77 mph. To our north, Hoquiam and Ocean Shores both clocked winds near 70 and Long Beach, in the south portion of Pacific County, clocked wind speeds in the 60s.

Another storm predicted to pack winds of 60 mph and more is expected to make landfall on Thursday. So, if it pans out, we get two days of respite from the wind, but NOT the rain.

Well, that's my weather report for now. Hopefully, now that the excitement has died down, I can get back to writing about Wen Tzu. ;>)

9 O'Clock Weather Report

We are getting nailed by gale and, possibly, hurricane force winds. The trees in the forest behind our house are bending in ways they typically don't and we've already lost a few of 'em. We've received nearly three inches of rain today and some areas are experiencing coastal flooding and heavy beach erosion.

The lights have flickered several times -- like just now -- but we still have power. Best of all, the main thrust of the storm is just now starting to come ashore. This promises to be an interesting night on the southwest Washington coast.

Blowing in the Wind

It's mid-autumn and that means rain in this here neck of the woods. It also means storms. Our first major one of the season is predicted for late this afternoon until mid-day Tuesday. The prognosticators believe we may see wind gusts of upwards to eighty miles per hour and sustained winds in the 25 -45 mph range. So, if you don't see any posts on here for a day or two, it most likely means the power has been knocked out.

Every corner of this world has extreme weather conditions to deal with. While we typically don't have to worry about tornadoes, hurricanes and blizzards -- though in the last couple of years we had to deal with conditions similar to the latter two -- we do have to put up with the potential for gales, tsunamis and earthquakes. So, we're preparing to batten down the hatches.

I've split a lot of wood in the past three days and my aching back can attest to it. Most of this wood is now stacked neatly against the wall in the dining room. If the electricity does go out, our fireplace will become our only heat source and, I suppose, our cooking range as well. All of our flashlights have newer batteries in them and I will be filling up several jugs of water -- in case the water system goes out too.

My sincere hope is that the power stays on so I can continue to offer verses and contemplations on the Wen Tzu and occasional weather updates. :>)

Fer Sale

If you haven't heard the news yet, let me be the first to tell ya -- it's been announced here and here that the worst recession in 70 years is over!! It seems that manufacturing and housing sales rose a bit more than expected and we'll soon return to the times of milk and honey. I'm so deliriously happy I'm going to burn some of my excess millions in the fireplace...oh wait...I don't have ANY excess pennies, let alone dollars!

Maybe the economists are right, but you sure couldn't tell it from my neck of the woods. Most families in Pacific County, Washington, are hurting and hurting bad. How can I tell? On almost every street in the area, one can find a "for sale" sign. These signs adorn homes, cars, boats, trailers, bicycles, golf clubs -- just about anything that can be turned into quick money. I won't be surprised if I start seeing a few such signs on pets!

Even our local second-hand store is in trouble. Normally, when the economy sags a bit, second-hand stores see an uptick in business as more people find it necessary to eschew new doodads for used ones. But the economy around here has gotten so bad that Wild Bill's is holding a "going out of business" sale with their already low prices slashed by 70%!! The owners had planned to end the sale on August 31, but sales have been so slow that they've extended it.

I know that Della and I are hanging on by a bare thread. So, I hope the learned economists are correct. I'm just not going to hold my breath.

If You Come, Come Prepared

It's now the tourist season in Pacific County. Slowly, but surely, more and more vehicles are streaming up or down Highway 101 headed for the beach in Westport, Tokeland, Ocean Shores, Long Beach or Ocean Park. If you think you might want to head to the beach too in Washington or Oregon, I have just two words of caution for you: Be Prepared.

You will need to wipe away your preconceived notions of what the season of summer means. Don't allow yourself to daydream about bright sunny skies, hot temperatures and balmy tropical breezes. If you don't heed my advice, you may find yourself in the same predicament that many tourists will find themselves in this very weekend.

I'm sure many of these folks checked out the weather in Pacific County for the past week. What they found were bright sunny skies and daytime highs ranging from the low 70s to the low 80s. So, before heading out for a fun weekend, they packed tank tops, flip flops, shorts, sun tan oil, sunglasses and maybe even a beach ball. Not a long sleeve shirt or a jacket anywhere in the 'ol suitcase.

What a surprise such folks will be in for! The sun has disappeared completely; it has been replaced by low clouds, fog and mist. Those warm days are far behind us -- daytime highs are now hovering in the mid 50s. In two short days, we've migrated from shorts and swimsuits to jackets and rain slickers.

Of course, for those of us who call coastal Washington or Oregon home, this is run-of-the-mill normal. It's never a surprise to see lows in the 40s and even 30s during the "dog days of summer". It's also not surprising to find highs in the 50s or even high 40s as late as June or July. It's simply part of our rather unique ecosystem.

But to tourists, it's like a cultural shock! It can be very difficult to enjoy a romantic late evening stroll on the beach in shorts if a gale is blowing, rain is falling by the bucketful and wind chills are in the 40s.

So, if you plan to come our way this summer, please pack accordingly. Throw in a couple of pairs of wool socks and a parka...because you never know what Mother Nature has in store for you. :)

Not Again!!

For the second time in the past 4 years, my favorite oldies radio station abruptly is going off the air!! Back in May 2005, when I lived in Oregon, I lamented the fate of KISN 97.1 FM. One day I was listening to my beloved 60s music and the next day it was replaced by some eclectic corporate new wave crap. At least, in that instance, a form of KISN remained on the air on the AM dial.

Now, four years later, I just learned that The Eagle 97.7 out of Olympia will turn into KOMO-FM tomorrow morning. Not only will a Seattle group take over the station, but the format is switching to a Talk/News format. Double Yuk!!!

While this "news" bums me out to no end, I again feel worse for the 15 or so employees who will lose their jobs. Many of them just learned of this radical change in their lives -- in this wonderful economy, no less -- only a day or two ago. Of course, the owners of South Sound Broadcasting must be sitting pretty as I'm sure this deal with a media conglomerate means big bucks for them.

The Eagle is/was the only halfway decent radio format we can pick up in South Bend. Most of the few other stations on the dial are Christian, Spanish and country stations. Surprisingly enough, despite the fact Pacific County is rural, we have NO radio stations of our own. Not one. So, news from Seattle isn't particularly germane to our area -- we're actually closer to Portland, OR than to Seattle.

I find this lack of a local radio outlet appalling (even one with a format I might dislike). In almost every other rural area I've ever lived in, there has been at least 1 local radio station. Such a station served as the fulcrum for local news and community events. It was a place that broadcast local high school sporting events, city council meetings and area public service announcements.

But not Pacific County, Washington! The closest we can get to "local" is Aberdeen/Hoquiam (35 miles north) or Astoria, OR (50 miles south). And now we can't even get oldies music either!!

I'm going to have a good cry now. :(

Fun, Fun, Fun

Today we headed down to south county (Long Beach) to visit a nursery that has a far greater selection of native plants than we have here in north county. While there, we took our two dogs -- the effervescent young one and the doddering old one -- to the beach for a run and a hobble. Though it was a sunny Saturday afternoon, there weren't that many people present.

A lot of folks get the wrong idea when I mention northwest beaches. They are altogether different from those in Southern California! Most of my friends and relatives from back east conjure up images of strong, young tanned bodies basking in ever present sunshine. They imagine surfers and families crowding the beach.

A crowded day on a northwest beach more closely resembles that of an off-day in the winter of our Southern California counterparts. I have never felt like a sardine in a can waking the beaches in Long Beach, Ocean Shores or Ocean City. In fact, there have been many occasions -- some in the middle of summer -- in which me 'n the dogs have had an entire beach to ourselves!!

In my opinion, two things account for the difference: 1) Weather and 2) The make-up of the beaches themselves.

One of the more popular beaches in Southern California is Huntington Beach (HB). HB receives an average of 11.65 inches of precipitation per YEAR. Average highs range from 64 - 73.

Compare these figures to Long Beach (LB), WA. LB receives more average rain in the MONTH of December than HB does for a calendar year. On an annual basis, LB receives nearly 6 feet more rain than HB. While HB receives a smattering of rain here and there, LB gets hit with wild storms and torrents of rainfall throughout the year. The high temperature range is also more extreme, 48 - 67.

But another important difference is the make-up of the beaches themselves. In most warm climes, there is a parking area beyond the beach and the sand is reserved for sunbathers, surfers and family picnics. Contrast this to Washington where almost all of the sand is accessible by motorized vehicle.

Consequently, the sand near the water in the northwest tends to be hard-packed. The soft sand sometimes can be several hundred yards away from the lapping waves and, if you try to venture closer, you stand a good chance of being run over by all the cars and trucks speeding up and down the beach!

Still, despite the fact the character of our beaches is far different than those in sunny Southern California (or Hawaii!), I wouldn't trade them for the world. As a person who immensely enjoys solitude, I thoroughly enjoy walking on beaches (particularly IN the rain) where few others dare tread.

Observations on Spring

On a typical 5th day of April in gorgeous South Bend, the temperature will reach 56 degrees and there's a good chance precipitation will fall from the sky. Today has been an atypical early April day. The temperature reached 70 degrees with a not a drop of the wet stuff. It's predicted we'll have two more days like this one, then we'll return to more seasonable weather.

With the warmth and the sunshine, Della & I ventured outdoors for most of the day. Our first hint of spring was a visit from the neighborhood hummingbird. It has a reddish head, but that's about all I can describe because it rarely stops moving long enough to take note of additional characteristics. It reminded Della that the time had come to refill the hummingbird feeder.

Our next treat was spotting two bald eagles high in the sky over the Willapa River. The both were gliding very high -- sometimes to the point that they were almost out of sight, even with our trusty binoculars.

I don't know about you, but we both think of bald eagles as one of the most beautiful and majestic of birds. Each time we spot one -- and it's not infrequent near Willapa Bay -- we kind of stop what we're doing and look skyward.

A little bit later, as I was going down the hill to the grocery store, I spotted a crow dunking itself in a puddle. While a crow is not nearly as majestic as an eagle, they are just as interesting nonetheless. This particular crow seemed to be enjoying itself immensely as it would dunk its entire body in the large puddle, then shake out the excess water, only to repeat the dance again. I asked if I could join him, but he said he didn't think the puddle was big enough for the two of us!

The last indication of spring today was a report by our neighbor Leslie that a cougar had chased a gentleman near Miller Pond (just below our house) a week or so ago. The man escaped harm, but it certainly gives us a little cause for concern regarding our cats! Cougar sightings are not infrequent in Pacific County. That should be expected as humankind continues to encroach on their natural habitat.

I have never encountered a cougar in the wild. The closest I ever came was hearing one on the hill above my house when I lived in the Ozark Mountains in northwest Arkansas. Being young and foolish, my dogs and I scampered up the hill to try to catch a glimpse of it. Fortunately, for me, the puma decided it didn't want to see us.

Everybody's Hurting

One of the best ways to gain an understanding of how the current financial crisis is having a negative impact on communities throughout the nation is to read small town newspapers. In such pages, you'll learn how almost every county, city, town, hamlet and school district is facing sizable budget deficits.

The local newspaper for South Pacific County is the Chinook Observer. In this week's edition alone, there was an article about how the school district in Long Beach is considering the elimination of their only counselor for the entire district. There's also talk of closing one of the area's state parks. The bigger story, however, is a proposal to close the Naselle Youth Camp (NYC). NYC "is an unfenced facility that serves male and female offenders in a medium security setting."

The State Senate has proposed keeping NYC open, while shutting down the Green Hill School in Chehalis. The House version is the other way around and is favored by our governor. So, what we have here are two small towns -- Chehalis (7,500) and Naselle (400) -- holding their collective breath to see if the local economy will take a direct hit.

The situation for Naselle is more dire than that of Chehalis. NYC is the largest employer in the area and, if it closes, Naselle may cease to exist.

Many of the workers for a closed NYC would have to move away in search of new jobs. This would cause a direct impact on the local school district which is among the smallest in the state. Losing students would equate to less funding and less funding would mean a loss of teachers and staff. If this were to take place, the state would probably step in and mandate that the school district merge with another in the area.

The few businesses in Naselle (grocery store, gas station, cafe, and bank) would become hard-pressed to turn a profit if the community shrinks in size. The nearest services would then be located in Astoria, OR or Ilwaco, WA -- both around 15 miles away from the center of town. This would necessitate more driving for the locals and this would certainly not be good for the environment nor their pocketbooks.

All this because the State of Washington is staring at a $9 billion deficit. Painful cuts need to be made and there are other small communities like Naselle in the same boat. Several will virtually disappear if the budget axe falls their direction.

From Small to Tiny

This has been a most interesting -- and stressful -- summer. When it began, my wife & I lived in Aberdeen (Grays Harbor County) and as it winds down we now live in South Bend (Pacific County). We've gone from a small city with most routine services to a little hamlet with few services.

For example, I've been to both grocery stores in the area -- one here in South Bend and the other in Raymond. Neither store carries ANY organic produce. None. Zilch. Nada. They also don't carry frozen yogurt nor fresh bagels -- not even at the progressive bakery in town.

There is no curbside recycling. In fact, there's very little emphasis on recycling at all. The two local recycling centers -- places with giant bins -- listed on the county website aren't there anymore. The two have been consolidated into one location that isn't even listed.

And the meager recycling available is nothing to write home about! There's no place to take greyboard nor mixed paper (i.e., junk mail).

Far worse than the above inconveniences, I've learned that the largest owner of property in Pacific County -- owning almost 80% of privately-held land -- is none other than the mighty Weyerhaeuser timber barons. They've spent the last century destroying the fragile Willapa basin!

This rural county is interesting as it has only 2 major highways (other than on the Long Beach spit) -- US 101 that skirts the northern and western edges and State Highway 6 that goes east to Chehalis. On a typical map, it looks like the vast majority of the county is undisturbed wilderness.

Aah, but general maps can be so deceiving!! It turns out that this county is carved up with roads -- logging roads. They cover hundreds of miles, winding hither to yonder. And what might we find near many of these such roads -- clearcuts!

Yes, the proverbial clearcut is alive and well here. It seems to be the preferred method for "harvesting" trees. There's one fresh clearcut that can be seen across the Willapa River from our little downtown area. It's hanging there on the side of a hill directly above the road that leads to Tokeland & North Cove. It's a landslide waiting to happen.

I'm sure I'll be reporting on a landslide there this winter when the rains return.