Special Series
Economic Turnaround
In a Series
Video: A Clean, Green Economic Recovery
In this five-minute video, Alan talks about paths out of the financial meltdown in the Northwest, including green-collar jobs and efficient, effective climate policy -- not only to repair our economy, but to bring fair and equitable jobs to those who need them most in Cascadia.
Like the video? Link to it on your blog, Facebook, or rate it on YouTube.
Bringing Wolves Back to Washington
Now that the Olympic Peninsula is teeming with vampires, it hardly seems unreasonable to reintroduce wolves back to the region.
I guess I'm not the only one who feels that way. The Peninsula Daily News reports that a public meeting last year was packed with wolf supporters:
SEQUIM - A crowd of North Olympic Peninsula residents told state Department of Fish and Wildlife officials that gray wolves belong in Washington state - maybe even on the Peninsula.
"I want a bumper sticker that says 'Wolves NOW,'" said Dennis Murray of Sequim, one of some 85 people who attended Fish and Wildlife's Tuesday night "public scoping meeting" in Sequim on the drafting of a gray wolf management plan for Washington.
This is surely an excellent sign, especially in light of the fact that it was largely public opposition that ended a reintroduction effort in the 1990s.
I don't have any public opinion research at my disposal, but I've been following this issue for a while it sure seems like something has changed. Maybe it's the fact that the Rocky Mountain wolf reintroduction was such a success, generating strong public support and netting real economic returns. And while there have certainly been conflicts with livestock owners, the fears of wolf-human conflicts have pretty well been put to rest now.
Wolves are present in large numbers in seven states (and in small numbers in many more) and the fact is that wolves simply don't harm people. In fact, anyone care to guess where the largest number of U.S. wolves live outside of Alaska?
