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Protecting the Pacific Northwest’s last ancient forests has been a priority for the region’s environmental movement since at least the 1980s. In the late 20th century, the lines of this major battle over natural resources seemed starkly drawn and unmovable. Activists staged tree-sits to stop logging of some of the last centuries-old trees in western…
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At almost 10,000 square miles, Washington’s North Cascades ecosystem is one of the largest truly wild landscapes left in the contiguous United States. I’m fortunate to have spent quite a bit of time in this remarkable place; I spent a year living in the remote North Cascades National Park, and have backpacked extensively in the…
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I recently made the hike to Kendall Katwalk in Alpine Lakes Wilderness–a spectacular day trip into one of the most beautiful wilderness areas in the Pacific Northwest. From glacier-carved mountain peaks, to high-elevation wildflowers, to old-growth mountain hemlock forests, to the lakes from which the wilderness gets its name, this protected area showcases so many…
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What’s the most significant thing we could do to protect endangered species, allow ecosystems to regenerate, and remove countless tons of carbon from the atmosphere? It might just be ending grazing on public lands. For decades, livestock interests have been allowed to profit off public lands, where they’re allowed to graze cattle and sheep for…
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Photo credit: Zero Hour In January, U.S. climate activists prepared for one of the largest direct action protests against fossil fuels in years. The plan was for people to descend on the Department of Energy headquarters for three days of sit-ins protesting a series of massive liquefied natural gas, or LNG, terminals up for approval…
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For people who care about the fate of the planet (and humanity), it’s easy to feel hopeless right now. Another summer of record-breaking temperatures around the world show the effects of a changing climate aren’t letting up. Meanwhile, much of the progress made toward addressing the crisis in the US and other countries in recent…
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Every summer, in forests and woodlands across the North American continent, cicada nymphs dig their way up from the underground tunnels where they spend the bulk of their lifecycle, to shed their skin one final time and emerge as adult insects. Adult cicadas live for only a short while, and during this brief stage their…
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There is no place on Earth quite like Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. Winds coming in off the Pacific dump vast amounts of rain here, making the place a true temperate rainforest and giving rise to some of the biggest trees on the planet. Though it has endured decades of logging, the peninsula is one of the…
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This week, I traveled to Central Washington while doing research for a story I’m working on that has to do with the sagebrush stepped ecosystem. It was a welcome opportunity to re-experience this remarkable plant and animal community, which is one of the most biodiverse and threatened in all of the Pacific Northwest. While old-growth…
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Beginning at least as early as 2013, sea stars up and down the West Coast began succumbing to a mysterious disease that became known as sea star wasting syndrome. Afflicted sea stars would appear to deflate, losing limbs and eventually dissolving into a pile of goo. It sounds like a gruesome way to die–and the…
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Nick Engelfried 