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Environmental Caucus Annual Meeting + Talk on Nooksack River “boundaries for living”
January 10, 2022 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
The WRIA 1 Environmental Caucus* will hold its annual meeting on Monday, January 10th from 7:00-8:30 p.m. Get an update on water related happenings in 2021, get a brief look ahead at 2022 and meet (virtually) others interested in environmental issues in Whatcom County.
Learn about the safe operating space for humanity in the Nooksack Basin, from Professor John McLaughlin, our keynote speaker. The presentation will delineate boundaries for living in the Nooksack River basin without causing environmental collapse. We have exceeded 5 of 6 boundaries, we are at the edge of the sixth, and we are on course to exceed all boundaries further. We have options to restore environmental safety and avoid severe irreversible consequences, but we must implement them aggressively. Professor McLaughlin is faculty in the Environmental Science Department at Western Washington University. He is working with an NSF-funded network of universities to connect rivers, people, and science through immersive field-based education. His research includes wildlife responses to climate change and wildlife roles in Elwha River restoration following dam removal.
* Water Resource Inventory Area #1 (WRIA 1) is the watershed designation for the Nooksack River system. The Planning Unit is the multi-stakeholder body charged with planning, reviewing, and revising the Watershed Management Plan for the Nooksack watershed under the voluntary Watershed Management Act process that Whatcom County, the City of Bellingham, the Public Utility District No. 1, Lummi Nation, and the Nooksack Indian Tribe agreed to partake in back in 1998. The Environmental Caucus is one of several member caucuses to the WRIA 1 Planning Unit. We are community members with a shared interest in a healthy Whatcom County ecosystem. We envision a future Whatcom County where our community is unified in restoring and protecting a resilient ecosystem as our highest priority.
Banner photo: Brett Baunton / Wild Nooksack