Everett, Wash.
Published: Tuesday, March 17, 2009

TIME TRAVEL

Farming valleys must be protected

 I enjoyed your Time Travel article in Saturday's Herald, and the comparison photos of the little white church in Silvana overlooking the Stillaguamish Valley in 1890 and now. ("Through photos, explore how the state has changed over the years.")

Your caption that the "scene around the Silvana Church remains bucolic" had deep meaning for me as an agricultural economist. The lower Stilly Valley, which the little white church overlooks, has been a commercial farming valley since the late 1800s. That vast, "bucolic" vista still visible today was how many river valleys in Western Washington looked not that long ago. Most of those verdant, highly productive farming valleys are now gone, overrun with urban, commercial and suburban development.

It is important to our local food security, as well as the environmental health of the river, that the same fate not befall the Stillaguamish. I would urge the county and local communities, such as Stanwood and Arlington, to protect what is left of the Stillaguamish River Valley through innovative programs such as transfer and purchase of development rights on a countywide scale, and through removing obstacles to economic development for farming families. If citizens want safe, local meat and produce, they must also support these efforts.

Carolyn Henri
Everett
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA