I recently heard an economist observe that we are in frothy times. I’ll say. Frothy being a nice word for high unemployment, the world changing mightily and not being sure where it all will end.
Fortunately, across our region and in Snohomish County we have a tradition of forward-thinking le
adership, smart citizens and strong institutions. Out of this froth we have the opportunity and the tools to create a region that will be civically cohesive, economically resilient and environmentally sound. Not that it will be at all easy or certain.
We also, of course, have freedom of choic
e and can choose to avoid tough, sensible choices and relegate ourselves to become the next Detroit or the next Los Angeles. Neither are options we would wish on our children.
This is an opinion piece, but let’s start from a foundation of facts about the changes coming our way. None give me c
omfort. I take my comfort not from pretending the facts may be otherwise, but because our best response to them also can improve prospects for our families and prosperity of our region.
About the facts:
Climate change, for one. No need to debate it. The U.S. military, not an institution given to environmental clamor, is preparing to operate in a climate-changing world. An exponential reduction in species diversity is next. Scientists say we are seeing a more rapid extinction of species than this world has ever witnessed. All the while oil and water, the very underpinnings of our society, are increasingly harder — or more expensive — to come by.
At the same time, our population continues to grow — Snohomish County has added about 100,000 people since 2000. That’s adding a city the size of Everett every 10 years. It’s not like we can just put up a fence since more than half of our future growth is from our own families.
All this gloom and doom presents our foremost choice. We can choose to stretch and contort what is in front of our noses and deny these grim facts, or just leave it to our kids to figure out. Instead, how about we commit to addressing all this, and in the process provide our children with a better region than we knew?
The good news behind all the gloom and doom is that the interests of our families and of Mother Earth need not be different.
First, what we need to do is admit that we are a stubborn, independent lot who do not like anyone telling us what to do. All being equal, we take action based on our financial circumstances and the best interest of our families. So any path we take — the choices we make — should reflect this fact about ourselves.
Second, let’s not waste time assigning blame. We all drive, eat and take up space, along with all the other untidiness of our daily lives. To borrow from Walt Kelly and Pogo: We have met the enemy and he is us.
For us in the Northwest, the sensible response to these grave challenges, from the economy to the health of Puget Sound, simply is to learn to live within our cities and towns and conserve the rest of our landscapes. Our cities and towns reduce growth pressure on our farm, forest and wild landscapes. Cities can intensively aggregate the capital needed for infrastructure to best handle all the flotsam and jetsam of our daily lives, from solid waste to air pollution.
While it may be best for the region that we learn how to live within our current cities and towns, knowing ourselves pretty well, as we admitted a couple paragraphs ago, we also know this: t’ain’t no one going to make us do it. So the sensible choice for us is to make our cities and towns places where we actually prefer to live and raise our families. Let’s fulfill the promise of building cities people are drawn to, worthy of our children, affordable and welcoming to all.
It’s back to the future. Creating great cities and towns is about the basics. Communities where we can afford a home, find a good job, get around and educate our kids. We need to make communities where all can live with dignity and grace; where we spend time with our kids rather than commuting great distances.
So if all this is going on in our cities and towns, what goes on outside of them? The short answer: a lot — including timber, farming, clean water supply, wildlife habitat and recreation of all sorts, along with a scattering of homes and crossroad communities. But how do we keep it so? By choosing to pursue sensible, new regional approaches.
We can keep these lands doing what they do best in a way that our farmers, foresters and landowners are not penalized for doing so, but rewarded. An example of this new spirit of sensible regionalism — of rural businesses and citizens working with city businesses and citizens — is being pioneered by the Cascade Land Conservancy here in Snohomish County through our work with Transfer of Development Rights programs.
Under this concept our farmers and foresters have an option for realizing the development value of their lands without in fact developing it. Their lands stay working and continue to provide logs, food and rural jobs, and they get the fair shake they deserve. Last year we helped conserve the Hidden Valley Camp near Granite Falls, a treasured place for generations of campers, by compensating its owners for the development value of the forest land around the camp.
Builders in cities can use that development value from our farms and forests to add homes, stores and business space to their projects. Nearby residents see much improved infrastructure along with enhanced building activity. They also continue to have nearby farmlands for their markets and woods for their recreation. The cities, of course, also see more construction jobs and greater economic activity as a consequence. A sensible choice all around.
The benefits are game changing because we recognize all parts of our region are in this together. If we don’t all do better, in the end no one does. The program does not just help our cities or our rural lands in isolation, but works to improve the prospects of both.
By making sensible choices now we can meet and confront our challenges head on and create a region that is environmentally resilient and an even better place to raise our families.
It will also be a community that will attract the jobs of the future. The recent work of the Brookings Institution’s “Metro Nation” decisively shows that regions with strong cities and towns connected by first-rate infrastructure are going to succeed in the demanding global marketplace. The economy, the environment and family life based in cities and towns can all work together.
It may be surprising for the head of a land conservation organization to be writing so much about life in our cities and towns. The simple fact is, by making sure that our cities and towns are places where we want to raise our families and make our livings, we take the pressure off those spectacular lands that make living here so special for all of us.
We launched The Cascade Agenda a few years ago to help build this future for our region and Snohomish County — to cut through the aforementioned froth. The Agenda has two goals: Conserve our remaining wild and working lands and make our communities more prosperous, affordable and livable as we grow. Success will require strong civic institutions and for all of us to make hard and sensible choices. The payoff will be a better region both for our families and Mother Nature.
Working together, the whole will very much be greater than the sum of the parts.
Gene Duvernoy has led the Cascade Land Conservancy has president since the early 1990s. Under his leadership, more than 175,000 acres have been conserved around the region, including nearly 12,000 acres in Snohomish County. Learn more about the Cascade Land Conservancy and its Cascade Agenda at www.cascadeland.org.
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