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Teresa Reynolds sits exhausted as members of her community clean the debris from their flood ravaged homes at Ogden Hollar in Hindman, Ky., Saturday, July 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

Opinion

Editorial: How many billion-dollar disasters will it take?

A tally of climate disasters shows an ever-increasing toll of costs and lives. Congress must act.

Forest ranger Justin Sundstrom looks over a newly reported broken rail at the Ice Cave trail Saturday morning near Granite Falls, Washington on July 23, 2022. (Kevin Clark / The Herald)

Local News

On Mountain Loop, crew of 5 rangers covers a mountain range of work

Ranger Justin Sundstrom spends his days patroling for illegal shooting, picking up trash — and exploring a slice…

A gray whale has lingered around Possession Sound in July 2022. (Sara Montour Lewis / Our Wild Puget Sound)

Local News

Scientists: Gray whale spotted at Mukilteo waterfront was a newcomer

The whale has lingered around Possession Sound. It’s unclear if it will join a group of regular visitors…

Ian Terry / The Herald

From a research boat on Wednesday, Oct. 12, Tulalips Tribes treaty rights commissioner Terry Williams points out a steep hillside near Mission Beach that has been gradually eroding for years.

Photo taken on 10122016

Local News

Terry Williams, Tulalip’s ‘champion of climate issues,’ dies at 74

The bolo tie-wearing elder shaped state and national environmental policy. He was both soft-spoken and a powerful advocate.

Two EV charging stations are unveiled at a ribbon cutting outside of PUD headquarters on Wednesday, July 13, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Local News

PUD fast-charging EV stations in Everett ready for drivers

A state grant with money from the Volkswagen emissions cheating settlement helped fund the the project.

Remis Jankauskas, left, and Trent Pickford of CM Heating move a heat pump into place while working on a home’s HVAC system Friday, July 15, 2022, in Woodinville, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

Local News

Climate change prompts a push away from natural gas

What’s an effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? Heat pumps, advocates say. And new building codes could…

Workers install two new EV charging stations along California Street on Tuesday, June 28, 2022, at the PUD headquarters in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

Local News

Public electric vehicle chargers come to downtown Everett

They’re the first Level 3 chargers in north Everett and the Snohomish County PUD’s first for public use.…

Officials gather outside two of Everett’s electric buses to discuss the new BattGenie system on Monday, June 27, 2022, at the Everett Transit bus yard in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

Local News

Old batteries get new life as Everett Transit backup energy

Company BattGenie set up a container with dozens of used electric bus batteries that charge during non-peak times.

This marsh near Granite Falls will be called Holland Marsh. (Chuck Holland)

Local News

State board approves naming marsh after Everett college teacher

Holland Marsh near Granite Falls is named for forestry teacher, fire lookout and author of “Switchbacks” Andy Holland.

Beth Larsen, an environmental planner with Snohomish County, opens the gates at a new protected habitat area on Thursday, July 7, 2022, south of Mill Creek. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

Local News

Wildlife finds a new home at mitigation site near Mill Creek

Public works crews planted trees and piled up “woody debris” to mimic nature. It’s to make up for…

Glacier Peak, elevation 10,541 feet, in the Glacier Peak Wilderness of Mount Baker–Snoqualmie National Forest in Snohomish County, Washington. (Caleb Hutton / The Herald) 2019

Local News

Forest Service green-lights new seismometers at remote Glacier Peak

The volcano has potential to be one of the deadliest in the nation. Four new monitors could avert…

Ryan Elting, conservation director at the Whidbey Camano Land Trust, talks about the important ecosystem the shoreline provides Friday, June 10, 2022, at the site of the Keystone Preserve near Coupeville, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

Local News

In ‘emergency acquisition,’ 226 acres of Whidbey Island’s farmland, forest saved

The beachside Keystone Preserve, south of Coupeville, is the Whidbey Camano Land Trust’s largest purchase at $9.1 million.

Parts of a field along the Snohomish River are flooded with water on Thursday, June 16, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Local News

Farmers feel sting of unseasonal weather, record inflation

A wet, cold spring has impacted crops from hay to pumpkins to corn. Meanwhile, farmers’ costs for fuel…

A view from the lower undeveloped part of the Flowery Trail neighborhood looking at spots where slash piles have been burned - outside Chewelah, Wash. (Erick Doxey / InvestigateWest)

Northwest

Growing sprawl in state’s woods comes with high wildfire risk

Policymakers and homeowners are scrambling to manage the so-called “wildland-urban interface” to mitigate the threat.

The Everett Wastewater Treatment Plant along the Snohomish River on Thursday, June 16, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Local News

10M gallons of partly untreated wastewater discharged in Everett

The Everett treatment plant released the water into the Snohomish River. It may have not been properly sanitized.

People venture out towards exposed eelgrass beds during the lowest tide in over a decade Wednesday, June 15, 2022, at Lighthouse Park in Mukilteo, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

Local News

Puget Sound’s lowest tides in years unveil a world of sea life

The moon’s wobble is responsible for the lowest tides in 13 years. There are more chances this week…

Logo for news use featuring Snohomish County, Washington. 220118

Local News

Snohomish County gets over $1.8 million for the outdoors

Funding from the Great American Outdoors Act will help patch up roads and trails on the Mountain Loop…

A stretch of the dike that runs along Skagit Bay on Friday, May 13, 2022 in Stanwood, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)

Local News

If this dike fails, Stanwood goes underwater

The levee is over a hundred years old. And it shows. But efforts have lagged to fix it…

People can collect and dump trash at four sites in Everett on Saturday for the first Clean Everett Day. There are no fees for people to drop off garbage. (City of Everett)

Local News

Pick up trash, dump it for free on Clean Everett Day

People can join neighborhood efforts, or just grab garbage that’s piled up near them, and take it to…

Doug Ewing looks out over a small section of the Snohomish River that he has been keeping clean for the last ten years on Thursday, May 19, 2022, at the Oscar Hoover Water Access Site in Snohomish, Washington. Ewing scours the shorelines and dives into the depths of the river in search of trash left by visitors, and has removed 59 truckloads of litter from the quarter-mile stretch over the past decade. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)

Local News

Diving for trash in Snohomish River, biologist fills 59 pickup beds

At Thomas’ Eddy, Doug Ewing estimates he has collected 3,000 pounds of lead fishing weights. And that’s just…