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Opinion

March 23, 2023

Let’s tell the truth about those big, bad wolves

The return of wolves to the West has always been contentious, and the deaths last fall of more than 40 cattle in western Colorado really alarmed ranchers. But here’s the true story: Wolves did not kill those cattle found dead near Meeker.

March 16, 2023

State of the ECFR District: The Year of the Nakia Creek Fire

Every year since 2015, East County Fire & Rescue (ECFR)’s board chair has submitted this column as a special outreach to our citizens, as well as those in the areas we provide mutual aid (Camas, Washougal, Skamania County, Vancouver, etc.) This year is one to start out with the following warning: “Buckle up, it’s going to be a bumpy ride!”

March 2, 2023

Backcountry adventurers know they’re taking chances

Six people have died in avalanches in the United States since the snow started to fly this fall. Every year, an average of 27 people —skiers, snowboarders, snowmobilers, snowshoers — die this way.

February 23, 2023
Utah's Great Salt Lake is shown in 2022. (Contributed photo courtesy of Stephen Trimble)

It’s do or die for the Great Salt Lake

Last November, the Great Salt Lake, iconic landmark of the Great Basin Desert, fell to its lowest surface elevation ever recorded. The lake had lost 73% of its water and 60% of its area. More than 800 square miles of lakebed sediments were laid bare to become dust sources laden with heavy metals.

February 16, 2023

America struggles to ‘finally fix sharp pain of racism’

When Tyre Nichols woke up the morning of the last day of his life, I feel certain that he wasn’t thinking about racism or the chance that it might be his end, though he’d likely had “the talk” from his parents at an early age. He’d pushed it back, seeking peace and joy in a life he shared with friends, family and his community. To do otherwise would create a constant state of fear, precluding any quality of life, the ability to just get through it all and grow up.

February 9, 2023

Pandemic offers rare chance to reimagine our shared public spaces

If you’d fallen into a coma in late 2019 and woke up today, you probably wouldn’t guess our country had just experienced its deadliest pandemic or that the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) that caused COVID-19, killing at least 1.1 million Americans, disabling upwards of 1.2 million more and becoming one of the leading causes of death for our nation’s children is still out there — still infecting, disabling and killing.