BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Local ag leaders and Bellingham’s mayor are in rare agreement over the best way to work through Whatcom county’s water issues.
The state Department of Ecology says a proposed Nooksack River Basin adjudication process would bring “all water users in a specific area into one conversation to legally and permanently determine everyone’s water rights.”
Speaking with KGMI Farming show host Dillon Honcoop, mayor Seth Fleetwood says the proposed process would cause more harm than good.
Local farm advocacy group Whatcom Family Farmers agrees the plan would not be the best way forward for salmon restoration and the protection of local tribes’ rights and would in their words decimate local farming.
Ecology has asked Governor Inslee and the state legislature to fund the multi-million dollar adjudication process for the Nooksack basin as well as Lake Roosevelt in Eastern Washington.
The Lynden Tribune reports Bellingham-based environmental advocacy group RE Sources said last week it supports the adjudication legal review for the Nooksack River watershed.