Thanks from Farmers Market
Dear Editor:
Well, another successful season for the Methow Valley Farmers Market just ended. It was a rather wet morning but, in spite of the rains, our loyal customers came for a final shopping trip to the market to buy the lovely veggies, fruits, arts and crafts available and to stand under the canopy by the fire pit to visit with some cold, wet vendors.
We are proud of our vendors who provide such wonderful products for the public to choose from. They work long and hard to produce the very best available anywhere. The board of directors of the Methow Valley Farmers Market thank our vendors for participating in this venture and hope we can encourage anyone with an idea for something to offer to do so.
Most of all, many thanks go out to every visitor who came to hang out for a fun day at the market. We are looking forward to the 2016 market season and hope to add more new vendors, more music and yummy food. Please check out Methow Valley Farmers Market Facebook page for regular updates during the season. Again, thank you for supporting our local farmers market.
Methow Valley Farmers Market board: Dennis Carlton, Laura Aspenwall, Carolyn Edson, Samantha Carlin, Randy Levine, Paula Stokes, Richard Murray, Susie Kowalczyk, Bonny Lince Stephens
What freedom means
Dear Editor:
This country was founded by people fleeing religious persecution who wanted to pursue their own faith. Our early forefathers/mothers were looking for freedom of religion in a new world, not freedom from religion. They desperately wanted to practice their faith. They fled from countries that demanded allegiance to one faith and did not tolerate those who disagreed.
Freedom of religion is promised in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, yet these days we are seeing people insist that no religion is the only religion they will tolerate, or folks who insist you will assimilate into their religion or they will kill you. Neither one of these is particularly appealing to me, nor are they consistent with our American constitution.
If you want to practice the religion of atheism (a belief in nothing is still a belief system or “religion”), Christianity, Mormonism, Islam or whatever, you are free to do so here in America. That choice should remain between you and your god or God.
The requirement of a “separation between church and state” arose when state governments began establishing religions. I can’t imagine a bigger nightmare than a government-directed and politically motivated religion. “Separation” simply means the government should stick to governing and leave religion alone.
As a Christian, I have faith that my God is strong enough, smart enough and holy enough to draw people to Him because of who He is. He is a God of free will and choices.
Everyone in America has the constitutionally guaranteed right to choose to practice their faith without being harassed or intimidated by individuals or by government entities.
Chrystal Perrow, Winthrop
Oppose Mission Project
Dear Editor:
Fuel reduction in the forests is a huge topic of conversation these days. In regard to this topic, I wish to extend a view of what the Upper Columbia Salmon Recovery Board has been up to. This organization acted to cherry-pick and facilitate a collaborative of industry, government and “conservation” interests with the expressed goal of increasing the logging footprint on federal lands. The North Central Washington Forest Health Collaborative (NCWFHC) was the result.
The collaborative hopes to complete their proposal for a landscape-level logging operation (40,000-50,000 acres) on the Libby Creek and Buttermilk watersheds by the end of November and submit it to the U.S. Forest Service. The NEPA analysis for the project would then begin, according to Michael Liu, Methow District ranger, with a draft decision sometime next spring. This is called the Mission Project.
The collaborative aligns its arguments for this project with the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest restoration strategy, which says that logging will make the forest and watersheds “more resilient to disturbances, like fire, and to climate change impacts.”
As a universal claim, this is simply not true. Despite their claims of benefit, one can find volumes of current research to show that this approach, especially in our area, is not economical nor is it necessarily effective in reducing fire severity. The main forestry tool for making fire-safe homes should be well managed thinning within one-fourth mile of residences, not massive logging of public lands justified by untested theories and computer modeling of our forests. (Homeowners must also do their homework to make their structures and property fire-resistant.)
Variables not taken meaningfully into account in the Mission proposal include: the legacy of many decades of previous logging and road building in the watershed; snow pack retention; stream warming and lower summer flows from reduced canopy; a complete and ecological view of severe fire behavior, impacts to the understory; disrupted wildlife habitat and corridors; and a complex view of climate change.
Beneficial proposals for these drainages include: rethinking public land management of fire; protecting the 18,000 acres of roadless area that the Mission project includes; reforming antiquated grazing practices; developing low-cost, low-tech road closure techniques; prioritizing wildlife; and protecting the existing federally endangered species in the area.
Please let Michael Liu and the NCWFHC know that they do not have your support for the Mission Project.
Donna Pema Bresnahan, Carlton
