Inland FoodWise Online

03/28/2025

Action Alert: Act before March 31!
Demand Department of Natural Resources (DNR) halt its plans to transfer around 200 acres of woodland in western Spokane ("Thorpe Road land") to a developer who wants to build as many as 1,000 homes in what is now rare and ecologically sensitive intact forest within Spokane city limits.

Here's the email address for Public Lands Commissioner Dave Upthegrove. Write him and urge him to halt this controversial land deal and put the Thorpe Road land back on the Trust Land Transfer Program list.

Email: [email protected]

The land in question is a small part of the Department of Natural Resources’ Common Schools Trust fund, consisting of 3 million acres of land "managed by the agency to produce nontax revenue that pays for, among other things, building schools. This revenue is typically generated through leases, including leasing woodlands to logging companies" (Spokesman Review, 3/27/2025). DNR claims revenue from the Thorpe Road land is too low.

30 properties are listed on DNR’s "trust land transfer program." That program has the ability to transfer title of selected DNR lands to other government agencies at no cost. The City of Spokane applied for such a transfer that would have had the land transferred to City Parks at no cost to the city except that DNR ranked the land too low and higher-ranked parcels were approved while lower ranked parcels deferred.

But in an unprecedented action for a property identified for the trust land transfer program, DNR removed the Thorpe Road land from the list for sale. Local conservationists Jeff Lambert and Brian Muegge argue it should instead remain on the list like the other parcels that were passed over during the last round of transfers pending future funds earmarked by the state legislature.

The 3/27/2025 article in the Spokesman Review also outlines several other troubling actions on the part of the DNR board that seem to belie malfeasance on its part in its brutal pursuit of cashing in on the deal with the developer including withholding key data from decision-makers about the ecological value of the land resulting in its low ranking. https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2025/mar/27/conservationists-make-another-last-ditch-effort-to/

Conservationists say they hope to find an ally in the state’s new Public Lands Commissioner, Dave Upthegrove, who might be able to influence the DNR board, but there is not much time. They cite a clause that allows the agreement with the developer to be terminated by April 6, and hope to appeal once more to the DNR board during an April 1 meeting, "arguing the process was rushed and the board was provided a flawed review of the ecological value of the property."

Please email Commissioner Upthegrove TODAY!!

Email: [email protected]

Photo: Jesse Tinsley/THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

03/24/2025

In Spokane.

Come learn about Permaculture & Millwood Community Garden.🌱 eating

12/28/2024

For us long-time advocates of a ban on sewage sludge as fertilizer, this article in today's New York Times is like finding big new present under the tree.

The E.P.A. Promotes Toxic Fertilizer. 3M Told It of Risks Years Ago.
New York Times – Dec. 27, 2024
By Hiroko Tabuchi

Read the article:
https://www.protectmillcanyon.org/

The PFAS (forever chemicals) crisis has recently focussed people's attention on the sewage-sludge-as-fertilizer issue, but this is the first major news reporting which also refers to the other many contaminants in sewage sludge ("biosolids") besides PFAS which we've been screaming about for years.

A few excerpts, but the whole article is worth reading and sharing.
..Betsy Southerland, a former director of science and technology in the E.P.A. Office of Water, which oversees biosolids, said the program had been hurt by staffing shortages as well as an arduous process for setting new restrictions [on known toxic contaminants of sewage sludge]. Action has been slow, she said, even though E.P.A.’s surveys of sludge had shown “all kinds of pollutants — flame retardants, pharmaceuticals, steroids, hormones,” she said. “It’s the most horrible story,” she said...
..“These are highly complex mixtures of chemicals,” said David Lewis, a former E.P.A. microbiologist who in the late 1990s issued early warnings of the risks in spreading sludge on farmland. The soil “becomes essentially permanently contaminated,” he said in a recent interview from his home in Georgia...
..“There are other ways to dispose of excess waste from the cities,” [Oklahoma Republican state legislator Jim] Shaw said in an email. “Contaminating our farmland, livestock, food and water sources is not an option and has to stop.”...

Immediately impose a state-wide emergency moratorium on approving all pending permits for land application of sewage sludge! No more sewage sludge on ag land in Washington.

10/22/2024

URGENT URGENT URGENT - Oct 27 deadline!

Tell WA Dept. of "Ecology" that using toxic municipal sewage sludge as fertilizer IS NOT ECOLOGICAL!!

Comment deadline: Oct. 27.
Comment link: https://swm.ecology.commentinput.com/?id=rM4PhRNKm

Tell them: The State of Washington must cease issuing and nullify any permit that allows the disposal of municipal sewage sludge in any form on homes, farmland, forestland or parkland.

Furthermore, you must pressure the WA Dept. of "Ecology" to live up to its name and inform the WA state legislature that using toxic municipal sewage sludge as fertilizer is not a "beneficial use" of sewage sludge (RCW 70A.226.005). The Dept. for decades has hidden behind the legislature's purely political, shockingly unscientific declaration of that beneficial use as its excuse for brazenly promoting and facilitating the pollution of millions of acres of farmland and the food produced on it as well as surrounding wildlife habitat and surface and ground waters with sewage sludge.

Informed and concerned people have protested against this practice for many years citing credible scientific evidence of the hundreds of toxic contaminants present in municipal sewage sludge and yet the bureaucratic juggernaut has simply plowed over their protests.

But things are changing.

Now that scientists and the general public have learned of the crisis we're in caused by a family of toxic "forever chemicals" (sometimes referred to as PFAS, used as fire retardants, non-stick surfaces, etc.) that are being detected everywhere, including in your bloodstream, and are now known to accumulate in sewage sludge, finally the protests are having an effect.

In the state of Washington, the Dept. of "Ecology" regulates the "land application" of municipal sewage sludge. Periodically the Dept. revises these regulations and reissues what it calls the Statewide General Permit for Biosolids Management ("biosolids" being their pacifying euphemism for municipal sewage sludge). But the Dept. IGNORES the environmental impacts of spreading sewage sludge claiming the practice HAS NO SIGNIFICANT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT which therefore absolves the Dept. from having to conduct any thorough scientific assessment of its impact (what you don't know can't hurt you, right?)

Things changed when the the Dept. was successfully sued last year by a citizen's group called the Nisqually Delta Association. The Pollution Control Hearings Board found that the WA Dept. of "Ecology" had simply omitted any reference to PFAS, PBDEs (similar to PFAS), and microplastics in its documentation supporting its position that the environmental impact of sewage sludge application to farm and other land was "insignificant". The decision of the Hearings Board voided the Dept. reissuing its statewide permit effectively halting any new sewage sludge application sites in the state.

Now, in an appalling effort to restart the sewage sludge program, the Dept. CONTINUES TO CLAIM NO SIGNIFICANT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS result from sludge application to farmland even after it was forced by the Hearings Board to include PFAS, PBDEs, and microplastics in its documentation claiming said insignificance.

AT ALL COSTS (INCLUDING TO YOUR HEALTH AND THE HEALTH OF YOUR CHILDREN), THE WA DEPT. OF "ECOLOGY" WANTS TO AVOID HAVING TO CONDUCT AN ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF THE LAND APPLICATION OF MUNICIPAL SEWAGE SLUDGEy SHAMELESSLY CLAIMING IT HAS NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT. The Dept. knows that such an investigation would reveal the many hazards resulting from the practice which would necessitate its immediate cessation. Claiming insignificance absolves the Dept. from having to conduct the study. This is bureaucratic malfeasance at its worst.

And now the public has the opportunity to voice our concerns once again about this situation in another public comment period that ends on Oct. 27.

The last time the Dept. had a public comment period on the reissuance of the statewide biosolids permit (2021), out of exactly 100 public comments received by the Dept., 86% of people who submitted written comments didn't want municipal sewage sludge to be used as fertilizer, or that its use be significantly more strictly regulated. 65% wanted an immediate ban.

Please add your voice TODAY!!
Comment link: https://swm.ecology.commentinput.com/?id=rM4PhRNKm

More information is available at https://www.protectmillcanyon.org/

03/01/2024

The framework of Permaculture offers lots of answers for our future as a planet. Mary will be sharing how Permaculture can help you in growing food in your yard that’s regenerative for soil and even sequesters carbon. Come hear her talk about it on Saturday March 2nd at the Shadle Park Library in Spokane.🌱🐝🌳🫶🏾☀️💦.

02/20/2024

The Palouse Conservation District's Fifth Annual Alternative Cropping Symposium, Thursday February 22nd. The event will be held at the Palouse Empire Fairgrounds and will take place from 10am-4pm with a coffee hour starting at 9:30AM. Registration is $5 and includes lunch. For a full schedule of speakers and to register for the event, visit the event page: https://www.palousecd.org/post/alternative-cropping-symposium-02-22-24

Contact Gerrit Bass
Research and Monitoring Specialist
Palouse Conservation District
[email protected]

Source: Rural Roots, a regional non-profit organization dedicated to supporting sustainble small farming and ranching in the Inland Northwest.
www.ruralroots.org

Ed. note: This would be a good venue for someone from the permaculture world to present at. The Palouse needs some serious permaculturing. See "Palouse "Beauty" is Really an Ecological Disaster"
https://inlandfoodwise.online/web/archive/palouse-beauty-is-really-an-ecological-disaster

Learn from Palouse farmers about cover cropping, intercropping, and integrating livestock at the Fifth Annual Palouse Alternative Cropping Symposium on Thursday, February 22, 2024 from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM. The event will be held at the Whitman County Palouse Empire Fairgrounds outside Colfax, WA. Re...

02/13/2024

Tilth Alliance and the Coalition for Organic and Regenerative Agriculture (CORA) are hoping every organic/regenerative farmer in Washington state – as well as every possible organic eater – will sign on in support of SSB 6278 before Friday, Feb. 16.

It only takes a minute and every PRO sign in will make a difference. Go here:

https://app.leg.wa.gov/csi/Testifier/Add?chamber=House&mId=31920&aId=159038&caId=24063&tId=3

SSB 6278 directs Washington State Dept. of Agriculture to develop an organic agriculture action plan that will serve as a guide to “increase the amount of organic and regenerative agricultural practices in the state" and “leverage organic and regenerative agriculture to address economic, social, and environmental challenges, create opportunities for farmers wishing to transition to organic farming, increase resiliency in agricultural methods, and build a robust regional food system."

02/01/2024

Permission to Dump Sewage Sludge on Crop Land?
! VOIDED !

Another Big Nail in the "Biosolids" Coffin.

The sun is beginning to set on the land application of sewage sludge. Soon it will take its place as a historical footnote illustrating yet another planet-fouling folly of the twentieth century.

On January 29, an administrative court ruled that the Washington State Department of Ecology had violated the State Environmental Policy Act when it approved a statewide permit that allows and regulates the dumping of municipal sewage sludge (biosolids) on farmland and forest land in the state, effectively voiding the permit.

Read the full article, and more, on the Protect Mill Canyon Watershed website which is a chronicle of the struggle to end land-application locally, statewide and nationally.

Immediately impose a state-wide emergency moratorium on approving all pending permits for land application of sewage sludge! No more sewage sludge on ag land in Washington.

01/09/2024

Urge Your Members of Congress to Provide Full Funding for WIC in the Final FY 2024 Agriculture Funding Bill (By January 19 Deadline)

Use Action Network to urge your Members of Congress to fully fund WIC in FY 2024! []

01/08/2024

Residents near Tum Tum, WA, say they received late notice about Spokane County being in the process of contracting to dump municipal sewage sludge (a.k.a. "biosolids") on the surface of agricultural ground near Hwy. 291 and McAlister Road. The dumping area has an aquifer under it and drains into Lake Spokane. The neighbors in this community have many questions and little information. They are circulating an online petition to organize a meeting to discuss the proposal. Please consider adding your name.

Sewage sludge is filth, not fertilizer. It's against the law to expose food crops to filth. Sewage sludge contains toxic substances but is never tested for the hundreds and hundreds toxins any single batch might contain. Not to mention micro-plastics. Or PFAS. Washington taxpayers have spent billions setting up and maintaining municipal sewage treatment plants all over the state to clean up our wastewater before it's discharged into natural water systems and yet the state insists on putting all the pollution the taxpayers had paid to remove from the environment right back into the environment to leach into our waterways and poison our wildlife. The state of Washington needs to BAN the application of sewage sludge on agricultural and forest lands. It is reckless to allow the dumping of sewage sludge at McAllister Rd to 2450 feet west of McAllister Rd, from Scotts Valley Rd to 2220 feet south of Scotts Valley Rd, Stevens County or anywhere else.

Halt Biosolid project in Tum Tum area

12/08/2023

Send Your Comment Today: Stop unregulated GMO foods from flooding the market!

A message from the Center for Food Safety (http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/):

More genetically engineered (GE) foods are about to be approved without any oversight or regulation – but together we can stop them from flooding the market!

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) just proposed a rule that would exempt MANY more foods from existing GMO regulations, allowing them to be grown and sold without adequate testing, oversight, or scientific review. The proposed rule would exempt five new types of genetic modification technologies from regulations instead of looking at the actual traits conferred by the genetic alteration on a case-by-case basis.

If we don’t overwhelm USDA with opposition, they could side with the interests of the biotech industry and leave the GMO giants alone to regulate themselves! They’re accepting public comments for just a few more days – can you urgently tell the USDA to regulate GMO foods?

Go here to register your comment. Only takes a minute.

https://action.centerforfoodsafety.org/a/nogmofoods23-1

GMOs could flood the market without adequate testing, oversight, or scientific review. USDA is accepting public comments for just a few more days – let’s overwhelm them with opposition!

05/21/2023

Folks, this is really important and related to our northeast Washington bioregion.

A listening session for the public provided by the US negotiation side for the Columbia River Treaty is coming up on May 31 at 5 pm PST.

This follows the 17th negotiation session (May 16-17) between the US and Canada. Negotiations continue to end without progress on key issues, such as flood control, and your awareness and input may be helpful in support of a call for flexibility on water management to include attention to a healthy ecosystem.

You can register for the listening session at:
https://www.state.gov/virtual-listening-session-following-the-17th-round-of-negotiations-to-modernize-the-columbia-river-treaty-regime/
(the registration link is at the bottom of the page)

The Columbia River Treaty is a 1961 agreement between Canada and the United States on the development and operation of dams in the upper Columbia River basin for power and flood control benefits in both countries. Four dams were constructed under this treaty: three in the Canadian province of British Columbia (Duncan Dam, Mica Dam, Keenleyside Dam) and one in the U.S. state of Montana (Libby Dam).

The treaty has always been limited in scope to include only issues related to power generation and Image showing location of Columbia River Treaty Damsflood control. Many in the region believe modernizing the Columbia River Treaty is a critical opportunity for Canada and the United States to join together to acknowledge damage done, right historic wrongs, and commit to stewardship of this great river in the face of climate change. They advocate for applying socially and scientifically informed ethical norms in the negotiation process that fully account for the way people and other living things are affected by the way the river is managed. Indigenous communities and their allies and accomplices want the negotiations to include more qualitative assessments of healthy 'ecosystem-based function,' not just quantifiable assessments of 'ecosystem services.' Ironically, a predecessor treaty from around 1909 did include fish and wildlife conservation in its provisions, but those values were abandoned in the 1930s when negotiations for the Columbia River Treaty began.

For more information, read a backgrounder on the treaty negotiations that Chrys Ostrander wrote for the Inland Foodwise Journal in 2021 here:
https://inlandfoodwise.online/web/archive/ethics-ecology-and-sovereignty-the-renegotiation-of-the-columbia-river-treaty

and visit the Citizens for a Clean Columbia website:
https://citizensforacleancolumbia.org/

The Columbia River Treaty re-negotiation is an opportunity to join together to acknowledge damage done, right historic wrongs, and commit to stewardship of this great river in the face of climate change.