Skagit is a land of wild rivers, soaring glacier peaks, fertile valleys and forested dots of islands sprinkling an inland sea. Powerful predatory whales live in these waters and feed on the tastiest wild fish on earth, the Chinook. Ours is as exotic as any landscape on the planet, and perhaps it is more threatened than many.

Those whales—the southern resident orcas—aren’t especially shy and can be viewed almost daily, although their numbers are in precipitous decline. Deaths in their pods have exceeded live births, threatening a spiral to extinction. They’re sick, and they’re starving. The cause? Increased human activity around the Puget Sound, as a region that is loved too much and too recklessly.

Alarmed by the decline of these iconic creatures, the Washington Legislature this session passed sweeping protections for the Salish Sea’s ailing orca population. Championed by lawmakers who represent Skagit and the San Juans, a quartet of bills cover a variety of measures, including whale watching, pollution and more. Yet budgets passed by the House and Senate so far contain no funding to continue the governor’s task force on orca recovery. There’s no agreement on plans to increase Chinook runs. And revenue measures to help pay for everything, from increasing hatchery production to enforcement of habitat protections, have yet to be decided.

As we dedicate this issue to celebrate all the best our region has to offer in scenic beauty, in recreation, in menus and samplings that are unique to who we are, let us acknowledge how fragile it is and how fierce we must be in its protection.

Quilted clouds skidded low overhead and precipitation seemed imminent as I pulled into the trailhead at Northern State Recreation Area just north of Highway 20 near Sedro-Woolley. 

I’d come to reacquaint myself with this historically significant 726-acre agricultural site that supplied meat, milk, eggs, vegetables and fruit to Northern State Hospital from 1912-1973 and is now a Skagit County park.    

When I stepped out of the car, hundreds of songbirds were whistling and warbling…

The joke in Skagit Valley around this time of year is that it’s not tulips we’re celebrating, but the Skagit Traffic Festival. Hours on the freeway can easily be followed by hours sitting on rural backroads in bumper-to-bumper backups, especially on a sunny weekend when the fields are in full bloom. A spot to stop, get a bite to eat and stretch the legs is always welcome.

For visitors taking the Fir Island route from Conway, the natural first stop is Snow Goose Produce (

Skagit Valley boasts great scenery, world-class farming and a thriving arts culture. And in the valley no place is more scenic, or supportive of art, than the River Gallery, nestled in peaceful Dodge Valley near La Conner.

Among the 38 featured artists in the aptly named “Spring Show,” Sheila Evans is included for the first time. Her pastel studies, “Aloft,” and “Arc of Flight” depict a water plant, the darker stems visible beneath lustrous leaves, glistening white and bronze.…

I’d never given much thought to the twin-like similarities that exist between Bellingham’s Mount Baker Theatre and Mount Vernon’s Lincoln Theatre until a serendipitous glance at the venues’ upcoming calendars tipped me off to the empirical evidence that’s been in front of my face for years.

To begin with, my eye was drawn to activities taking place within a couple of hours of each other noting the theaters will celebrate more than 90 years of existence Sat., April 27 with events…

The charm of odious men is overrated. At a certain point in The Brink, Alison Klayman’s brisk documentary tagalong behind far-right pot-stirrer Steve Bannon, an admirer tells Bannon that although he might have just come off poorly in an onstage debate, at least he’ll have surprised and maybe even converted those who came expecting to see a monster.

Bannon’s not a monster. As shown in this coolly observant film, he’s an avuncular, witty, energetic presence whose views of the…

For the past month or so, Loalynda Birds of Guemes Island’s Paper Birds Studio has been busier than usual. Along with her usual artistic endeavors, she’s been teaching folks from Guemes Island and its surrounding areas how to make paper luminaries, the colorful and whimsical vessels of light Birds has become known for.

Since the middle of March, she’s led a series of workshops in Anacortes, at the Guemes Island Community Center, and in her own studio, teaching folks how to…