Nancy Braam

Love A Pretty Yard, Hate The Work? Here’s An Easy Solution.

The Hearty Red Columbine blooms May to August

Plant Native Plants!

“But they aren’t pretty.” you say.

Malarky!

There are over 200 species that work well in Western Washington. See a list by clicking here. You can pick them by color, when they bloom, sun or shade, dry or wet.

There are 6 excellent reasons to plant native plants, and I think you’ll see the time, money and work savings right away.

1. They are adapted to our clinate of wet winters and dry summers.
2. They need less water than non-natives once established.
3. They resist native pests and diseases better than non-natives.
4. Improve water quality by needing less fertilizer and no pesticides.
5. They provide shelter, food and pollination opportunities for native wildlife.

Where do you get native plants? If you have a friend who lives on acreage, especially wooded acreage, you could dig up some starts. Ferns are especially easy to transplant.

An easier way is to go to the Whatcom Conservation District’s Annual Plant Sale. It’s on March 19th at the Whatcom County Community College. You can pre-order by March 4th or take your chances at the actual sale. They have the plants broken down by trees, bushes, ground covers and so on for easy ordering.

A lot of the plants you will recognize because, well… they’re native and grow along the roads and trails.

Try introducting a bush or some columbine in with your existing landscape – or start a new bed with all natives.

It makes your yard pretty, saves you a lot of work and gives you points on your Environmentally Conscious score card.

Who Says The Weather Is Lousy In Bellingham?

You’ve heard we get a lot of rain? That’s just not true. We get less rain than New York City. About 35 inches a year.

The different is… some show-off cities like to dump all their rain at once but we prefer to savor it, drizzling it over whole seasons in fact. No, we don’t get a lot of ran but yes, it can feel like it rains all the time – especially in the Fall.

But wait, it’s not just the rain in the Fall. We get wind. Not some piddly, weak breeze – real, branches down, wake you up at night wind. If it’s from the north, it’s cold. If it’s from the south, it’s strong.  Like last night, gusting to 60, I woke up several times to what sounded like a locomotive roaring through my yard.

Every place has it’s variety of lousy weather. I have found that we seem to take our lousy weather in stride until around week 3 of continous gray skies and drizzle. Couple that with the return to Standard Time and sunsets (if we could see them) at 4:15pm and you have a recipe for depression. The picture above was taken at 2pm as a reference point.

Does this sound whiny? Maybe, but it’s reality and the price we pay for our lush green home. The weather discourages some people from moving to Bellingham and that’s fine with us. This is a smallish town (about 65,000) and we like it that way. Most people live here for the incredible beauty, the proximity to world class cities (Vancouver, BC and Seattle) without being in them, lakes, bays, islands, mountains and the wonderful mix of people. There is a price for everything and November is just one of ours.

Free Thanksgiving Meals In Bellingham, WA

We are just a couple of days from Thanksgiving 2010. Do you know someone who needs a meal? We have 3 restaurants that offer free Thanksgiving dinners.

The Old Town Cafe at 316 W. Holly Street has been serving Thanksgiving dinner for many years. The food is prepared and served by volunteers beween 10:00 am and 3:00 pm. Donations are accepted. Want to volunteer? Call 360-671-4431. There is even live music.

Five columns Restaurant at 1301 W. Maple Street in the Samish neighborhood serves a free meal to seniors 65 and older from 12:00 to 2:00 pm. They ask that you call for reservations 360-676-9900.

Good Burger at 5962 Guide Meridian in Laurel serves its free meal from 1:00pm to 3:00 pm.

On Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, the Lighthouse Mission will serve a meal from 11:45 to 1:45 pm at the Assumption Church Gym at 2116 Cornwall Avenue, right by Bellingham High School. They will also be passing out clothing, toys and blankets.

If you know someone in need this Thanksgiving, please pass this list on to them.

Bellingham Waterfront Redevelopment

Up until a few years ago, Bellingham’s waterfront was dominated by the Georgia Pacific pulp mill. Sometimes smelly, always an eyesore, it was nevertheless one of Bellingham’s largest employers.

In 2003, the Port of Bellingham and the City partnered  in taking over the site and created a visionary plan for 11 miles of Bellingham’s waterfront.

After tons of research and public input, a plan was developed that includes a new, much need marina, a combination of marine industrial uses, residential, community and commericial uses.

Shipyards, city landfills, timber ponds, food processors, pulp mills and paper plants have left behind toxic chemicals and waste. Obviously, there is quite a bit of environmental clean-up required, including the big industrial lagoon that Georgia Pacific used for waste water treatment that will become the new marina.

The overall plan is really exciting and will give Bellingham’s waterfront back to the community. An extensive trail system is planned that will connect to the downtown to Fairhaven existing trail. The new “clean ocean” marina is a completely new design that has never been built before. It’s expected to be completed in the next 10 years.

A new downtown marina will have viewpoints and public water access points. This will connect to miles and miles of trails, a kayak beach, and a series of waterfront parks.

There will be residential areas with spectacular views and close proximity to dining and shopping. Even Western Washington University will have a presence there with a waterfront campus expansion of Huxley College of the Environment.

There are a lot of eyes on this project. The plan is for “green” development with the project being selected as a pilot project for new Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design for Neighborhood Development (LEED ND) standards, which are being developed by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Check it all out by clicking here. Then go to Waterfront Redevelopment.

Everyone Loves Bellingham – We’ve Made The Lists!

Accolades For Our Area

Acclaimed Outdoor Recreation Haven

• Best Paddling Town: Outside Magazine rated Bellingham as the best paddling destination in the U.S. (August 2006)

• Top Ski Mountain: Skiing Magazine ranked Mt. Baker Ski Area 18th on a list of nation-wide ski areas, and number one in the state of Washington, based on a survey of ski professionals. (2005)

• Silver Award Cyclist Town: Bellingham was awarded a Silver rating by League of American Cyclists. Only eight other cities nationwide received an equal or higher honor. (2006)

• “Trail Town USA”: The American Hiking Society and the National Park Service designated Bellingham as a “Trail Town USA.” We are one of only 30 cities nationwide and the only city in Washington and Oregon, to be so honored. We are a “city of greenways” with over 80 miles of pedestrian, bicycle and equestrian trails and more than 600 acres of open space. Bellingham leads the nation in the amount of green space available with 15 percent of the city’s total land area utilized as a park or natural reserve. (June 1, 1996)

Adventure Town USA: National Geographic Adventure named Bellingham one of the top adventure cities in the nation. The issue, themed “Where to live and play now,” describes Bellingham as a “base camp essential to the Northwest.” (September 2004)

Mt. Baker- World’s Highest Snowfall: Mt. Baker, a 10,778 ft. glacier-covered volcano, holds the world’s record for having the world’s highest annual snowfall with 1,140 inches, set in the winter of 1998-1999. This tops the previous record of 1,122 inches set at Mount Rainier, in the winter of 1971-72! (National Climatic Data Center, August 1999). A new record was claimed in Dec. 2006 with the most snowfall in a single storm – 12 feet in total. Read the rest of this entry »

What’s the Risk of an Earthquake in Bellingham, WA.?

Considering that the seismology lab at the University of Washington records roughly 1,000 earthquakes per year in Washington and Oregon, I’d say the risk is fairly high.

Of those 1000 earthquakes one to two dozen are strong enough to be felt. Most are in the Puget Sound region. Most don’t cause any damage.

The earthquakes I have felt are over by the time I’ve realized we are having an earthquake.

Recent research shows that there was a 9.0 earthquake in the Pacific Northwest in January 1700. If you want the scoop on the what, why and where of earthquakes here, go the the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network

According to scientists we are due for another Big One – sometime between today and 300 years.

My friend Richard was in Chile for the 8.8 earthquake in February. He was in the town of Concepcion on the 14th floor of an 18 story building.

He said he hit every wall in his apartment and saw the walls crumbling to the point that he could see the rebar. He says over and over that he owes he life to the engineers of that building.

The whole town moved 10 feet to the west!

Richard is now a pretty strong advocate for earthquake readiness as you might imagine. He says after about a week help is arriving. It’s those first few days that are especially dicey. No power, no phones, no transportation, no internet. Water becomes a valuable commodity.

It can happen here in Bellingham – there are a few simple, basic things you can do to prepare.

Have Disaster Supplies on Hand

• Flashlight and extra batteries.
• Portable battery-operated radio and extra batteries.
• First aid kit and manual.
• Emergency food and water.
• Nonelectric can opener.
• Essential medicines.
• Cash and credit cards.
• Sturdy shoes.

By far the most important is water. People have lived weeks without food, but only a couple days without water can be very serious. Buy or fill a couple of big water containers designed for water storage and store them in your garage. Richard says 5 gallons of gas can really come in handy, just store it safely.

The nice thing about preparedness is you can put your “kit” together, stash it and quit thinking about disasters.

The last tip is to have a family contact out of the area. If you get separated from loved ones, agree in advance to call someone out of the area to report in.

Whatcom County Best Hikes: Heliotrope Ridge

Coleman Glacier near Mt Baker

There are not a lot of places in the world where you can hike right up to a glacier. Especially in a couple hours.

Heliotrop Ridge trailhead starts 8 miles up Glacier Creek Road, just a mile or so beyond the town of Glacier. The hike is 5 miles round trip and crosses several streams.

This is a late summer hike – it takes most of the summer to thaw the snow at the top of the trail.

It’s best to start early since glacial melt later in the day can make the last stream impassable on the way back – which is not a good thing.

You will get your feet wet on at least two of the streams. And the last one is deadly. The last time I hiked this trail we couldn’t get across the last stream. Jumping on to slippery rocks across rushing water is scary.

There are some nice waterfall views along the way and near the top you come into alpine meadows full of wildflowers.

Middle of a raging stream

Bring your camera. It’s stunning!

After you cross the last stream you are just a couple minutes from the glacier overlook. As you sit on at the overlook and eat your lunch you can hear marmots whistling and will occasionally see one going in and out of the rocks.

This hike gives you a taste of lots of great components of Whatcom County – Fir and Cedar forests, streams, waterfalls, meadows, wildlife, gorgeous views and a glacier.

On the way down the Mt Baker Hwy going back to Bellingham, either stop at Milano’s in Glacier for the best caesar salad and other tasty fare or North Fork Brewery (after mile marker 21) for great beer and pizza.