Skagit Valley Archives - Northwest Public Broadcasting

New funding to build farmworker housing in the Pacific Northwest, nationwide

By Lauren Gallup April 24, 2024

Farmworkers in the Skagit Valley tulip fields. (Credit: Brad Smith / Flickr)

The United States Department of Agriculture is soliciting applications for funding to build farmworker housing nationwide. In the Pacific Northwest, leaders hope the money can address gaps in farmworker housing. The Pacific Northwest is in a housing crisis and that impacts rural small businesses and agricultural producers, as well as farmworkers, said Helen Price Johnson, Read More

Snow geese winter population in Skagit on the rise, posing problems to farmers

By Lauren Gallup November 22, 2023

Snow geese flocking and flying at Fir Island in Skagit County. (Courtesy: Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife.)

In late autumn on the cusp of cool winter days, snow comes early to Washington when thousands of aloft avians, snow geese, land here in a flurry of white feathers. “We call it a snow storm, they just will move as one,” said birder Julie Hagen. “It's just this chaotic whirlwind of birds, they move like a cloud and then they just lift up in the air.” Read More

The increasing risk of flooding

By Lauren Gallup September 26, 2023

Aerial photo of flooding on the Skagit River in Nov. 2021. // Courtesy Brandon Parsons, with aerial support by LightHawk.

Jason Vander Kooy said the potential for flooding weighs on his mind every November. Vander Kooy is a dairy farmer — one of many in northwestern Washington. Two years ago, some farmers there dealt with flooding that killed livestock, damaged fields, and overtopped manure lagoons — meaning the basins that store cow waste filled with water and, like a bathtub too full, Read More

In Washington’s Skagit Valley, Elk Raise Tensions Between Tribal Members And Farmers

By Eilís O'Neill January 28, 2020

Elk graze in Skagit Valley, populated for centuries by Native Americans and, more recently, by farmers. CREDIT: Megan Farmer/KUOW

In Washington Skagit Valley, a conflict is unfolding between the Upper Skagit Tribe and farmers as elk are making a comeback there. Read More