From the editor's desk

A lot of exciting moments have come and gone in the Bellingham newsroom of Cascadia Daily News in our four-year history. But no single event has created the sustained activity — and near-constant publication — seen during our coverage of historic floods over the past week.

Record flooding on both the Nooksack and Skagit rivers, for the second time in five years, challenged the entire region. Our Bellingham news crew as well.

CDN's news team — literally everyone, in this all-hands event — rose to the task, I believe, bringing the sort of live reporting and contextual coverage that best comes from a locally based news staff.

Readers, our partners in this venture, responded in kind, sending CDN countless tips, images and messages documenting events in their own soggy backyards.

Reader interest in these stories, all offered free, outside our paywall, set a new benchmark for our publication. Online traffic literally overwhelmed our website for a brief time  Wednesday evening, as floodwaters neared their peak. It was an indication of the seriousness of the task and unprecedented public focus, in our history, on a single topic.

As I've said before, we approach flooding and other bad-news topics as people stories first. Friday's coverage, in particular, provided poignant moments, ranging from heartbreaking initial assessments of folks returning to flooded-out homes, to bright moments such as a Skagit County couple returning home to rescue their waterlogged chickens.

A heartfelt thanks here to all who opened their doors and hearts to us in the process, trusting CDN to tell their stories. We'll stay on watch through the recovery and readers can help us along with suggestions to newstips@cascadiadaily.com.

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Sunday read

With unbroken concentration, Ken Stremler counts every tree that gets loaded with a clicker. This shipment is headed to Surrey, British Columbia. (Eli Voorhies/Cascadia Daily News)

Christmas tree farming is a hobby for U-cuts around Whatcom, Skagit counties

Christmas tree farming is a labor of love in Whatcom and Skagit counties and it's an all-year effort. Farmers plant saplings in the spring, water them in the summer, and hand-trim each tree to get that distinctive shape. It takes six to eight years for a tree to grow into itself.

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Stories of the week

News

Whatcom, Skagit floods resurrect painful memories of past disasters

Eleven significant floods have hit Whatcom County in the past century, while the Skagit River has reached flood stage more than 60 times in the same time frame. Residents have painful memories of past disasters.

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Opinion

For both better and worse, we are haunted by waters

Waters, be they placid, as in much of the year, or raging, as in the past week, have long defined existence for people living in the nation's upper left corner, writes Ron Judd, CDN's executive editor, noting in his weekly column that scars from this week's historic flooding in northwest Washington are likely to run deep and fade slowly.

Letters to the Editor: Renaming icons, factory farming, WTA and AI danger

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Sports & Rec

Wild Whatcom gives BIPOC community a way to explore the outdoors

Outdoor activities for the BIPOC community in Bellingham are limited. Wild Whatcom's organization is looking to provide a healthy and comfortable environment for people of color through its newest program, BIPOC Walks. The group meets once a month to explore the local outdoors and share stories and a passion. 

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Living

After 19 years in Edison's historic schoolhouse, Smith & Vallee Gallery will close permanently at the end of 2025. The space is considered one of Skagit County's premier venues for contemporary art, representing a mix of emerging talents, mid-career artists and "Northwest Masters."

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