This article is intended to provide a summary of the best available evidence on why Big Lake experiences recurring algae blooms, where the phosphorus is coming from, what actions are most effective, and where Skagit County government might have responsibility. The goal is to focus on what will actually produce measurable improvement.
Citizen Action, State Mandates Move Skagit County On Climate
On Monday, February 2, 2026, the Skagit County Board of Commissioners appointed eight members to the county’s newly-created Climate Impact Advisory Committee. This action marks the first time Skagit County government has initiated a formal way for ongoing, science-based advice to County officials to inform policy and planning decisions. It happened as the result of a years-long effort by Skagit community members with a little boost from Washington State mandates passed by the legislature in 2024.
Joe Burns: A New Generation Steps Forward in Skagit County Leadership
Joe Burns, recently appointed to the Skagit County Board of Commissioners, represents more than just a replacement for a retiring official. He embodies a generational shift: a younger, locally rooted leader whose path to public office reflects hands-on experience, community service, and a practical understanding of everyday challenges facing residents.
Ranked Choice Voting Can Increase Representation
Skagit County government needs broader representation. Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) would be one way to achieve this. Other ways to improve representation would require changes to the current form of our county government by invoking the charter process outlined in our state constitution. The concept of a charter government is more complicated than changing the method by which we vote.
Election Materials in Spanish Approved in 2024 Skagit Budget
When Skagit County Commissioners approved the 2024 budget without modifications on December 11, 2023, it included $150,000 to provide election materials in Spanish for Spanish-speaking voters. It was also the culmination of several years of advocacy by community members.
Skagit County Declines to Pursue Grant to Address Sea Level Rise
For the last decade and a half, I and other Skagit residents have urged Skagit County to address sea level rise planning in its Shoreline Master Plan (SMP) update. Most recently, as it became clear that the County’s SMP update would not include sea level rise (SLR) planning, many began to push for an alternative. This summer it seemed the County had heard us.
Censured for Disloyalty? Skagit Planning Commission Changes Bylaws
For Skagit citizens who watched the Planning Commission’s (PC) controversies in 2021 unfold, it seemed it was bound to happen. The new rewrite of PC bylaws enshrines the PC’s power to censure their members. That power was not included in their bylaws when they actually did severely reprimand one of their members through censure in 2021 before they gave themselves the authority to do so.
Commissioners Should Join Growing Herd and Support North Cascades Elk
Native Americans from the Skagit Valley and surrounding areas have relied on the native elk population for food and cultural sustenance for thousands of years. When European settlers arrived here, they marveled at the abundant wildlife, including elk, that inhabited the landscape.
Ferry Workers Seek Fairness in Contract Negotiations With Skagit County
Representatives of Guemes Island Ferry Workers and Skagit County met with a state-appointed mediator on June 14 in an attempt to resolve the impasse over a new contract for the ferry’s masters and purser deckhands. The ferry workers’ most recent contract expired Dec. 31, 2021.
Fully Contained Communities Defeated by Citizen Action
More than two years of fierce public outcry and organizing against so-called Fully Contained Communities (FCCs) ended in a unanimous vote on May 8, 2023 by Skagit Board of County Commissioners (BoCC). Their vote EXCLUDED from the 2023 docket two previously docketed and then deferred proposals to allow FCCs in Skagit. How did citizen action accomplish the victory?
Massive Ferry Fare Increase Threatens Farming, Working Families on Guemes Island
A massive ferry fare increase threatens farming, working families on Guemes Island. Islanders are shocked that 100 years of ferry service, and decades of including the Island’s Ferry Committee in setting fare rates have suddenly changed. They worry that transportation costs they can afford are in jeopardy.
Essential Housing for Essential Workers Key to Skagit’s Rural Future
Skagit County is at a crossroads. For years, we have been protected by our geography from surrounding pressures to convert agricultural, forest, and river resources to urban uses. However, in just the last few years Skagit County has experienced several existential threats and we can expect more as climate changes make the Pacific Northwest both more attractive and more vulnerable.
Skagit Citizens Press for Accountability, Transparency in Planning Commissioner Appointments
A series of puzzling, and at times controversial, decisions and actions by the Skagit County Planning Commission led to a push for more transparency from County Commissioners regarding the process of Planning Commissioner appointments. A group of Skagit citizens from Home Rule Skagit, as well as local Good Government advocates, are behind that push. There have been small successes in this process, but more needs to be done. At a time when issues of growth are so crucial, the Planning Commission often seems to be in the driver’s seat of the county’s future.
Skagit County is Mandated by Law to Hire More Public Defenders
Currently, statewide public defenders’ caseloads continue to be much too large to provide quality due process. For years now Skagit County chose, just like most other counties, to not fully fund its constitutional duty to ensure adequate counsel. Currently and historically, County Commissioners are directly in charge of implementing the 5th and 6th Amendments, via funding of the Public Defenders Office. This constitutional responsibility is the most foundational duty that our Commissioners have.
Skagit County Courts Limit Zoom Hearings for Vulnerable Community Members
He complies with the law and comes to his hearing for a minor infraction in person. He doesn’t know to ask for a video hearing. The hearing on the District Court docket happens at the courtroom located in the same building as the Skagit County jail, referred to as the Skagit County Community Justice Center, south of Mount Vernon. The hearing itself is uneventful, but when he exits the building, ICE is waiting in the parking lot.
How We Stopped a Gravel Pit: A Community Organizing Strategy
We stopped the gravel pit by building a strong, engaged community across South Fidalgo Island and beyond. From the beginning, we knew we needed expert support—hydrogeologists, attorneys, and environmental advocates—to help us craft a compelling legal and technical case. Just as important was our consistent presence at hearings and meetings making it clear that this issue mattered deeply to our community.
Federal Cuts to Funding and Personnel Hit Skagit County
The dramatic cuts to federal staffing and funding for many federal programs authorized and funded by Congress are directly impacting residents of Skagit County. While the legality of these cuts is tied up in court proceedings, the impacts are being felt in our community. According to Skagit County Commissioner Lisa Janicki, cuts are impacting three main areas in Skagit: Public health, Emergency Preparedness, and Infrastructure.
Skagit Planning Commission Hijacks Early Critical Phase of 2025 Comprehensive Plan Update
At its October 9 meeting, the Planning Commission met to consider proposed Countywide Planning Policy amendments…and that’s where things went off the rails. Before voting down the proposal 7-to-1, in a mostly off-topic multi-member diatribe, Planning Commissioners complained about “state mandates,” urged voters to elect different candidates to the state Legislature, and compared their rejection of the policies to the Declaration of Independence.
Zombie Permit Staggers On: The Continuing Saga of the Proposed Grip Road Gravel Mine
Two years after an epic public hearing was held on the proposed Grip Road Gravel Mine, and more than eight years after Concrete Nor’west /Miles Sand and Gravel (‘Miles’) first applied for a Mining Special Use Permit (SUP), the status of this permit still remains in limbo. This story is the stuff of nightmares for county officials, developers and citizens alike – a story of compounding errors and finger pointing, where nobody wins. While it is virtually impossible to untangle all the causes, it is worth looking at what’s gone wrong; to ask why Skagit County government has been so unresponsive to citizens’ concerns and why officials have let this process unravel to this extent.
Skagit Planning Commissioner Calls Equity “a benefit to someone who doesn’t deserve it.”
A public meeting of the Skagit County Planning Commission(PC) was held on July 9, 2024 to review the results of a recent public survey. The survey was part of the Comprehensive Plan Review process. During the meeting a question was raised about the definition of equity. County Planning and Developments Services (PDS) Senior Planner Tara Satushek provided a definition and several examples of the way the PDS implements this core value of the County’s Strategic Plan.
Community members attending by zoom were stunned when Planning Commissioner Vince Henley spoke up to state,
“In my way of thinking, “equity” means where you provide a benefit to someone who really doesn’t deserve it.”