Discovering Lummi Island

Three decades ago, I began spending time on Lummi Island, in the magnificent Northwest corner of the United States, at my wife's family house on a bluff above a pristine rock beach just on the edge of wilderness. Every day is an immersion in nature, a miracle of water views across the sound. The clouds play their light on the surface, and the wind patterns every aspect. Just watching the sun or the moon shift the lighting is a symphony of delight.

I lay out scene there to begin my first climate fiction novel, THANK YOU FOR BURNING. The spark that set me to feature coal was a handmade yard sign that read, “No Coal Train” at Full Bloom Farm on Lummi Island, the San Juan Island closest to Bellingham, Washington. The fire that sustained a twelve-year project was the scale of destruction a coal operation at Cherry Point would inflict. The more I researched coal, the more horrors I uncovered.

I set my sights on the coal industry, a relic from past centuries when no clean alternatives existed. These purveyors of rocks to burn were waging war on the environment. Their plans would first create a toxic mountain on top of a sacred Lummi Nation site on the waters’ edge and then deliver coal to China and Indian markets only to burn, heat the planet, and ironically blowback over the ocean to us as foul air.

I read “Warrior Up” by Jeff Galbraith Warrior Up! | Sierra Club  in Sierra Magazine and learned the Lummi Nation’s fight to stop the terminal

Check out this video, Not At Any Price Not For Any Price . It shows what was planned and what happened to the coal train to Cherry Point.

In the long days of summer, I love the creatures of the Northwest, from crab and salmon to birds and marine mammals. I get out kayaking and hiking, introducing friends and family to the wonders of this place. 

I love managing the trees, favoring the madrone and cedar trees, and blending into the landscape. 

I love that islanders were able to transform a gravel quarry on Lummi into public access for Whatcom County, the only water access park in their system. Here is a look at the problem Lummi Island Quarry ExpansionLummi Island Quarry Restoration that we solved together. Aiston Preserve — Lummi Island Heritage TrustAiston Preserve (Lummi Island Quarry) Restoration Project | NWStraitsFoundation.org