WACD Reading List

When wildfires rage across the landscape, whether on grasslands or in forests, the massive plumes of smoke that rise into the air and travel for miles can carry more than a thousand different types of microbes with them. Yet until University of Idaho associate professor Leda Kobziar came along, there was essentially no research on what bacteria and fungi might be carried in that smoke, how far those microbes might travel, or how they might impact soil ecology both where the fire started and where the microbes land.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky said Wednesday that fully vaccinated people are "safe" from the current variants and do not need to wear masks, doubling down on CDC guidance as some others call for a return to mask wearing. But Walensky said that the CDC's guidance has not changed and that fully vaccinated people do not need to wear masks, echoing other health experts who note that the vaccines are highly effective even against the delta variant.

From mask rules to where you can go around town, Crosscut answers your questions about what life without COVID restrictions may look like.

The Washington Department of Ecology has no plans to move forward with declaring a drought, as Eastern Washington bakes and wheat farmers harvest smaller crops. Ecology drought coordinator Jeff Marti acknowledged Friday that dry-land wheat farmers are being "hammered" by the second-driest spring in state history followed by heat waves. A drought declaration, however, won't bring water to non-irrigated farmland, he said. "I want to make sure that if we do declare drought, it is to accomplish something and be an actual benefit."

The science of hope and wonder can help us reinvent our post-pandemic future.

Have you ever attended a meeting that wasn’t the meeting? Everyone was pleasant and agreeable in the room, but then filed off to engage in back-channel conversations and hold kangaroo courts. This kind of charade is one of the many symptoms of a “nice” culture. But what’s touted as niceness is often nothing more than the veneer of civility, a cute nod to psychological safety, a hologram that falsely signals inclusion, collaboration, and high performance.

OLYMPIA, Wash. - State revenue projections for the 2021-23 general fund have increased by nearly $1.8 billion as the economy reopens from the coronavirus pandemic, officials said. The estimate was released Wednesday by the Washington State Economic and Revenue Forecast Council.

A national organization has set its fire-risk level for the country at 4 out of 5, prompting fire officials in Eastern Washington to warn the community about the risks of a hot, dry and fiery summer. Candice Stevenson, public information officer at the National Interagency Fire Center, said the fire preparedness levels guide where the national organization sends its resources, and how much will go to each region.

New proposed protections for the Mount Rainier white-tailed ptarmigan — an alpine bird subspecies whose snowy habitat is shrinking — have drawn the attention of the Board of Lewis County Commissioners. On Monday, Commissioner Gary Stamper, whose rural and expansive district includes most of East Lewis County, said the recent announcement is “something we need to stay on top of.”

Turn on those fans and get ready for a summer scorcher: Seattle and areas of Western Washington are poised to see toasty, record-breaking temperatures today. The National Weather Service (NWS) in Seattle is currently predicting high temperatures in the upper 80s and low 90s on Monday due to an area of high pressure over the region before a cooling trend on Tuesday and Wednesday.

But this record-setting heat wave’s remarkable power, size and unusually early appearance is giving meteorologists and climate experts yet more cause for concern about the routinization of extreme weather in an era of climate change. These sprawling, persistent high-pressure zones popularly called “heat domes” are relatively common in later summer months. This current system is different.

Some states are making great strides in vaccinating their residents against Covid-19, but the ones that are not may soon be contending with a more transmissible variant, experts say. About 45.1% of the US population is fully vaccinated against Covid-19, CDC data showed, and in 16 states and Washington, DC, that proportion is up to half. But some states -- such as Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Wyoming -- have fully vaccinated less than 35% of residents.

Grower leaders from the Washington Association of Wheat Growers (WAWG) and the Washington Grain Commission (WGC) have sent a letter to Washington Gov. Jay Inslee asking him to announce a drought declaration in wheat counties so growers will have access to federal natural disaster aid.

We found that one particular culture style differentiated the diverse and inclusive organizations from those that were not: a learning-oriented culture. Developing the right culture can be a slow and difficult process. Although achieving a shift toward a learning culture will take longer than setting diversity targets and paying out bonuses, we believe organizations that are able to pull it off will be the ones to build equitable, diverse, and inclusive organizations for the long-run.

WHATCOM COUNTY, Wash. — At the request of two tribes, the Washington Department of Ecology plans to sue water users in Whatcom County, raising the possibility of severely curtailing irrigation in Western Washington’s top farm region. Salmon need more water, the tribes say. Receptive to that, Ecology invokes equity, climate change and environmental justice to justify the adjudication, in which a local judge will sort out the region’s water rights.

The pandemic has caused a tectonic shift in how we live and work. Many companies are slowly returning to offices while an estimated 40% of the U.S. workforce continues to work remotely. A year into the pandemic and one thing is crystal clear, the future of work is hybrid. Regardless of whether employees are on-site or remote, this convenience is now a permanent cyber-risk for businesses.

So, as a leader, how do you keep your team motivated and engaged during your company’s transition? Of course, some of that will be determined by factors outside of your control, like the degree of flexibility your organization is offering. But the more say employees have over their work structure, the less resistance they’ll feel to the transition. Setting aside the things that are out of your hands, here are a few things you can do to ease everyone’s transition to whatever your company’s version of “next” looks like.

So, as a leader, how do you keep your team motivated and engaged during your company’s transition? Of course, some of that will be determined by factors outside of your control, like the degree of flexibility your organization is offering. But the more say employees have over their work structure, the less resistance they’ll feel to the transition. Setting aside the things that are out of your hands, here are a few things you can do to ease everyone’s transition to whatever your company’s version of “next” looks like.

KING COUNTY, Wash. — King County Public Health announced a major milestone in COVID-19 vaccination rates on Tuesday, bringing an end to the countywide mask directive by the end of the month. Tuesday marked a big day for King County, as 70% of residents ages 16 and older received their final dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Now that vaccination rates have gone up, the mask directive is set to come down — in two weeks, that is.

“It’s important to reconnect to the water, the land, the elders, but also to call the salmon home,” said Peone, who organizes the Spokane tribe’s canoe and often serves as its skipper. “But we need a good, clean home for the salmon to come home to.” The tribes have been making strides toward that goal. Late last year, Colville tribal biologists observed the first spawning chinook salmon in the Upper Columbia river system in a generation. This spring, Spokane tribal biologists found a newly hatched salmon in Tshimakain Creek, also spelled Chamokane Creek, on the eastern edge of the Spokane Indian Reservation.

Think you can summarize Washington’s geologic history in one page? It’s not easy. Washington has a very rich and diverse geologic history spanning hundreds of millions of years. From the Methow ocean to the highlands of the Okanogan, to the Selkirk Mountains, to the Puget Lowland, every square inch of Washington’s land has a story to tell.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now calls the Delta variant of the novel coronavirus, also known as B.1.617.2, a "variant of concern." The variant of concern designation is given to strains of the virus that scientists believe are more transmissible or can cause more severe disease. Vaccines, treatments and tests that detect the virus may also be less effective against a variant of concern. Previously, the CDC had considered the Delta variant to be a variant of interest. The CDC said the Delta variant, which was first identified in India, shows increased transmissibility, potential reduction in neutralization by some monoclonal antibody treatments under emergency authorization and potential reduction in neutralization from sera after vaccination in lab tests.