Lynn Best
Dr. Lynn Best, USA Commissioner
Lynn Best has a Ph.D in Zoology from the University of Washington and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from MIT. Until her recent retirement, she led Seattle City Light’s award-winning environmental programs, as well as hydro licensing, and real estate. She oversaw City Light’s activities to protect the natural environment, address climate change, comply with regulations, and operate in a sustainable manner. Seattle City Light is recognized as a national leader in environmental stewardship. Under her leadership, City Light became the first electric utility in the country to become carbon-neutral (in 2005).
She also established City Light’s environmental justice program. She is known for her collaborative approach and working with stakeholders including tribes, agencies and non-governmental organizations to resolve environmental issues. The Skagit Project License Agreements were the first comprehensive settlement for a large hydro project and are recognized as a national model. The Skagit Project is the largest hydro project to be certified as Low Impact.
Appointed in July, 2020
Dennis McLerran
Dennis McLerran, USA Commissioner
Dennis has been the leader of federal, regional and local organizations serving the Pacific Northwest and Alaska and the Puget Sound Region. He has developed strong, positive relationships with political leaders at all levels from Congress to local City Councils and Tribes.
Dennis has extensive experience in building collaborations that have led to significant environmental results in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, Canada and the Asia Pacific Region. Dennis has convened many highly successful stakeholder efforts in the past involving everyone from elected leaders to business, tribal, community and non-governmental organizations and is recognized as a regional leader in doing so. Several of those efforts have led to either passage of legislation or national award recognition for delivering environmental results
Appointed in July, 2019
Media
In the News Lately
Skagit Environmental Endowment Commission
The Skagit Environmental Endowment Commission (the Commission) was established under an agreement between the Province of BC and the City of Seattle as a condition within the Ross Lake/Seven Mile Reservoir Treaty between the United States and Canada signed in 1984 (Appendix D). The treaty and agreement are in effect until 2064.
WHO MADE HISTORY!
Skagit Oral History Project 1
Skagit Oral History Project 2
The Commission, as stipulated under treaty, consists of four Commissioners and four Alternate Commissioners from both Canada and the United States for a total of sixteen. The Commissioners are appointed by the Premier of British Columbia and the Mayor of Seattle. The Commission is led by joint co-chairs, one from each country.
The Commission was created with the purpose of managing the Skagit Environmental Endowment Fund, which was established in 1984 for the following purposes (Article 1):
- To conserve and protect wilderness and wildlife habitat
- To enhance recreational opportunities in the Skagit Valley
- To acquire mineral or timber rights consistent with conservation and recreational purposes
- To conduct studies of need and feasibility of projects
- To plan for and construct hiking trails, foot bridges, interpretive displays and the like
- To cause the removal of stumps and snags in Ross lake and on the shoreline as deemed appropriate, and the grooming and contouring of the shoreline, consistent with wildlife habitat protection
- To connect, if feasible, Manning Provincial Park and the North Cascades National Park by a trail system
The Commission focuses its work through four program areas : Education, Recreation, Ecosystem Science and Watershed Integrity. Approximately US$500,000 per annum is dedicated to program work. Examples include:
The upper Skagit Watershed encompasses the traditional and unceded territories of the Sto:lo, Nlaka’pamux and Lower Similkameen indigenous peoples in Canada, and the Upper Skagit, Sauke-Suiattle and Swinomish tribes in the United States.
In Canada, approximately 67% of the Skagit watershed is under some form of conservation designation or protected area status.
In the United States, 100% of the Skagit watershed is under protected status within the US National Park Service, or the US National Forest Service.
The watershed sustains critical habitat for several rare and endangered species moving back and forth across the international border. Northern Spotted Owl and Bull Trout are examples of species specific to this watershed.
Silverdaisy
May 2019
- Imperial Metals Mining Permit Application
- Seattle City Light Comment Letter
- SEEC Comment Letter
- Joint USA ENGO’s Comment Letter
April 16, 2019
- WA State HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 4013
Read first time 04/16/19. Referred to Committee on Rural
Development, Agriculture, & Natural Resources - Union of BC Indian Chiefs Letter to Imperial Metals
- Swinomish Indian Tribal Community Letter to Premier Horgan
- Wilderness Committee Comment Letter re Mining Permit Application
- Conservation Northwest Comment Letter
June 26,2018
- Letter to Honourable Doug Donaldson, Minister of FLNRO-RD
- Response from Allan Johnsrude, Regional Executive Director, BC Ministry of FLNRO-RD
- SEEC Response to Allan Johnsrude
July 5, 2018
July 9
July 10
- Hannah Askew – Sierra Club BC E.D., to Premier Horgan, cc: Min FLNR, Env, Seattle Mayor Durkan
- Hilary Reid: Notified us of this supportive letter she was submitting to BC Govt
- Bruce Reid, R.P.Bio.: Notified us of this supportive letter he was submitting to BC Govt
July 27
August 2
August 24
August 30
September 6
September 24
- SEEC chairs to Premier Horgan, cc: adm Don Wright, DM Chris Stagg
September 27
October 16
November 1
November 6
- Alumnus – Ken Farquharson confirmation letter to BC Ministers following Oct 29th meeting including Dr Tom Perry and Joe Foy.
- Alumnus – Ken Farquharson Thank You letter to Canadian ENGO’s
November 30
December 21
July 9, 2018
Ken Farquharson and Dr Tom Perry’s op-ed in the Vancouver Sun made the issue of BCTS logging plans on Silver Daisy public. SEEC drew attention to the story via social media, focusing on the marshaling of Upper Skagit allies to re-distribute within their networks.
Gloria Macarenko on CBC Radio’s CBC-OnTheCoast interviewed Ken Farquharson on the day of the op-ed.
Several days previous to this the Wilderness Committee posted photos and focusing on an appropriate outrage to raise awareness.
Intended Audience
- This issue arose quickly and has become a convenient way to reach out to organizations and individuals whom we were intending to re-connect with in the coming months.
- SEECs current fund recipient organizations, namely NCI, North Cascades NPS, The SCA, Hope Mountain and BC Parks.
- SEEC’s 9 yr old list of organizations we reached out to with Peter Kennedy.
- Hozomeen Gathering outreach list of 1st Nations and Tribes.
- Social Media network garnered over the past number of years on Twitter, FB, LinkedIn and Instagram.
Approach
- FB and Twitter is being used only to draw attention to the op-ed, not to advocate publicly.
- Email summary of social media generated by early adopters/promoting allies and the article links was sent to the majority of organizations we have reached out to before.
Desired Outcome
- these efforts via social media and email are intended to increase the awareness of SEEC, the Upper Skagit watershed, the Treaty and SEEC’s very specific role.
- the collective awareness and re-distribution of the op-ed link and article content are intended to support the letter writing SEEC is doing with Min of FLNRO, the BC Premier’s office and Mayor of Seattle. It is hoped elected officials and Ministry staff will recognize there is public awareness and SEEC’s request to stop current logging work and further logging planning on Silver Daisy has support.
January 2019
- Wilderness Committee publication: Save the Skagit
A Google Map Aerial View vs Aerial View with 2019 Proposed Logging Overlay
Overview Map of Cutblock areas, October 2018
Imperial Metals-tour-visit-Nov,2013-michelle-shaun
July 2007 site visit, by Ken Farquharson and Denis Lieutard
SEEC-Imperial Metals_Towards Sustainable Mining Presentation – 2013 05 14
Imperial Metals Technical Report: Giant Copper Property, by Stephen Robertson, July-2006
SEEC-Imperial Metals-Mt Polley: Reclamation and Closure – MPMC Maintenance Managers
Denis-Lieutard Report-Jan11-07
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2004 Managment Plan for Manning Provincial Park and Cascade Recreation Area
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2014 BCTS Park Use Permit
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Ken Farquharson Speaking Points: Oct 2018 “Time to Preserve the Upper Skagit Prov Park”
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Oct 29, 2018 Donut Hole Briefing Document: Text and Photos
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Wilderness Committee supporting docs and maps
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April 1, 2019 | Union of BC Indian Chiefs Letter to Imperial Metals
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2019 SEEC ‘Donut Hole’ Committee Report, chaired by Shaun Hollingsworth
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1998 Silverdaisy Integrated Management Plan
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Paul Bernsten-Nicole Bellay Adventure Tourism Tenure Application to Min FLNRORD: SEEC response letter
Silver Daisy Committee
In the ’80’s when the Manning Park boundary lines were re-drawn, an area including Silver Daisy Mtn was left out of the park because of mining interests on this mountain. On the one side is Manning Park and on the other is Skagit Valley Provincial Park. A company called Imperial Metals currently owns most of the mining tenures in this ‘donut hole’ of unprotected land.
The Silver Daisy Committee is dedicated to driving strategy and management of the process to achieve a protected status for this headwaters area of the Skagit River.
This blog post thanking numerous organizations for their support outlines the issues being managed.
Current Committee Members
- Tom Curley
- Leo Bodensteiner
- Sue Hammell
- Shannon Bentley
- Matt Love
- Dennis McLerran
- Nancy Wilkin
- Lynn Best
——————- - Private Documents
(committee members only)
Wolverine Research
Wolverine Research
The wolverine is among the rarest of the large carnivores in North America and probably least understood. SEEC produced this video to feature the collaborative, transboundary wolverine research of wildlife biologists in Washington State and and the Province of British Columbia.
DID YOU KNOW…
Diet
Wolverines eat a variety of food items. The larger animals they feed on tend to be carrion, that is, already dead when they discover them. These larger animals include elk, caribou, deer and mountain goats. Wolverines will also eat snowshoe hare, porcupines, marmots, mice, voles, birds, fish and vegetation.
Length: 82 – 130 cm | Weight: 6.5 – 16kg | Lifespan: 7-12 years
Population
Wolverines in the North Cascades of Washington State appear to be part of a larger population that reside in British Columbia and possibly Alberta. Wildlife biologists in in the U.S. collaborate with their counterparts in BC to study these populations as part of ongoing research related to transboundary species. This study area includes the North Cascades, Skagit and Similkameen watersheds.
This research involves setting live traps baited with road-killed mule deer, beaver or salmon carcasses and monitored electronically as well as visited regularly to ensure the traps are working properly. Captured wolverines are ear-tagged and fitted with radio-collars to provide general location and movement data. Approximately 1 dozen unique wolverines have been trapped, tagged and monitored over a 4 – 5 year period.
Range
For a graphic illustration of the extensive range of rough country the wolverine travels over, visit page 13 of this report by wolverinefoundation.org. The vast, uninterupted wild space a wolverine requires speak volumes to importance of protected habitat.
Reproduction
Mating season for wolverines is late spring to summer with an average of 1 – 2 kits being born the following winter, into spring. The kits are born white in color, in dens, burrowed deep into the snow in remote alpine locations usually at or just above the treeline.
What threatens wolverines?
The threats to wolverines are ultimately all human initiated.
Climate change affects the wolverines because the available deep snow in their southern habitat regions is slowly diminishing.
Encroachment of human activity disrupts denning wolverines. Outdoor enthusiasts are accessing wild places via snowmobile and backcountry skiing excursions.
As human infrastructure expands into more remote regions, available wolverine habitat becomes more fragmented. Connected corridors of protected lands are required to enable the wide ranging wolverine to travel between regional wolverine populations.
The recent wolverine work in BC is funded by the Habitat Conservation Trust Fund, the Skagit Environmental Endowment Commission, the BC Ministry of Environment and the BC Conservation Foundation.
For the latest information about wolverine research, connect with the following organizations.
