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
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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.
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.
