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Page A-2O — Shelton-Mason County Journal Thursday, Dec. 31, 2020
Perspectives offered through Climate Assembly
By Kirk Boxlejtner
l<b”0)deitner@masoncounty. com
The Washington Climate Assem-
bly will have its inaugural People’s
Assembly starting Jan. 12 with at
least two Mason County residents
, among its numbers. '
This virtual event will bring 80
Washington residents together as
assemblymembers to learn about, dis-
cuss and recommend climate change
solutions for consideration by the
Legislature.
Sherri Dysart and Julianne Gale
are members of the WCA Monitor-
ing Team, made up of representatives
from state government, tribal groups
and nongovernmental organizations,
whose jobs are to help adopt and
enforce the rulebook governing the
assembly.
Dysart is the Climate Change Com-
mittee chair of the League of Women
Voters of Mason County, while Gale is
a youth worker and a community orga-
nizer committed to social and environ-
mental justice. Gale also will be an
agenda consultant and presenter to
the assembly.
“I am really glad that a Mason
County perspective on the climate
crisis, and what we can do about it, Will
be represented throughout this pro-
cess,” Gale said. “The climate crisis is,
or soon will be, affecting every single
part of our lives as Mason County resi-
dents, including how we make money,
what we eat, where we can safely live
and how healthy we can be.”
Gale pointed out how climate
change has not only damaged Mason
County homes and blocked its roads
through flooding and windstorms, but
also has made outdoor air unbreath-
able due to wildfires fueled by climate
change.
“It’s up to us here in Mason County
to make sure statewide politicians
and people in bigger cities understand
what policies , would make sense in
smaller communities like ours,” Gale
said. “No one knows better than us
what will work here.”
A people’s (or citizens’) assembly
seeks to solve a problem facing acom—
munity by democratically represent-
ing the interests of people from all
walks of life, and the Washington Cli-
mate Assembly, as the first of its kind
in the Northwest, is intended to serve
as a template for future assemblies
throughout the region.
“The great thing about the Washing-
ton Climate Assembly is that anyone
can submit a proposal for the assem—
bly to vote on, and any proposal that
gets broad support from the assembly
members will go forward to the state
Legislature,” Gale said.
Dysart outlined a number of ways
the public can get involved, many
available through the Washington Cli-
mate Assembly website at waclimate-
assembly.org, which allows members
of the public to submit their proposals
for recommendations.
Dysart added that the assembly’s
four-step process starts with a learn-
ing phase, during which. speeches by
subject-matter experts and interested
parties are not only scheduled to be
presented, but will also be open to
the media and broadcast live on the
internet.
“There’s an ‘apply for a support role’
button on the website, for someone in
our community to register as an inter-
ested party, for instance, if they wish
to be a presenter to the assembly,”
Dysart said.
Each proposal must answer the
question of how Washington might
equitably design and implement cli-
mate mitigation ideas, which would
itself require the strengthening of
communities disproportionately
affected by climate change across the
state, Dysart said.To that end,~assem-
bly members are chosen through a lot—
tery to accurately represent the state’s
demographics of age, race and ethnic-
ity, geographic distribution and politi-
cal perspectives.
After the learning phase, a deliber-
ation phase Will present those assem-
bly members with a variety of experts,
stakeholders and tribal perspectives
before they proceed to the decision
phase of considering potential actions
and discussing what they think should
happen. ’
The assembly’s published report
will offer a final set of recommenda-
tions to elected officials and the wider
public so they can be turned into laws:
While Gale is more interested in
using the assembly process to bring
Mason County residents together to
address the climate crisis, she did
admit that she would welcome propos-
als to redirect government funding for
corpOrations into local communities,
which she would also like to see
become less reliant on global supply
chains, and therefore less vulnerable
to climate change disruptions.
“I’d like to see us transition toward
a completely local system, where even—
tually no extractive energyis needed
to bring in supplies from far-away
places, and there’s no extraction of
resources from our community either,”
said Gale, who cited “community food
forests” as but one example of poten-
tial investments in local‘community
systems.
Gale said she would also welcome
proposals that strengthen tribal sover-
eignty so that we could draw from tra-
ditional ecological knowledge.
“When it comes to climate—change
solutions, there’s no substitute for the
wisdom that comes from thousands of
years of living in one area, including
through previous dramatic changes in
climate,” Gale said. “Those of us who
are relative newcomers have a lot to
learn from that wisdom.”
Gale invited those who want to
“think together” about how Mason
County residents can respond to the
climate crisis, including creating pro-
posals for the Washington Climate
Assembly, to email her at mason-
countyclimatejustice@gmail.com or to
write Mason County Climate Justice,
P.O. Box 675, Hoodsport, WA 98584.
The Washington Climate Assem-
bly will be livestreamed and recorded
starting in January via Zoom, and will
be available for subsequent viewing on
the assembly’s website and You’l‘ube
channel.
Hood Canal council issues shellfish
By Kirk Boxleitner
kbofleitner®masoncounty com
As part of the Hood Canal Shellfish Initiative,
the Hood Canal Coordinating Council has issued a
“Call for Projects” to implement the priorities out-
lined in the HCSI Action Plan. The deadline for the
HCCC to receive the submission materials for those
projects was Dec. 21.
HCCC Watershed Projects Coordinator Nate
White outlined the plan’s six objectives:
I Protect and improve Hood Canal’s water
quality. .
I Protect and improve Hood Canal’s shellfish
habitat.
I Promote a cultural appreciation of Hood
Canal’s shellfish;
I Support a sustainable Hood Canalcommercial
shellfish industry.
I Expand shellfish harvesting opportunities for
Hood Canal’s treaty tribes, local communities and
visitors.
I Restore the native Olympia oyster populations
to Hood Canal.
Projects can meet these objectives by taking any
one of six actions: «
I Implement Pollution Identification and Correc—
tion (PIC) programs.
I Conduct assessments of shellfish—related land-
use policies and regulations for their effects on
shellfish habitat.
I Incorporate tribal and nontribal cultural prac—
tices associated with shellfish into the state Office
of Superintendent of Public Instruction’s Native
American curriculum, where appropriate.
‘. I Develop prepermitting processes for priority
w
aquaculture development sites, or “shellfish enter-
prise zones.”
I Coordinate and increase the enhancement and
seeding of clams and oysters at appropriate public
and tribal harvest sites.
I Develop and implement a Hood Canal-specific
Olympia oyster restoration plan.
Project proposals will be evaluated by how well
their actions align to the HCSI’s objectives and con-
tribute to its goals, as well as by their relative like-
lihoods of success, in terms of the project’s feasibil-
ity, as well as the applicant’s availability and capac-
ity to carry out the project, and their demonstrated
experience and qualifications to develop and com-
plete the project within the time frame specified.
Proposed projects should not exceed a budget
of $55,000, and applicants should provide budget
tables that include estimates of total hours and
hourly rates for all tasks.
The project submission format calls for a title
page that identifies the project and the organiza-
tion, partners and contact information for the proj-
ect’s primary point of contact; your qualifications
and proposed project approach, to include resumes
and up to three examples of similar past projects;
and the scope of work, andproject budget, the latter
broken out by tasks, personnel and other direct and
indirect rates.
White noted the HCCC would consider the fol-
lowing questions:
I Are the appropriate personnel and resources
available to undertake this project in the timeline
proposed?
I Who would be doing the work, and What are
their individual qualifications?
I Will the execution of work to be performed by
_ Wishing You a Very Happy 2021'
H
glycltou-"flilasou County Journal
‘Call for Projects’
your company require the hiring of subcontractors,
and if so, who are they and what work Will they
perform?
I What is your organization’s experience work-
ing in Hood Canal, or with any of HCCC’s member
jurisdictions?
I Are there any pieces missing in the project
description, or are there alternative approaches
toadvance this project, that the HCCC should
consider?
I How might your services save the HCCC time
or resources in meeting its objectives?
After project submission, the proposals are will
be reviewed and evaluated by the HCSI Work-
group, with a recommendation submitted to the
HCCC board of directors in time for project funding
decisions to be made at the Jan. 20 HCCC board
meeting. '
Contract negotiations are set to begin immedi-
ately afterward with the successful applicants, with
work expected to begin immediately upon the con-
tract’s execution, and to end by Nov. 30.
The HCCC expects the Quality Assurance Proj-
ect Plan, or the QAPP Waiver, to be deliverable 30
days after the contract execution, and the Water
Quality Exchange Data Entry to be deliverable by
Nov. 30, if necessary.
The draft final project report should be ready
by Nov. 12, and the final report should be ready by
Nov. 30, with progress reports due by the 15th of the
following month.
Contact White at 360-900-6442 or at nwhite@
hcchagov. For more information, go to http://
hccc.wa.gov/sites/default/files/resources/downloads
/HCSLCall%20for%20Projects_20201125.pdf for
the requirements for project submissions.
BELFAIR
RALD