It’s a quiet day for sustainability news here in the Northwest, which meant a long hunt for the Tidepool editor this morning.

Today’s top story at Tidepool illustrates a new trend for funding parks in California. The solution could apply to other places in our region dealing with population growth and sprawl. In a related article, the Portland-area Metro Council has chosen six tracts of land they would purchase if voters approve an open-space bond measure in November.

Also, the B.C. government has agreed to protect 138,000 acres of forest in Haida Gwaii. The article is just a short note, really, but the news is significant. I would like to see a longer article exploring the Haida’s unique and exemplaryconservation efforts, and the strategic role played by Guujaaw, their Council President. Why hasn’t this been covered? In case Northwest-coast culture interests you, a piece ran in the Globe and Mail this week on my favorite Haida artist, Robert Davidson.

One last note: Yesterday was Endangered Species Day. Did you even know there was an endangered species day? The Tri-City Herald ran an editorial about the plight of Hanford’s charismatic minor-fauna, the genetically unique pygmy rabbit, which is nearly extinct.