Cascadia today: Lawsuit over Snake River dams + Portland cracks down on RVs + an Asian American bookshop in Seattle

Andrew Engelson

12 Sep 2025 — 2 min read

Environmental groups, backed by tribes, resumed a lawsuit against the Trump administration after it backed out of a 2023 agreement to restore chinook and other salmon runs on the Lower Snake River. Photo of chinook salmon by Roger Tabor US Fish & Wildlife Service, public domain.

Tribes, environmental groups resume lawsuit over dams

Washington State Standard reports that environmental groups, backed by a coalition of tribes in the Columbia River Basin, have resumed a lawsuit against the federal government over the destruction of salmon runs caused by four dams on the Snake River. The Trump administration backed out of a 2023 deal that favored collaboration in finding a solution to restoring endangered salmon runs. The Trump administration has been gutting efforts at collaboration between opposing sides on environmental issues, including eliminating funding for the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program, a program that brought timber companies, environmentalists and the US Forest Service to the table to work out forest policy.

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Portland cracks down on people living in RVs

According to OPB, Portland mayor Keith Wilson is making it more difficult for people to retrieve RVs that have been declared "derelict" and confiscated by the city. Portland has stepped up confiscation of RV and vehicles, which provide shelter in a city with increasingly high rents and a lack affordable options. In related news, Street Roots reports on the opening of Bethanie's Room, a new overnight shelter in Portland serving up to 75 women each night.

Smoke from BC wildfires killed 82,000

The Tyee reports on a new scientific study that found the record-breaking British Columbia wildfires of 2023 resulted in 82,000 deaths worldwide, making them as deadly as prostate cancer, one researcher said. Wildfires in 2025 are the second-worst in British Columbia's history, and were exacerbated by climate change.

An Asian American bookstore in Seattle

The Stranger has a great feature on Mam's Books, a great little bookshop in Seattle's International District that specializes in Asian American writers and topics. In related news, many British Columbia writers were among those nominated for CBC's nonfiction book awards. And in case you missed it, I wrote about some of the books by Cascadia authors I read this summer for Seattle Public Library's Book Bingo.

Have a great weekend! --Andrew Engelson

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Detail of a totem showing a person inside the beak of a large eagle.

Cascadia today: OR & WA approve COVID vaccines + BC fails to greenwash LNG port + totem pole tour for ecology

In case you missed it, this week I wrote about how the United States' descent into fascism compelled me to think of myself not as a resident of America, but Cascadia. Hope you'll have a chance to read it this weekend. I'll be headed out

Why I no longer think of myself as American

It's been a gradual process, but I now identify as a resident of Cascadia rather than a resident of the United States. Rethinking one's identity and loyalties can be a difficult but clarifying process. For me, it has become more urgent with the election of Donald

A march with people holding a trans flag, pride flag and a sign that reads no queer liberation without trans liberation.

Cascadia today: Rural hospitals in crisis + will Canada offer asylum to trans people? + WA book awards

Loss of hospitals in eastern Cascadia begins If you live east of the Cascades and need convincing that the US no longer cares about your well-being, I suggest you read this story at Investigate West about the crisis facing hospitals in eastern Oregon. At the center of the piece is

A massive LNG tanter ship docked in a port with rain clouds and low mountains in the distance.

Cascadia today: BC all in with LNG + fucking ash borer beetles + new PDX punk act Obedient

BC approves huge LNG facility According to the Narwhal, the British Columbia government recently approved a 12-million ton liquefied natural gas facility at Ksi Lisims at the mouth of the Nass River. A joint venture between Canadian & US firms, and the Nisga’a First Nation, the project will be