The Bellingham Herald editorial today is excellent. It raises the basic questions about the newly proposed Lake Whatcom land reconveyance deal to make a park on the very steep hillsides at the south end of the lake. It asks what will be the price that DNR asks, how will the lost annual logging revenue be made up, and what kind of park and how much impact and costs will it entail. It is a very perceptive editorial and a must-read for all who are starry eyed over this conveniently timed announcement by the McShane and Kremen campaigns.

Indeed, it gives legitimacy to concerns I have posted here and that drew criticism. Yet here is the Herald asking these very key questions. There are more questions. I encourage you to check the links at the top right of this page to the Lake Whatcom website and to Tom Pratum's post on the North Cascades Audubon Society website.

These issues are not small matters to be ironed out in a negotiated process. Rather they are deal breakers if the answers are wrong. They go to the core of what is involved - better protection for our drinking water in Lake Whatcom. We need to protect that with a plan that is developed with open public process - something very lacking so far in this plan. As it says at the top of this page, let's do the public's business in public. That is the essence of democracy.