To the editor:

Saturday, March 28, Whidbey Environmental Action Network is celebrating 20 years of defending Whidbey and Camano islands’ environment. Come to the Crockett Barn: 4:30 p.m., annual meeting; 6 p.m., potluck (bring a dish) with dinner music by the Prairie Ramblers; 7:30 p.m., music by Mosquito Fleet and friends. Check WEAN’s Web site for more information, visit www.whidbeyenvironment.org.

On March 17, 1989, people calling themselves Whidbey Environmental Action Network did an early Earth Day tree planting in Trillium Corporation’s clearcut in the Big Muddy swamp on South Whidbey. Ranging in age from babies in backpacks to 80 somethings, 50 people planted nearly 5,000 trees in the wetlands Trillium had trashed.

Instead of fading away, WEAN continued. What would the islands be like if it hadn’t?

Oak Harbor might never have started maintaining its sewage plant (a WEAN lawsuit forced Oak Harbor to comply with the federal Clean Water Act, 1993). The shorelines might be densely developed (a WEAN growth-management lawsuit invalidated 3½ house per acre shoreline zoning, 1996). The 118-acre Saratoga Woods would be a resort development (a WEAN growth-management lawsuit invalidated the county’s “floating” commercial zone, 1997).

The rare 160-acre prairie that is now the Au Sable Institute for Environmental Studies would be 10-acre hobby farms (a WEAN lawsuit against the state Department of Fish and Wildlife alleging that developing the prairie would have significant environmental impacts, 1998-99).

Six hundred and fifty pounds of the banned pesticide chlorpyrifos illegally buried at the old Oak Harbor High School stadium would not have been cleaned up (WEAN whistleblower assistance with the EPA, 2000). The Heritage Forest at Camp Casey would be a convention center (a WEAN growth-management lawsuit invalidated the master plan approved by the county and required an EIS, 2005).

Oak Harbor would have expanded onto 105 acres of farmland near Swan Lake (a WEAN lawsuit requires an environmental impact statement, 2008). And many more.

Come help celebrate.

Marianne Edain

Whidbey Environmental Action Network