Twenty years ago today, the Kitsap Sun published the first story
in a yearlong series of articles about the Hood Canal ecosystem.
The following year, 1991, we compiled the series into a book, “Hood
Canal: Splendor at Risk.”
All these years later, I still hear from folks who tell me that
the book has given them a better understanding of natural systems.
They say it has helped them realize why Hood Canal remains a
special place to visit, to work and to live. I’m always pleased to
hear from Hood Canal residents who tell me that this book retains a
special place on their coffee tables or bookshelves.
With the hope that “Splendor at Risk” still has relevance today
and to offer it free to more people, we are making the original
publication available to read online
(Scribd) or to download one chapter at a time (PDF).
Thinking back to the origins of the book, it all started with a
notion by Mike Phillips, who had just become editor. He wanted to
launch a big project to bring the staff together, so he solicited
ideas on a broad range of topics. The idea to focus on Hood Canal
came from Craig Darby, a reporter who had been pushing for a Hood
Canal series even before Phillips arrived.
Until then, I had been reluctant to endorse Craig’s idea. I
believed a comprehensive look at the entire Hood Canal ecosystem
was too ambitious for one or two reporters, which had been the
limit of our collaboration at the time. But when I heard that a
dozen news reporters would be involved, I became enthusiastic. In
the end, management of the project was turned over to City Editor
Jeff Brody and me. We came up with an outline for a series of
articles every month for a year.
We covered water resources, water quality, wetlands, fish,
shellfish, forests and related jobs. We also covered human
activities, such as places to visit, the Navy’s submarine base at
Bangor and the rapid growth of housing development.
The one topic that we failed to anticipate — since the problem
was not well understood — was Hood Canal’s growing low-oxygen
problem.
Every news reporter on staff at the time played some role. I
ended up writing about half the stories over the course of the
year.
I still remember how I escaped from the bustle of the city to
spend time in remote areas. One part of my mind focused on the
science, while another tried to capture the mood for each
environmental story. Each monthly series began with a scene-setter
noting the specific time of year.
Gary and Celia Parrot, caretakers of the Klingel Wetlands
outside of Belfair, helped me articulate how it feels to embrace
the wildness of a place — something I wanted people to understand
right up front. From the introduction published 20 years ago
today:
It’s as if the human heart yearns for a more primitive
experience, away from the cluttered pattern of modern life, says
Celia Parrot, caretaker of the property.
“The reason I go out two or three times a day is not just to
walk the dogs,” she said. “It’s like a refueling. I go out to get
another dose of that intimate feeling….
“We have to get to know our forests and our marshes, so we know
what we cannot do to them…”
The Sun’s designer/photographer at the time, Theresa Aubin, came
up with a headline for that introductory piece. She called it “Hood
Canal: Splendor at Risk.” The name stuck as the title for the
entire series and the book.
When the project was finished, we thought we were done. But
there were calls for reprints, and we conceived the book project.
Jeff Brody reorganized the stories into logical chapters. We got
help from the staff at Washington Sea Grant to design the pages and
coordinate the publication. I undertook the tedium of creating a
topical index.
Some 6,000 copies were produced in two printings, sold mostly
through advance orders. And then the book was out of print. Thanks
go to Phil Best of the Hood Canal Environmental Council for his
continued interest through the years and his willingness to scan
the pages into digital format so that everyone can read this book
online.
We never submitted the book itself for any awards, but the
Washington State Library System noticed it, and we were honored
with a Governor’s Writing Award presented by Booth Gardner,
governor at the time.
On the five-year anniversary of the series, I returned to the
broad subject of Hood Canal and updated some of the major topics,
but the connections of place and time were missing. Regular readers
know that I frequently delve into Hood Canal issues in some depth —
but not across the landscape that “Splendor at Risk”
represents.
At the end of each monthly series, we offered a list of things
that people could do to help Hood Canal. In the book, the list
became a chapter unto itself, and it is interesting to read that
now. Many of the suggestions call for people to learn, get involved
in projects and demand action from their government. If I were to
make such a list for Hood Canal and Puget Sound today, it would not
be much different.
At the time we wrote the series, a project of this scope was
highly unusual for a newspaper our size. In the newspaper business
today, with shrinking staffs, such a project seems even more
remote.
I want to add that I’m proud to work for a publication that
encourages environmental reporting. Thinking back to 20 years ago,
I realize that this yearlong reporting effort infused me with
insights that have stayed with me and grown through the years. Here
is how I expressed those thoughts in the preface to the book,
written 19 years ago:
Hood Canal has changed me. Even though I’ve worked for The Sun
for 14 years, I am not the same writer I was a year ago. Even
though I’ve lived in the Northwest for 21 years, I am not the same
person.
It isn’t so much the beauty of Hood Canal that has me enchanted.
At some point, it’s best to get beyond the pure splendor of the
place. Call it an appreciation that the wildness of nature still
exists, one small life linked to another, all struggling to
survive, humans included.
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