As WA Gov. Jay Inslee's plan for mandatory stream buffers moves forward, Tom Davis, Washington Farm Bureau Director of Government Relations, tells Dillon that studies show the ill-conceived proposal would not benefit salmon the way its backers claim.

In fact, he explains how the idea could ultimately harm salmon recovery efforts.

The plan is up for a hearing this week in a state House of Representatives committee, and Davis is urging people to speak out against the proposal due to the vast harm it would cause to farming across the state.

A plan that would virtually end farming in Western Washington is moving forward in Olympia, and Jay Gordon is back to talk with Dillon about how the proposal continues to worsen as it begins its journey through the legislative process in Olympia.

Dillon lays out the initial details of the Whatcom farming community's call for leaders to pursue any and all worthwhile solutions for the Nooksack Basin's water management crisis, to not only prevent devastating floods like November's, but also to protect fish from drought conditions in dry summer months.

When temperatures plunge, wind howls and snow flies, dairy farms don't get to shut down until conditions are better. So all the hard work that happens every day on the farm gets that much harder. Brianna DeBruin, Herd Manager at Everson-area Van Dellen Farms, shares with Dillon the various challenges they've faced in this winter's cold spell so far.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is proposing new laws to force mandatory, inflexible buffers along all streams in the state, despite a state Fish & Wildlife study showing such requirements can be harmful. Jay Gordon, Washington State Dairy Federation Policy Director, tells Dillon that if Inslee gets his way, he could end up harming the very streams he claims to protect.

Record low stream levels in late summer killed thousands of fish in the Nooksack river, leading to claims of lack of water in the Nooksack Basin. But just a few short months later, historic flooding inundated farmland and towns in north Whatcom County, causing widespread devastation. Fred Likkel, Whatcom Family Farmers Executive Director, joins Dillon to explain how this proves that the basin does not have a water supply problem--it has a water management problem.

Long-range weather models have been showing the potential for lowland snow in the Pacific Northwest, but as meteorologist and blogger Rufus La Lone tells Dillon, it's not yet clear just how much winter weather could be on the way.

In a bizarre move in the wake of November's historic flooding, Bellingham-based activist group Community to Community Development began a call to defund an emergency shelter near Sumas for flood victims (see their Facebook post here https://bit.ly/3oThMYE). Why would they push to take away this emergency resource for community members who lost everything in the flood? Because the activist group falsely claims the farm whose worker housing is being used as the emergency shelter killed a farm worker nearly a half-decade ago. Dillon explains how deep Community to Community's deception goes, and just how much harm they're attempting to cause merely to try to prove a ridiculous political point.

As floodwaters raged through Sumas, WA, shutting down the EPL feed mill there, competitor Cargill Animal Nutrition in Ferndale suddenly faced the weight of attempting to support the feed needs of not only their dairy customers, but EPL's as well. Roger Eytzen, sales manager at the Ferndale mill, joins Dillon to share what was happening behind the scenes to make sure cattle didn't go hungry during the historic November 2021 flooding.

Historic flooding on the Nooksack River last week affected farms from Ferndale through Lynden, Everson, Nooksack and Sumas. Fred Likkel, Whatcom Family Farmers Executive Director, joins Dillon with a rundown of the various impacts being talked about in the local farming community, including looming feed shortages, damaged farms, cattle moved to high ground, farmers forced to dump milk, and more.