Do you sense it? Change is in the air.
Fall 2026
Days are getting shorter, there’s a chill in the early morning, leaves are changing color and starting to fall, salmon are running, and bears are coming down to the bay tidelands to enjoy a fall feast. I love this time of year! I know a lot of you love the sun and fun of summer, but fall and winter have always been magical to me. Don’t let the rain stop you! Get outside and listen; to the wind, to the birds (who’s come back and who’s gone), to the rain refreshing our creeks and streams and recharging our watershed’s aquifer.
“To improve Quality of Life by preserving habitats in the Miller Bay watershed”
Our mission statement is so much bigger than the 13 words that inspire us to preserve and protect the Miller Bay watershed. What does the term “quality of life” mean to you? To me it means more than our (humans’) quality of life. It embodies the idea that all living things have the right to thrive and live in harmony with each other. That we share this planet, and have a responsibility to those we share it with. It’s not a new idea, but one that we all too easily lose sight of.
I was recently reminded of that responsibility in a book I read called “Is a River Alive” by Robert Macfarlane (see ‘On our Shelves’). The book looks at three rivers on three different continents that are all in danger, and the people who are working to establish the rights of these rivers, as “living beings”. Woven through the book is the concept that all living things have inalienable rights to life and protection from harm. The rights to exist, maintain, and regenerate their vital cycles.
In 1972 Christopher Stone (a UCLA Property Rights professor) wrote a paper called “Should Trees have Standing”. In the early 2000’s his ideas became known as the Rights of Nature Movement. In 2008 Ecuador included the Rights of Nature in their new constitution. Almost 40 years after Stone’s paper in 2010, Jacinta Ruru (a Māori legal scholar) and James Morris, one of her students, published an article entitled “Giving Voice to Rivers”. Seven years later, in 2017, their work found ‘real world’ application in a piece of legislation called the ‘Te Awa Tupua Act’. It gave rights to the Whanganui River in New Zealand-- Claiming that the Whanganui River is alive. It speaks of the river as an “indivisible and living whole, a spiritual and physical entity with a life force”. In 2010 the Global Alliance of the Rights of Nature was formed (see https://www.garn.org) and presented a “Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth” to the United Nations. In 2011, right here in the Pacific Northwest, the Lower Elwha River Dam was removed and the Elwha’s rights to flow free and clear were returned. It’s that fundamental idea—natural entities; mountains, trees, rivers, oceans, and all their inhabitants, have rights and we, as members of those communities, have a responsibility to protect those rights and ensure an environmentally sustainable future—that is at the very core of our mission statement.
Rivers and their watersheds have become the focus of the ‘Rights of Nature Movement’. Around the world there are efforts to change the way we think about nature’s communities especially ecosystems dependent on its rivers, streams, creeks, tidelands, marshes, bays, and oceans. We need to move away from seeing nature as mere property to be exploited, and treat it as a “rights bearing entity”. FOMB’s mission statement purposely states “…preserving habitats in the Miller Bay watershed”. It is a recognition that to have a lasting impact our focus needs to be much more than Miller Bay.
Please join us at our Annual Meeting on Oct 29th. We are fortunate to have Peter Bahls, Executive Director of the Northwest Watershed Institute (NWI) as our guest speaker. I’m excited to hear what Peter has to share about the work of the NWI and what actions we can take as stewards of the Miller Bay watershed to help create and maintain a sustainable future for all.
Take care, hope to see you out and about,
