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Hood River News Editorial
November 8, 2006
We give thanks for the rain, and for how it nurtures our land, our
crops, and our forests.
And then the rain comes too fast and too hard and floods and
landslides are the result. That’s the push-and-pull of life in the
fertile Pacific Northwest. It’s good to mix a bit of philosophy with
the necessary pragmatism that comes with weather such as we are now
seeing.
The first storm of the 2006-2007 “winter” hit this week, with a wet
wallop. Road closures in the upper valley are more than an
inconvenience, they are a hazard, and they remind us of the
vulnerability of the landscape around us. They also remind us of how
we interact with the land, and about the need for both caution when
traveling at this time of year, and respect for the power of water.
Recent weather has ranged from record low temperatures on Halloween to
inundated rivers a week later. It’s a harbinger of the wet, and
probably wild, weather that many forecasters are predicting courtesy
of the oceanic El Nino effect over the next six to eight months.
This week, road crews, law enforcement and other public servants were
already dealing with realities such as mud slides, high water, and
marooned elk hunters. Our thanks in advance for all they do. |
