Whidbey Environmental Action Network

Causes: Environment, Land Resources Conservation, Water, Water Resources, Wetlands Conservation & Management

Mission: Founded in 1989, WEAN grew out of the effort to stop Trillium Corporation from deforesting substantial portions of south Whidbey Island. Since then, WEAN has evolved into the only county-wide NGO environmental advocacy organization that maintains a publicly accessible phone number. WEAN engages in hands on restoration and has developed significant expertise in planning and bringing strategic litigation. Some major achievements: 1992. WEAN brought a lawsuit pursuant to the Clean Water Act forcing the City of Oak Harbor to end longstanding water pollution from its sewage plant. In 2002, Oak Harbor won a statewide award for its clean operation of the plant. 1998-99. WEAN led a major campaign preventing development of the best remaining native prairie in the northern Puget Lowlands. This involved activating the local community and regional scientific community, bringing a strategic lawsuit; and getting a bill passed by the legislature and signed by the governor. The site is now owned by an environmental education institution and used for restoration and university level courses. 1995-present. WEAN's litigation forced Island County to obey Washington's Growth Management Act. 2003. WEAN gained a decision from a state Court of Appeals holding that critical areas (wetlands, streams, wildlife habitat) must be regulated to protect all of their functions and values, rejecting the county's attempt to protect streams only for their water quality and not habitat value. This decision has since been used as the basis for requiring increased habitat protection on more than 200,000 acres elsewhere in Washington. Part of this decision is now on appeal to the Washington Supreme Court. Present. WEAN is implementing a multi-year strategy that will force the Washington Dept. of Transportation to drastically reduce its application of pesticides along state highways within the Puget Sound Basin.