Examiner The Whidbey
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Thursday, January 15, 2015
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Saratoga Orchestra performing Sunday
VOL. 20, NO. 23
Neighbors squabble over beaver dam By Janis Reid Staff Reporter
A couple of Central Whidbey residents are miffed over a neighbor’s decision to cut holes in a beaver dam on their property without consent. Central Whidbey Fire and Rescue responded to a call about a dam breach at Willow Pond around 11:30 a.m. Monday. Water was running through private property and into Puget Sound south of Race Road. Robert Ronnie said Monday that he and his wife, Georgia, noticed a torrent about 30 feet wide flowing over their private drive, making it nearly impassible. Upon inspection, Ronnie said he noticed two gaps in the beaver dam containing five acres of wetlands on their property. “It’s a good volume of water,” he said. Fire Chief Ed Hartin said that responders determined that someone had made an opening in the dike that surrounds the north end of the pond and that it appeared to lower the water level. Hartin said he did not know yet who the culprit was and could only speculate that it was either an attempt to lower water levels that may have been encroaching onto their property or vandalism. There were concerns about potential damage to the bluff over Puget Sound, but an inspection revealed no immediate risks of that. Too much unusual erosion could trigger significant damage to property and structures near the bluff, Hartin explained. “What’s done in one place can have significant impact in some place else,” Hartin said. Ronnie said he intends to file a complaint. As of press time, however, nothing was filed with Island County’s Sheriff’s Department or county Planning Department. It was unclear Tuesday whether the neighbor had broken any laws by the action, other than trespassing. In September, Island County commissioners updated its Critical Areas Ordinance to exempt the removal of beaver dams from the permitting process. However, the county asks that residents contact the county prior to dam alternations and receive a letter of exemption, according to county staff. Ronnie said he believes he knows which neighbor had breached the dam. Ronnie said he recently received a letter asking him and his wife to take action on the dam.
See Beavers, page 12
Ron Newberry photo
Dale Sherman, a third-generation Coupeville farmer, stands in a barn his father designed to store Sugar Hubbard squash on the family farm. The squash are stored in wheat hay in one of two barns on the property. Sherman’s Pioneer Farm produces about 200 tons of squash a year.
hubbard squash king
Family crop continues through generations of farmers, consumers By Ron Newberry Staff Reporter
Dale Sherman is up to his elbows in squash. It’s a common position he finds himself in. In fact, he’s rarely known another in a lifetime of farming on Ebey’s Prairie. Standing inside a spacious barn, Sherman is surrounded by stalls filled with Sugar Hubbard squash carefully stacked and packed in wheat hay. On this January day, the third-generation Coupeville farmer figures about 130 tons are still in the barn, but there’s no cause for alarm. His father designed this barn and the other beside it in the 1990s with sharp attention to detail specifically to store the family farm’s signature crop. The barns are unique in that their tight seals and other insulated qualities keep out the freeze during the winter while vast overhead space allows a fan to keep things cool when necessary during the warmer months. Before the barns were built, when squash was kept in ordinary barns, the Shermans were in a pickle this time of year. “By the time February came around, if you hadn’t moved product out, you were done,” Sherman said. “They either froze or got too
warm or something and you were done. That isn’t the case in these buildings.” Dale and Liz Sherman’s squash operation at Sherman’s Pioneer Farm has blossomed during the best of times and survived some rough patches. Dale Sherman, 68, grew up on the 100-acre farm and except for a brief stint in the Army has spent his entire life on the land. His family is the last of the Whidbey Island commercial squash farmers, constantly evolving in how they package and market their product. Although the public knows the Shermans for their pumpkin patches and trolley rides come October, the family’s unique sweet variety of Hubbard squash is what has set the farm apart for decades and continues to be sold at Whole Foods Market stores and other grocery
outlets in Washington and Oregon. Sugar Hubbard squash, a cross between Blue Hubbard and Sweetmeat squash, is the farm’s staple crop with about 200 tons produced each year, which amounts to thousands of tear-drop shaped gourds that average about 30 pounds apiece. By comparison, that’s roughly double the tonnage of pumpkins they produce. The Sherman Pioneer farm is distinct in that it grows the only commercial crop of Sugar Hubbard squash in the state. The variety came about after Edwin Sherman, Dale’s father, and other farmers on Ebey’s Prairie worked with the Washington State University extension in Mount Vernon in 1940s and came up with a sweeter squash that
See Squash, page 12