The mistake IS the lake

I’m a 35-year resident of Olympia, a business owner, and title holder to a property that directly overlooks the north basin of Capitol Lake. And I’m wading into this snail-infested settling pond of an issue.

I add myself to a list of pretty nice people who wish we had a sparkling clean lake downtown for all to enjoy. Yet we all know Capitol Lake can never become that. The lake was another overweening project by European-American transplants bent on making the wild landscape serve at any cost their every practical and aesthetic aim. But ecosystems maintain their own inherent logic. (Reflecting buildings is not included in that.) When free to follow that logic, they find an equilibrium we call ‘health’. When not – they bring the mounting systemic problems we observe and require expensive and perpetual management.

Since we now live in a time where ghastly unintended consequences are the order of the day, we get that we have to do things differently going forward. All roads ahead will be challenging, but we should embrace the Deschutes estuary’s overdue restoration so that our kids inherit a functioning ecosystem. We might even learn to stand noble against the periodic scourge of tidal flats. Waterfront dwellers can teach us how.

Our elders taught us that we don’t get everything we want. No sense in whining about it. Discomfort will always accompany our efforts to make things right, on this and many fronts. It’s evidence that we’re doing something constructive. So let’s.

This story was originally published June 23, 2017 at 6:11 PM with the headline "The mistake IS the lake."