Volunteer cleanup pulls tons of debris from a local creek
The waterway looks like itself again.
A small group of practitioners has been arguing for this approach for years. They are doing their best not to look smug.
Expect the next chapter to be quieter than this one, and more consequential. The loud part is usually the prologue.
Skeptics point to the long history of premature declarations. Their caution is earned, and worth keeping close at hand.
The decision-makers involved insist nothing is settled, which is exactly what decision-makers say when something is starting to settle.
Critics raise familiar objections, and some of them land. The honest answer is that the tradeoffs are real and worth naming.
Whatever happens next, the baseline has moved. The old assumptions no longer describe the room they were built to describe.
