Apparently the Army Corps of Engineers had announced plans to widen the dam, and anyone remaining in town would find themselves under several fathoms of water. It seemed that the people of North Bonneville had to develop the political tools to overcome the rigidity of regulations and rules imposed on them by the Feds, which would have had the citizens of this town just relocate to the four winds. The community was tight-knit and did not want to disband.

In 1973 Russ and a group of students became involved in helping North Bonneville plan a new townsite on nearby land. Russ and his students helped the people of North Bonneville gain the skills to preserve their community. Those of us visiting in the following year had nothing to do with this project, Russ just wanted us to observe and learn, but that made no difference to the people of North Bonneville. We were from Evergreen, and that was good enough for them.

The Mayor hosted us and everyone was super friendly when they learned where we were from. I was expecting Rod Serling to emerge around the corner at any time, we were so used to used to being treated badly by the Olympia locals (a point of strange embarrassment to me, being an Olympia area local myself).

This was an early lesson for me on how grassroots political activity can have a positive effect, and how the system can be changed from within. And it was what Evergreen was supposed to be all about. Going out and changing the world for the better one step at a time.