Salish Sea News Week in Review April 9 2021

Aloha Gin and Tonic Friday!
The gin and tonic is a simple cocktail that consists of gin, tonic water, and more often than not a lime wedge garnish.  During the seventeenth century, Spanish explorers found the inhabitants of present-day Peru treating fevers with cinchona bark, which has quinine as its active ingredient. They brought the bark to Europe to treat malaria and found it prevented the disease as well. India became a British colony in 1857, and colonists, soldiers, and passers-through often had to deal with malaria there, so they took quinine to help them survive. A precursor to gin is genever, which was created in seventeenth-century Holland and made with juniper, as well as with botanicals like coriander seed and star anise. The British became aware of it when fighting on Dutch land during the Thirty Years' War. They brought it home and the creation of gin followed. During the late nineteenth century, when gin was rising in popularity, British colonists and soldiers in India mixed it with Schweppes Indian Quinine Tonic and the gin and tonic was born.

Legislature approves bill seeking Billy Frank Jr. statue at U.S. Capitol
A measure to honor the late Billy Frank Jr. with a statue at the U.S. Capitol cleared the Legislature Monday.

Skagit River's Britt Slough wetlands to be restored this year
Just southwest of the Mount Vernon city limits, along the south fork of the Skagit River, restoration of 7.8 acres of wetland habitat critical to threatened chinook salmon is planned for this year.

National laboratory in Sequim planning facilities expansion
Broadening their organization’s scope with a new name, leaders with Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are promoting expansion and refurbishment at the Marine and Coastal Research Laboratory along Sequim Bay.

How to heal a river
After more than a century of logging, agriculture and development, Vancouver Island's Koksilah River watershed and its salmon are in serious decline. A groundbreaking water sustainability plan that brings together diverse interests could not only restore the river, but point a new way forward for watersheds across B.C.

Court orders minister to rethink stocking fish farms in B.C.'s Discovery Islands
A Federal Court judge has suspended a ban on restocking three fish farms in B.C.’s Discovery Islands. Justice Peter George Pamel says in an April 5 decision that Mowi Canada West and Saltstream will suffer real and irreparable harm if they aren’t allowed to restock farms located at Doctor Bay, Phillips Arm and off Hardwicke Island.

Seattle City Light submits revised dam study plan to regulatory agency 
Seattle City Light announced Wednesday that in response to requests from the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe and other stakeholders it has broadened its study plan for the relicensing of its Skagit River dams.

Pacific Northwest ports unveil cross-border pact to cut emissions
The ports of Seattle and Tacoma, their Northwest Seaport Alliance container shipping joint venture, and the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority in Canada are adopting a voluntary joint plan to phase out emissions by 2050.

Law to reduce plastic waste, ban Styrofoam statewide passes House floor vote
It looks increasingly likely that Washington will ban Styrofoam, reduce plastic waste and strengthen recycling markets. A bill to that effect is nearly through the Legislature. E2SSB 5022 passed a house floor vote Wednesday night, 73-24. Bellamy Pailthorp reports. (KNKX)

These news clips are a selection of weekday clips collected in Salish Sea News and Weather which is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato (@) salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

Follow @savepugetsound

Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told