Salish Sea News Week in Review 12/31/21

Aloha New Year 2022!
Salish Sea News and Weather says 'aloha' to 2021 and 'aloha' to 2022, wishing you good health and safe passage in the new year. Mike Sato.

Alaska experiences record-high temperature for December, freezing rain
Kodiak soared to 67 degrees on Sunday, while other towns are experiencing anomalous rain. Matthew Cappucci and Emily Schwing reports. (Washington Post)

For the Northwest, climate change was hard to ignore in 2021
2021 brought some of the most extreme weather events ever seen in the Pacific Northwest — or anywhere. From heat domes to record-breaking rainfall, climate change was hard to ignore in Washington. John Ryan reports. (KUOW)

How 2021′s floods and heat waves are signs of what’s to come
In 2021, extremely rare weather disasters became alarmingly common. Lauren Sommer reports. (NPR)

What were the costliest extreme weather events in 2021?
The full cost of flooding in B.C. is still being assessed, but according to one estimate, November flooding places B.C. as the world's fifth most expensive extreme weather event in 2021. Stefan Labbé reports. (Times Colonist)

‘The salmon will come back again’: First Nations document devastating low returns on B.C.’s central coast
Fifty years ago, an average of 47,000 salmon returned annually to the Neekas River north of Bella Bella. In 2021, the 750 salmon returning to the once-teeming waterway act as a fresh warning to local First Nations that urgent action is needed — at both the provincial and federal level — to prevent total population collapse. Stephanie Wood reports. (The Narwhal)

A shellfish company gets into the weeds
The Swinomish Indian Tribal Community shows how eelgrass and aquaculture can coexist in Puget Sound. Sarah Sax reports. (High County News)

Rising Seas and Shifting Sands: Combining Natural and Grey Infrastructure to Protect Canada’s Coastal Communities
A report on how Canada can scale-up the use of  nature-based solutions, in tandem
with grey infrastructure, to protect communities along the East and West coastlines. (University of Waterloo, Intact Centre on Climate Adaptation)

Conservation groups see mounting success in B.C. with private land acquisitions
Donations from $5 to $500,000 offer 'direct' results toward protecting biodiversity. Chad Pawson reports. (CBC)

Salmon habitat to increase after conservation group buys land near South Prairie Creek A piece of property near South Prairie Creek in Buckley will soon become a part of a floodplain restoration project, which benefit salmon and improve habitat. Forterra, a local nonprofit land conservation agency, announced Dec. 23 that it acquired 33 acres of privately owned property adjacent to an existing 134-acre South Prairie Creek Preserve. Angelica Relente reports. (Tacoma News Tribune)

What we learned this year about human waste and Puget Sound
The waste that 4.5 million Seattle-area people flush affects shellfish, wastewater regulations and more. Hannah Weinberger reports. (Crosscut)

Sewage spills contaminates Percival Creek, Capitol Lake
About 735 gallons of sewage streamed into the Tumwater stormwater system and then into Percival Creek on Monday. The county attributed the spill to a blockage in a sanitary sewer line on Somerset Hill Drive Southwest. Martin Bilbao reports. (The Olympian)

Snow geese and winter waterfowl flock to Skagit fields and skies
One of the Northwest’s great natural treasures is the abundant flocks of winter waterfowl that come here in the colder months — and they are easy to spot on open fields. Hit the road for Skagit County, and odds are good that you’ll find some. 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 at no cost to the weekday news clips, send your name and email to mikesato772 at gmail.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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