Salish Sea News Week in Review April 29 2022

 

Aloha Arbor Friday!
Many holidays commemorate some event from the past, but National Arbor Day is about investing in the future. It focuses on the care and preservation of existing trees, as well as on the planting of new ones. Appropriately, it takes place during a time of the year when it is favorable to plant trees in most parts of the United States. The holiday's name comes from the Latin word arbor, which means tree. In 1594, the mayor of the Spanish village of Mondoñedo organized a tree-planting festival—the first festival of its kind. Another Spanish village, Villanueva de la Sierra, held the first Arbor Day in 1805.

How to Decolonize Conservation
Drawing on examples from existing conservation projects and their own experiences, Indigenous researchers are unpacking what a decolonized approach to environmental protection should look like.

Unicorns and explosives: a burning ship off Victoria’s coast hints at the dangerous secrets of cargo carriers
More than 100 sea cans were lost in B.C. waters after a storm wracked the Zim Kingston last fall. Bigger vessels, weighed down with more goods, are making shipping riskier.

Biden unveils protection plan for old-growth forest during Seattle visit
On Friday, President Joe Biden marked Earth Day at Seattle’s Seward Park — home to some of the oldest stands of trees left in the city — where he announced and signed an executive order meant to protect old-growth forests on federal lands.

A half-million tires in Puget Sound are leeching harmful substances. Here’s how to help 
Tires with toxic substances lurk in Washington waters, harming the wildlife and creating a problem that needs to be cleaned up.

Olympic Peninsula glaciers expected to disappear in 50 years
The Olympic Peninsula has lost 45% of its glacier coverage since 1980, according to a new study by Fountain and coauthors from Washington state and British Columbia.

Rare cold-water coral garden in peril on B.C. coast
A remarkable coral garden tucked away in a remote inlet on B.C.’s wild central coast is in danger unless the federal government takes immediate steps to save it from destruction before the prawn fishing season gets underway, conservationists say.

Totem Pole Journey will make a stop on the UO campus
Led by members of the Lummi Nation and the House of Tears Carvers, the Totem Pole Journey is a Pacific Northwest community experience that engages participants through ceremony, art, science, ancestral knowledge and cross-cultural collaboration.

Federal court overturns order to shut down salmon farms
Former federal Fisheries and Oceans Minister Bernadette Jordan breached the rights of B.C. salmon farmers to procedural fairness when she ordered all salmon farms out of the Discovery Islands, a Federal Court judge has ruled

'Let's bring her home'; Hopes renewed to bring Tokitae the orca back to Puget Sound
A team of independent veterinarians has been invited to the Miami Seaquarium to examine Tokitae the orca, and many are hoping she is in good health to one day return to Puget Sound.

King County tore out a levee near Auburn. Now the salmon are returning
The removal of the levee opened three channels previously blocked from the river and a flood plain spanning nearly 30 acres.

B.C. First Nations receive $63M boost in forestry revenue sharing
B.C. First Nations are getting a bigger cut of forestry profits after the province announced an increase to existing revenue sharing agreements.

Months after mass die-off of sea creatures in B.C. heat dome, researchers return in search of signs of life
Ten months after the catastrophe on B.C.'s shores, the researchers have returned to comb B.C.'s beaches, checking for signs that the vital populations of seaweed, crustaceans and shellfish native to the coast are seeing a resurgence.

Research highlights a choice about the fate of ocean life
“Avoiding Ocean Mass Extinction From Climate Warming” published in Science... is the latest research that crystallizes the powerful yet paralyzed moment in which humanity finds itself.

Scientists race to rescue world’s fastest sea star from oblivion
Scientists are racing to revive a critically endangered species that has succumbed to a mysterious underwater pandemic up and down the West Coast.

Environmental groups sue Canadian government over B.C. bird
As few as 263,000 marbled murrelets are left, including at least 50,000 in British Columbia.

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.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

Follow @savepugetsound

Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told