Salish Sea Communications: 2022

Thursday, December 22, 2022

Salish Sea News Week in Review December 23 2022

Editor's Note: Here's to wishing you the best of the holiday season and good fortune and health in 2023. For those who are able to support not-for-profit community news, please donate to Salish Current before year's end to grow journalism that's free to read, independent and free of ads. Thank you! Mike Sato.

Gävle goat [WikiCommons]

Aloha Julebukk Friday!
Julebukk (Yule goat) is a Scandinavian and Northern European Yule and Christmas symbol and tradition. Its origin is Germanic pagan and has existed in many variants during Scandinavian history. Modern representations of the Yule goat are typically made of straw. The Yule goat in Nordic countries today is best known as a Christmas ornament. Large versions of this ornament are frequently erected in towns and cities around Christmas time – a tradition started with the Gävle goat in the 1960s.

Tacoutche Tesse, the Northwest’s great ghost river — Part 4: The death of a thousand cut-offs
The plight of wild salmon and the waters that support them is about big things but also a lot of little, unassuming places: creeks and sloughs and flooded fields and braided side channels.

Biodiversity agreement to protect planet reached at UN conference in Montreal
Negotiators in Montreal have finalized an agreement to halt and reverse the destruction of nature by protecting 30 per cent of the world's land, water and marine areas by 2030, as well as the mobilization, by 2030, of at least $200 billion US per year in domestic and international biodiversity-related funding from all sources, both public and private.

A 3.5-million-pound problem: More than a million chickens near Pasco have bird flu
More than a million chickens at a farm in Franklin County, Washington, are set to be destroyed because of bird flu. Officials are deliberating how to transport, bury, compost, or incinerate the birds.

Swelling school of seaweed farmers looking to anchor in Northwest waters
Prospective kelp growers who want to join the handful of existing commercial seaweed farms in the Pacific Northwest are having to contend with a lengthy permitting process. It's gotten contentious in a few cases, but even so, at least a couple of new seaweed farms stand on the cusp of approval. Also: Can kelp farming help save our marine environment? (10/7/22)

WA adopts zero-emission standards for car sales by 2035
All new cars sold in the state of Washington must be mostly emission-free by 2035.On Monday, the Washington State Department of Ecology updated its Clean Vehicles Program to require all new cars sold in the state by 2035 to be electric, hydrogen-fueled or hybrid with at least 50 miles of electric-only range.

What’s next for WA aluminum manufacturing? The fight goes on
The hard-fought battle to reopen a “green” aluminum plant near Bellingham came to a halt this month. But it may not be the end. A new Department of Defense report to Congress says production of aluminum, specifically high-purity aluminum, may need a boost from the Defense Production Act. Also: Intalco restart: can ‘green’ aluminum get ‘clean’ power? (7/21/22)

Puget Sound This Weekend: King Tides and Climate Change
At 7 am Christmas morning, when most of us will be focused on tinsel and eggnog, Puget Sound will fill to capacity — its highest level in a year. The sound will bulge to more than 1,000 square miles. Beaches will all but disappear.

The quest continues for a nutrient reduction plan
Human sources of nitrogen in Puget Sound have been blamed for increasing the intensity of algae blooms, lowering oxygen to critical levels, and impairing sea life. In response, officials with the Washington Department of Ecology are developing a Puget Sound Nutrient Reduction Plan to strategically reduce nitrogen in various places.

Salmon People: A tribal fishing family’s fight to preserve a way of life
When the salmon are running up the Columbia River, Native fishermen are there with them. They live, eat and sleep at the river. Their children grow up at the river. They catch salmon for subsistence, for ceremonies, and for their living.

Canada made big promises to save nature at COP15. Will it follow through?
196 countries set new global targets to stop the biodiversity crisis. The test now is to put words into action.

Did salmon actually use the Skagit River before the Seattle dams were built?
Seattle City Light argues that salmon in significant numbers never accessed the stretches of the river where its dams and reservoirs now stand and the utility should not be required to take on the major infrastructure work of adding fish passage. Many others disagree.

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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Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told

Friday, December 16, 2022

Salish Sea News Week in Review December 16 2022

Editor's Note: Salish Sea News and Weather will not use its Twitter account.

Margaret Mean in Samoa [WikiCommons]

Aloha Margaret Mead Friday
Margaret Mead, born in 1901, was an American cultural anthropologist who featured frequently as an author and speaker in the mass media during the 1960s and the 1970s. Her theory of imprinting found that children learn by watching adult behavior. A decade later, Mead qualified her nature vs. nurture stance when she analyzed the ways in which motherhood serves to reinforce male and female roles in all societies. She is oft quoted as saying: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

More ‘forever chemicals’ found in WA drinking water as cleanup costs mount
..."Forever chemicals" or PFAS can increase health risks for certain cancers and other diseases when present in drinking water in minuscule concentrations measured in parts per trillion. Lakewood [WA] is one of more than a dozen Washington public water systems with detections above levels defined by the state to be suitable for long-term consumption — and widespread testing is just ramping up.

Captains of big ships eased up on the throttle during trial slowdown to help endangered orcas
The majority of captains of big commercial ships entering and leaving Puget Sound are cooperating with a request to slow down temporarily to reduce underwater noise impacts to the Pacific Northwest's critically endangered killer whales.

Campaign to expand Olympic wilderness nears finish line after 15 years
...Buffeted by political headwinds facing wilderness expansion and undeterred by false starts over the years, campaigners believe the finish line for the conservation proposal known as Wild Olympics has never been closer. A lame duck Senate may establish several new, federally protected public lands, and Washington state conservation advocates have converged on Capitol Hill in D.C. for a final push.

Documents raise concerns feds backing off commitment to phase out fish farms in B.C. by 2025
Critics say they fear an ongoing public consultation about open-net pen fish farms has a ‘foregone conclusion’ to leave fish farms in the water, to the detriment of wild salmon. Also see: Tacoutche Tesse, the Northwest’s great ghost river — Part 3: Saving wild salmon versus the net pen industry

Seattle woman donates island near Gabriola as nature reserve
Family of the late Betty Swift hopes Link Island becomes a location for climate-change research.

A network of computer models is predicting the future of Puget Sound
The Puget Sound Institute on Wednesday announced a three-year, $4.8 million dollar project to study the dynamics of Puget Sound’s changing ecosystem. The Puget Sound Integrated Modeling Framework combines a network of computer models to look at how different factors like urban growth and climate change will influence the health of Puget Sound.

Cooke Aquaculture files suit over terminated net pen leases in WA
Cooke Aquaculture has filed an appeal in Thurston County Superior Court against Washington’s decision to terminate its leases for fin fish net pens in state waters.

Highest number of humpback whales recorded in Salish Sea
There have been 396 individual humpback whales documented in the Salish Sea, including 34 mothers with their first-year calves, compared to 2017 when 293 whales were documented.

Pioneering whale researcher and advocate Ken Balcomb has died
Ken Balcomb, founder of the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor, was 82. Balcomb kept track of the population of southern resident orcas starting in 1976. His pioneering photo-identification work provided individual profiles of all the whales in the three endangered pods – J, K and L.

Friday, December 9, 2022

Salish Sea News Week in Review December 9 2022

Aloha Llama Friday!
National Llama Day is claimed to have been first celebrated in 1932, after it was recognized how important the llama was in Canada, following a drought in the province of Manitoba, where many livestock died, especially sheep. Maybe that's not entirely true but for those who may confuse the Dalai Lama with the llama: the llama is a domesticated South American camelid, widely used as a meat and pack animal by Andean cultures since the Pre-Columbian era. Llamas are social animals and live with others as a herd. Their wool is soft and contains only a small amount of lanolin. Llamas can learn simple tasks after a few repetitions.

Southern Resident Killer Whale Vessel Adaptive Management Legislative Report
A new report released by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) recommends that the Legislature increase the vessel buffer for recreational boaters, commercial whale watching operators, and guided paddle tours around Southern Resident killer whales to 1,000 yards to further support orca recovery.

Rules set to cut carbon emissions by 20% over next 12 years in Washington state
The Washington State Department of Ecology has finished writing the rules for the Clean Fuel Standard, a program that requires a 20% reduction in 2017 transportation emissions over 12 years.

If There Is a ‘Male Malaise’ With Work, Could One Answer Be at Sea?
As concerns about labor force participation among American men mount, maritime transportation firms are desperate for new mariners.

Clamshells Face the Acid Test
As acidification threatens shellfish along North America’s Pacific Coast, Indigenous sea gardens offer solutions.

Port Townsend recognizes legal rights of southern resident orcas
A growing legal movement seeks to recognize the rights of nature. Activists in the Northwest are celebrating a first here: the city of Port Townsend, Washington, this week recognized the inherent rights of southern resident orcas.

Bering Sea crab collapse spurs push for stronger conservation measures
...[The] North Pacific Fishery Management Council this week will consider what protective measures should go into a plan to help rebuild snow crab populations, and a request to exclude more fleets this winter from a swath of the Bering Sea — known as the “savings zone” — where king crab mate.

Murder kittens: outdoor cats take heavy toll on wildlife
The International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed the domesticated cat as one of the world’s 100 worst invasive species. Biologists have estimated that free-roaming cats kill 1 billion to 4 billion birds and 6 billion to 22 billion small mammals a year in the contiguous United States, more than any other cause of mortality.

Puget Sound wastewater plants may need billions to meet state mandates
An effort to protect Puget Sound's marine life has ignited a debate over a new environmental mandate that wastewater treatment plants say will cost billions and lacks clear science to back it up. The Washington State Department of Ecology issued a permit, effective in January 2022, that requires municipal wastewater treatment plants that discharge into the Sound — there are 58 of them — to reduce the amount of certain nutrients in their discharge.

West Coast commercial Dungeness crab season delayed again
The West Coast commercial fishing season for Dungeness crab is being delayed through the rest of the month. That means holiday menus will be planned without the popular Northwest seafood.

Friday, December 2, 2022

Salish Sea News Week in Review December 2 2022

Aloha Mutt Friday!
National Mutt Day celebrates mixed breed dogs, and the goal of the day is to embrace, save, and celebrate mixed breed dogs by creating awareness about the great numbers of them in animal shelters that are in need of a home. The hoped for result of the day is that people visit animal shelters and adopt a mixed breed dog, or possibly donate their time and money to shelters.

Big picture view of the Salish Sea emerges in richly detailed map
Jeff Clark thought the existing maps of the Salish Sea didn’t have enough detail. So he set out to make a much more detailed map, “to increase the geographic literacy of the area.” The result is The Essential Geography of The Salish Sea, a wall-sized map that gives viewers a “big picture view” of the Salish Sea bioregion.

Here’s why the West Coast Dungeness crab season has been delayed
Oregon’s most valuable commercial fishery, Dungeness crab, will have its season delayed from its traditional Dec. 1 start date because of low meat yields.

Chinook threshold decreased for endangered orcas
The Pacific Fishery Management Council has decreased the number of chinook salmon it allocates each year to feed Southern Resident orca whales. The number is important because added conservation measures to ensure adequate food for the Southern Residents can only be put in place if that number is not reached.

Invasive crab population keeps booming in Washington
Trappers have caught nearly a quarter million European green crabs in Washington waters so far in 2022. This year’s record-smashing tally of the invasive species—248,000 caught as of Oct. 31—is more than twice the total caught last year along Washington shorelines.

What drives Puget Sound's 'underwater Amazon'?
What drives Puget Sound's 'underwater Amazon'? The interaction between fresh and salt water stokes an engine that drives water circulation throughout the entire basin, something intensely important to the understanding and management of Puget Sound.

Is B.C.’s $6 billion commitment to Coastal GasLink and LNG Canada still economically viable?
B.C. estimates it will earn $23 billion over 40 years once LNG Canada gets going, but net-zero pledges raise questions about whether global demand for gas will hold up over the project’s lifespan.

Port of Vancouver's 'ambitious' zero-emissions plan praised, but critics say LNG stands in the way
Canada's largest port has committed to becoming a zero-carbon port by 2050, a transition still in its infancy but has been dubbed ambitious by clean shipping advocates, as calls to dramatically reduce the industry's carbon footprint by that time grow louder and more urgent.

Vanishing lichens a sign rare B.C. rainforest is approaching ecological collapse
Lichens are a canary in the coal mine for the inland temperate rainforest and their demise is sounding the alarm about widespread biodiversity loss.

Washington tribe tests its rights to commercial net pen fish farming
An executive order from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources earlier this month aims to end commercial net pen fish farming in Washington’s public waters. Cooke Aquaculture is in a joint venture with the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe to farm two species of native fish in net pens in Port Angeles Harbor and the tribe wants to proceed with its fish farming.

Friday, November 18, 2022

Salish Sea News Week in Review November 18 2022

Aloha Mickey Mouse Friday!
Mickey Mouse made his screen debut in the short film Steamboat Willie, on November 18, 1928. Today is seen as being Mickey's birthday, as well as Mickey Mouse Day. He was the creation of Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. Disney needed a character to replace Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, after he had lost the rights to Oswald to Universal Studios. He asked Iwerks to draw up the new character, and various animals were rejected before a mouse was settled upon.

Secret files reveal Boeing doctor warned of toxic risks, birth defects
In 1980, a doctor wrote factory chemicals would cause “life-long chronic illness, cancer and death.” Lawsuits claim his worst fears came true.

BLM agrees to reverse Trump administration post-fire logging rule
The Bureau of Land Management has agreed to reverse a rule put in place during the Donald Trump presidency that allowed the agency to log large areas of forests after a wildfire without first doing an environmental review.

Salmon’s Arctic Expansion Has Communities Worried
Inuvialuit fishers are adapting to rising numbers of Pacific salmon in the western Canadian Arctic, but fears remain about impacts on native species.

More dikes and bigger dams could be a multi-billion dollar mistake: here’s how B.C. could ‘build back better’
A year after catastrophic floods in B.C.'s Fraser Valley, some are concerned the recovery is too focused on trying to fight water with bigger engineering, instead of embracing a global movement to work with water and prioritize nature-based solutions

WA will not renew leases for Puget Sound fish farms, 5 years after spill
The state Department of Natural Resources announced Monday morning that they will not renew the last of the fish-farming company’s leases on net pens here.

Cooke hits back at Washington State’s license decision
Cooke Aquaculture says the decision by the Washington Department of Natural Resources not to renew the company’s steelhead trout farming licenses is out of line with both science and judicial precedent.

The Demon River
On the night of November 15, 2021, British Columbia’s Nicola River sounded like thunder. Boulders boomed beneath a raging current that was bursting its banks, taking out everything in its path. It was the costliest disaster in the province’s history, resulting in an estimated $13 billion worth of damage.

Feds restore WA water quality standards for chemical discharges
In a reversal of Trump administration policies, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency this week reinstated federal water quality standards for chemicals discharged into Washington state waterways.

WA lands Commissioner Franz seeks funding boost for urban forestation, state seedling nursery
Wednesday morning, on the sidelines of an urban forestry conference in downtown Seattle, Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz announced her plan to seek $15.8 million in additional funding during the next state legislative session.

Friday, November 11, 2022

Salish Sea News Week in Review November 11 2022

Aloha Origami Friday!
Origami, from ori meaning "folding", and kami meaning "paper" is the of paper folding, which is often associated with Japanese culture. In modern usage, the word "origami" is used as an inclusive term for all folding practices, regardless of their culture of origin. The goal is to transform a flat square sheet of paper into a finished sculpture through folding and sculpting techniques. Modern origami practitioners generally discourage the use of cuts, glue, or markings on the paper. Origami folders often use the Japanese word kirigami to refer to designs which use cuts.

Tacoutche Tesse, the Northwest’s great ghost river
The Fraser River, long known as “the mighty one,” —Tacoutche Tesse, to local Carrier speakers— faces challenges from human intrusion, climate change and more. Part 1: Not the Columbia.

Researchers, growers face the challenge of acidic ocean water
Salish Sea waters are acidifying faster than ever before, but researchers in Washington are leading the world in addressing the looming disaster.

WA building council votes to require heat pumps in new homes and apartments
New homes and apartments in Washington will be required to install heat pumps beginning in July, the Washington State Building Code Council ruled Friday.

Dungeness crab dying amid low oxygen levels linked to climate change
(P)iles of dead Dungeness crab washed ashore on Kalaloch Beach this summer... fishers have shared stories about hoisting up dead or suffocating crabs in their pots. Now, scientists are working to understand how climate change is affecting Dungeness crab, which is both culturally significant and a pillar of Washington’s seafood industry.

Welcoming Herring Home
In Howe Sound, British Columbia, a new generation of stewards is keeping careful tabs on the comeback efforts of a tiny fish with big cultural value.

The “Brazil of the North” Grapples with Cutting its Old Growth Forests
British Columbia’s government proudly announced this past week that logging of old-growth forests in the province, once nicknamed “Brazil of the north” for its vast clearcuts, has declined to a record low in the past six years. Not low enough, critics responded.

Who’s Driving Climate Change? New Data Catalogs 72,000 Polluters and Counting
A nonprofit backed by Al Gore and other big environmental donors says it can track emissions down to individual power plants, oil fields and cargo ships.

B.C. hasn’t taken $50 million federal offer for old-growth forest protections
Ottawa’s offer to fund the protection of B.C.’s vanishing old-growth forests is a ‘game-changer,’ but so far the provincial government hasn’t made a matching commitment.

Feds resume study of restoring grizzlies to North Cascades
The National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said they would jointly prepare an environmental impact statement on restoring the endangered bears to the North Cascades ecosystem.

The Intensifying Push to Build a Fraser Delta Superport
Critics warn of harm to vital biodiversity. But the backer is making new promises and deals, winning over First Nations.

Friday, November 4, 2022

Salish Sea News Week in Review November 4 2022

Aloha King Tut Friday!
King Tut Day celebrates the day that King Tut's tomb was discovered in Egypt's Valley of the Kings by British archaeologist Howard Carter, on November 4, 1922. King Tut, whose full name was Tutankhamun, was the 12th pharaoh of the 18th Egyptian dynasty, and reigned from roughly 1332 to 1323 BCE, assuming power at the age of nine. His original name was Tutankhaten, which means "the living image of Aten," but he changed it to Tutankhamun after assuming the throne, which means "the living image of Amun." In Egyptian mythology "Aten" was the sun disk god.

Has this iconic Northwest tree reached a tipping point?
Diebacks have felled countless trees throughout the region but, according to emerging research, perhaps never so prominently among Western red cedars or in such noticeable concentrations west of the Cascades.

B.C. permanently bans use of rat poison
The province of B.C. has decided to make a temporary ban on the use of rat poison permanent.

Indigenous people of the ‘Salmon Seas’ sign proclamation at Woodland Park Zoo
Dozens of Indigenous knowledge keepers, leaders and fishers from around the Salish Sea, Southeast Alaska and the Sea of Okhotsk gathered at the zoo over the weekend. They shared ancestral knowledge, ceremony and strategies to protect salmon and the people who have cared for them since time immemorial.

State announces its official recommendation for future of Capitol Lake
The state’s Department of Enterprise Services will recommend allowing Capitol Lake to revert to an estuary, its final Environmental Impact Statement for Capitol Lake says.

Emails Reveal a Key Forestry Regulation Is ‘Out of Whack’
B.C.’s cornerstone forest regulation, the annual allowable cut, sets out how many trees can be cut down each year with the intent of sustaining the industry for years to come. But a legal loophole can allow companies to log beyond the limit for years with no repercussions.

Seals and sea lions vex Washington tribes as Marine Mammal Protection Act turns 50
50 years ago, President Nixon signed the Marine Mammal Protection Act into law. The act has been hugely successful in restoring the abundance of the marine species it protects. But some say it’s too successful.

B.C. says old-growth logging has reached record lows as critics call for greater transparency
The B.C. government says old-growth logging has reached record lows, but one conservationist is decrying a lack of transparency from the province.

Have you read the Salish Current?
Independent, fact based news for Whatcom, San Juan and Skagit counties. Free to read, free from ads. Catch the Current here.

Friday, October 28, 2022

Salish Sea News Week in Review October 28 2022

Aloha Lemur Friday!
World Lemur Day celebrates lemurs and spreads the word about the need to conserve them; it inspires a love for them and actions to save them from extinction. It also celebrates Madagascar, the island nation located 250 miles off the east coast of Africa that lemurs call home. Events are held around the world on the day, in person and virtually. World Lemur Day takes place on the last Friday of October, and the World Lemur Festival takes place during the weeks surrounding it.

Through Pacific Northwest drought and downpour, what will happen to the salmon?
...After Western Washington saw the driest June to October on record, several storms were slated to soak the region beginning Friday. It’s a welcome sight for many, including fish stuck downstream. But it comes at the risk of scouring eggs already laid in vulnerable places throughout the Northwest.

These Island gems are among B.C.’s seven biodiversity hot spots
They’re called “key biodiversity areas,” and seven swaths of land across British Columbia — including Tofino’s mudflats, the Trial Islands and Fort Rodd Hill — now have that international designation, which is meant to prevent the decimation of wild animal and plant species before it’s too late.

Canada is 'weaving' Indigenous science into environmental policy-making
Myrle Ballard is the first director of Environment and Climate Change Canada's new division of Indigenous Science, a role in which she's tasked with raising awareness of Indigenous science within the department and helping the government find ways to integrate it into its policies.

Recycling plastic is practically impossible — and the problem is getting worse
The vast majority of plastic that people put into recycling bins is headed to landfills, or worse, according to a report from Greenpeace on the state of plastic recycling in the U.S.

Rare spotted owls released into protected habitat in 1st stage of recovery program
The effort to revive one of Canada's most endangered species has taken flight. There is only one known northern spotted owl in the wild, according to the B.C. government — but three birds released into a protected habitat in B.C.'s Fraser Canyon on Friday bring the total to four.

How oil and gas lobbyists build ‘very close relationships’ with politicians and governments
The relationship between governments and the fossil fuel industry in Canada is under the spotlight again after a high-profile staffer jumped straight from the Alberta premier’s office to one of the country’s most powerful oil and gas companies.

BC's 'most endangered' Fraser River in dire need of protection: report
‘Eden in our midst’: Outdoor Recreation Council of B.C. calls for urgent action to protect section of the river between Hope and Mission that faces threats from industry and climate change.

'Forever chemicals' detected in almost all U.S. waterways
The new study, published last week by the Waterkeeper Alliance Initiative and Cyclopure, found that 83% of waterways in the United States are contaminated with PFAS, including several rivers and lakes in Washington.

Court halts DNR timber sales in Jefferson County
Superior Court Judge Keith Harper ruled Wednesday in favor of plaintiffs Center for Sustainable Economy and Save the Olympic Peninsula who argued Department of Natural Resources (DNR) had violated the state Environmental Policy Act by failing to consider the impacts of climate change from two timber sales in the county.

Friday, October 21, 2022

Salish Sea News Week in Review October 21 2022

Aloha Apple Friday!
Apple Day is mainly celebrated in the United Kingdom, where it was started. Common Ground, a group dedicated to building strong communities, strengthening local distinctiveness, and connecting people with nature and each other, held the first Apple Day in 1990, at Covent Garden in London, England. Their goal was to create an autumn holiday that would not only be celebrated in London, but also in other cities, villages, parishes, markets, and even orchards. They wanted to demonstrate the richness and diversity of apples, but also the diversity of landscape, ecology, and culture as a whole.

The Clean Water Act at 50: Big Successes, More to Be Done
Sparked by the 1970s environmental movement, the Clean Water Act — which marks its 50th anniversary this month — transformed America’s polluted rivers. The Delaware, once an industrial cesspool, is one of the success stories, but its urban stretches remain a work in progress.

The Trans Mountain Boondoggle: Taxpayers Lose Billions, Oil Companies Win
A new analysis confirms the pipeline expansion makes no economic sense and taxpayers will subsidize Big Oil.

RCMP Spending on Pipeline Conflict Reaches $25 Million
As Coastal GasLink begins drilling under the Morice River, police presence on Wet’suwet’en territory appears to be on the rise.

It’s ludicrous’: Coastal GasLink pushes its pipeline under a Wet’suwet’en river while salmon are spawning
Coastal GasLink is drilling under the Wedzin Kwa (Morice River) as spawning salmon lay their eggs throughout the river system.

Carbon auctions will bring WA more money than predicted. Transportation could benefit
The cornerstone of the 2021 Climate Commitment Act, the new carbon “cap and invest” program requires the state’s largest emitters to either reduce their emissions or purchase carbon allowances at auction if they exceed a set limit.

Big ships transiting North Puget Sound asked to slow down, quiet down for orcas
Big ships entering and leaving Puget Sound will be asked to temporarily slow down to reduce underwater noise this fall.

Scientists confirm newborn endangered orca is a female
Scientists were celebrating Wednesday after determining that K-45, the southern resident killer whale calf born in April, is a female.

Metro Vancouver's last remaining glacier is disappearing fast
Metro Vancouver's last surviving glacier, a source of local fresh water, will disappear in less than 30 years, according to local scientists.

What killed these giant fish?
A dozen white sturgeon died recently in a B.C. river. No one knows what killed them. Georgie Smyth reports.

Have you read the Salish Current?
Independent, fact based news for Whatcom, San Juan and Skagit counties. Free to read, free from ads. Catch the Current here.

Friday, October 14, 2022

Salish Sea News Week in Review October 14 2022

Aloha Winnie-the-Pooh Friday!
On this day in 1926 Winnie-the-Pooh made his literary debut. The popular children’s book character was created by British author A.A. Milne and first appeared in a collection of short stories called Winnie-the-Pooh. Winnie, a teddy bear, lives in Ashdown Forest, Sussex, England. The book followed his adventures in the forest with his friends Piglet, Owl, Rabbit, and Eeyore.

Why the country’s largest shellfish farm is struggling to hire and retain workers
It used to be that [Taylor Shellfish] could fill a job opening within a few weeks. Now, amid a remarkably tight labor market, that process can take four months.

Historic drought behind B.C. wildfires, salmon die off could continue, experts say
Thousands of dead fish, a prolonged wildfire season and intense water shortages leading to ice rink closures are all symptoms of record-setting drought in parts of British Columbia. The Lower Mainland, Sunshine Coast and West Vancouver Island areas are experiencing Level 5 drought conditions — the most severe in the province's classification scale.

Conservation concerns cancel Alaska’s Bering snow, king crab seasons
Alaska officials have canceled the fall Bristol Bay red king crab harvest, and in a first-ever move, also scuttled the winter harvest of smaller snow crab. The move is a double whammy to a fleet from Alaska, Washington and Oregon pursuing Bering Sea crab in harvests that as recently as 2016 grossed $280 million.

West Coast gray whale population continues to decline but scientists remain cautiously optimistic
U.S. researchers say the number of gray whales off western North America has continued to fall over the last two years, a decline that resembles previous population swings over the past several decades.

Seattle’s record-setting warm and dry weather is both random and a dress rehearsal, experts say
Seattle’s identity has been synonymous with drizzle, moss and the angsty grunge music and compulsive coffee drinking that’s fueled by its notoriously damp, gray weather. But this year’s summer and start of fall are threatening to wring those traits from the city’s long-held character.

Puget Sound salmon habitat restored with tribes leading the way
Reconnecting estuaries — the place where fresh and salt water meet — is an effort largely led by Washington’s tribes and backed by local and state leaders... At 353 acres, the Port of Everett’s Blue Heron Slough restoration project is among the largest along the Puget Sound.

We need to talk about B.C.’s drought
In the depths of this record-breaking B.C. drought, pretty much everyone I know is tormented by two opposing sentiments: 1) Overwhelming joy at the endless summer we’re having and 2) A growing sense of anxiety about how nearly three months with no rain in much of B.C. is impacting, well, all other living things.

Groups working to remove thousands of tires from Puget Sound
The Washington Scuba Alliance (WSA) has teamed up with Coastal Sensing and Survey to locate 500,000 tires that were put underwater in Puget Sounds and Hood Canal in the 70s to create fish habitat. The organization said a recent study revealed the decomposing tires are poisoning sea life including Coho salmon.

Friday, October 7, 2022

Salish Sea News Week in Review October 7 2022

Aloha Smile Friday!
World Smile Day is dedicated to the smiley face, which was created by Harvey Ball in 1963. He also came up with the idea for World Smile Day, which was first held in 1999, two years before his death. Following his death, the Harvey Ball World Smile Foundation was created, with the slogan "improving the world, one smile at a time". The foundation's goal in raising awareness for World Smile Day is to "encourage smiles and acts of kindness around the world."

U.S. Supreme Court takes on Clean Water Act in Idaho couple’s case
A challenge to The Clean Water Act comes in the form of Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, a case that will be heard by the Supreme Court on Monday, the first day of the court’s new term.

Final federal report on saving salmon calls for removing Snake River dams
The final draft of a federal report on rebuilding salmon and steelhead populations in the Pacific Northwest includes a call for removing the four Lower Snake River dams, among other actions.

Logging industry targeted B.C. old-growth forests for more than a century, SFU study finds
Ken Lertzman's paper shows between 1860 and 2016, 87 per cent of logging took place in old-growth forests.

B.C. government in court Tuesday to face inadequate climate plan allegations
The lawsuit — filed by Ecojustice on behalf of Sierra Club B.C. — alleges the government’s plan for the 2025, 2040 and 2050 climate targets is inadequate, and leaves out details on how it plans to cut carbon pollution from the oil and gas sector.

The complicated truth about pipelines crossing Wet’suwet’en territory
Alberta-based energy giant TC Energy frequently points to its agreements with 20 First Nations along the route of the Coastal GasLink pipeline. This is true, but look a little deeper and it's a lot more complex.

Low water levels caused by drought preventing salmon from spawning
Persistent dry conditions have left salmon populations struggling with low water levels and higher temperatures in streams where they typically spawn.

Report: Aging orca taken from Puget Sound fighting chronic infection at Miami Seaquarium
Ongoing medical issues may further hinder efforts to return an orca that was captured and sold to an aquarium in Florida, back home to Washington state.

Eleanor Stopps Award presented
Environmental advocate Lorna Smith was recognized for decades of conservation work Wednesday when she was given the 2022 Eleanor Stopps Environmental Leadership Award during a Port Townsend Marine Science Center ceremony at Fort Worden.

B.C. premier signs new climate agreement with U.S. governors
B.C.'s premier and governors from the western United States have signed a memorandum agreement on climate approaches for the Pacific region.

Buttigieg wades into Northwest salmon transportation
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg paid a visit Thursday afternoon to Carey Creek, a tributary of Issaquah Creek that is an ancient migration route for now-threatened salmon. Standing under smoky skies with Democratic politicians, he announced that the first $196 million of a $1 billion fish-passage fund.

Friday, September 30, 2022

Salish Sea News Week in Review September 30 2022

Aloha Koala Friday!
The koala or, inaccurately, koala bear is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae and its closest living relatives are the wombats. (Wikipedia)

Old volcanoes, big energy
Volcanoes beneath mountains near Whistler, B.C., hold a big green energy promise. But can scientists and industry deliver?

After 2-year pandemic pause, Seattle-BC train service returns
Amtrak service between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C., is back up and running as of Monday, Sept. 26...Just one daily round trip will be offered, at first, while Amtrak gets its staffing and equipment levels back up to par.

BC’s Big Trees Protection Is Toothless. Government Knew It
Officials in British Columbia’s Forests Ministry understood that a regulation introduced in 2020 to protect big trees on public lands would have little impact. They designed it that way.

Biden administration launches environmental justice office
The Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights — comprised of more than 200 current staff members in 10 U.S. regions — will merge three existing EPA programs to oversee a portion of Democrats’ $60 billion investment in environmental justice initiatives created by the Inflation Reduction Act and distribute $3 billion in block grants to underserved communities burdened by pollution.

The racism, and resilience, behind today’s Pacific Northwest salmon crisis
There’s no one in this region whose life isn’t touched by the fish, whether they think about it or not.

Killer whale census shows another down year, with three deaths and two births
Three deaths and two births. Over the past year, the endangered Southern Resident killer whale population has declined by a total of one, according to the annual census report submitted yesterday by the Center for Whale Research. Now the number of whales in all three pods stands at 73, down from 74 last year and declining from 98 animals the past 25 years.

From pavement to gardens: how urban green spaces can alleviate flood problems
By 2050, Vancouver is expected to see more rain during the fall, winter, and spring months due to human-caused climate change. Without new measures to manage heavy rainstorms, the city could see more flooding. A new 'rainway' in Vancouver aims to combat climate change and prevent flooding in the city, while also supporting biodiversity.

River Deltas Are Running Out of Land
Millions of people live on river deltas, occupying land that exists in the delicate balance between a river’s push and the ocean’s pull. Deltas are inherently transient, but according to a new study, many may be even more precarious than once thought, with unexpectedly high levels of land loss threatening to submerge these low-lying landscapes.

Study raises concerns about contaminants in edible seaweeds
A new study just published by researchers at Western Washington University (WWU) reports concentrations of up to 162 chemical contaminants in three species of edible seaweeds gathered in the Salish Sea.

State Board awards nearly $76 Million in grants to fund salmon recovery projects
On Sept. 26, the Washington State Salmon Recovery Funding Board announced the award of nearly $76 million in grants across the state to help ensure the survival of salmon in Washington. The grants that were funded went to 138 projects in 30 of the state’s 39 counties.

Friday, September 23, 2022

Salish Sea News Week in Review September 23 2022

Aloha Bisexuality Friday!
Bisexuality Day came about in response to prejudice and marginalization that bisexuals experienced from both straight people and from those within the LGBT community. It was first observed in 1999, after being thought up by three bisexual rights activists: Wendy Curry, Michael Page, and Gigi Raven Wilbur.

Inside a 50-year journey to reopen the ‘lungs’ of the Squamish River
A company built a spit that blocked salmon from accessing crucial habitat — then it left. Decades later, the Squamish Nation, local environmentalists and the federal government have worked together to finally break open the barrier and reconnect a fractured estuary.

Indigenous leaders hope to restore the culinary and cultural bounty of ancient B.C. sea gardens
For years, academics wondered about the origins of the long string of rocks piled along the tide line. The answer came when they spoke to local First Nations, who said the rocks were sea gardens created by their ancestors as cultivation sites thousands of years ago.

The Once and Future River
The Duwamish has been a vital waterway for Indigenous peoples for generations. Now it’s largely invisible, drastically reshaped, and among the most polluted rivers in the nation. Can it be saved?

First public global database of fossil fuels launches
A first-of-its-kind database for tracking the world’s fossil fuel production, reserves and emissions includes data from over 50,000 oil, gas and coal fields in 89 countries, covering 75% of global reserves, production and emissions.

Coastal GasLink warned more than 50 times over environmental violations during pipeline construction
Coastal GasLink has now been warned more than 50 times about environmental violations during construction of its natural gas pipeline across northern British Columbia, according to the province.

After decades of dwindling runs, sockeye salmon return to Yukon fishing village in droves
It's been more than 20 years since Champagne and Aishihik elder Chuck Hume has seen anything close to the number of sockeye salmon that have shown up to spawn at the Yukon fishing village of Klukshu this fall. Numbers are almost double the escapement goal so far, but it's not yet clear why the fish are back.

The Forest Service is experimenting with relocating tree species to save them from climate change
‘Assisted migration’ has come to the Pacific Northwest, but experts don’t agree if it’s a good thing or a radical response to a warming world.

Mayor Harrell signs $6.5 million Green New Deal to reduce impact of climate change
Mayor Bruce Harrell signed the Green New Deal legislation into law Thursday morning, which includes a series of projects that aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Seattle and build the communities' resilience against the effects of climate change.

Pandemic Poaching Sets Rockfish Conservation Effort Back Years
Illegal fishing in rockfish conservation areas around Galiano Island, British Columbia, spiked dramatically in 2020 and 2021.

Friday, September 16, 2022

Salish Sea News Week in Review September 16 2022

Aloha Guacamole Friday!
Guacamole was first made by the Aztecs, who lived in what is now central Mexico, between the 14th and 16th centuries. Appropriately, the day is celebrated on Mexican Independence Day. The name guacamole means "avocado sauce" in Nahuatl, the Aztec language, and many times it is simply called "guac" in the United States.

US officially changes names of places with racist term for Native women
The U.S. government has joined a ski resort and others that have quit using a racist term for a Native American woman by renaming hundreds of peaks, lakes, streams and other geographical features on federal lands in the West and elsewhere.

B.C. conservationists decry lack of action, transparency 2 years into forestry stewardship overhaul
Two years into a three-year process to defer the logging of some of B.C.'s grandest trees in its most ecologically diverse wilderness so that forestry stewardship could undergo a vast transformation, First Nations and conservationists are decrying a lack of progress and transparency.

Restoring salmon habitat could help B.C.’s flood problems
Decisions to restrict the mighty Fraser River through extensive diking have had dire consequences for fish. Now B.C. has an opportunity to 'build back better' — but will it?

B.C. still a long way from meeting greenhouse gas targets
The province set a legislated target of a 16 per cent reduction from 2007 levels by 2025. B.C. has only reduced a fraction of the greenhouse gas emissions needed to meet its 2025 targets, according to the updated inventory released by the province last week.

Operator of Colstrip coal plant to buy out co-owner Puget Sound Energy, install some wind
The operator of Montana’s Colstrip coal-fired power plant said Monday it was buying out one of the site’s co-owners and plans to construct a wind farm nearby that would generate 600 megawatts of electricity. Talen Energy Supply would acquire Puget Sound Energy’s 25 percent share of Colstrip’s two remaining coal-fired units under the deal. The units combined generate about 1,480 megawatts of electricity.

Boardman smokestack demolition will mark the end of a coal-fired era in Oregon
A contractor is set to demolish the towering smokestack at Portland General Electric’s shuttered coal-fired power plant near Boardman at 10 a.m. Thursday, heralding the end of the era of coal-fired power generation in Oregon.

Billionaire No More: Patagonia Founder Gives Away the Company
Rather than selling the company or taking it public, Mr. Chouinard, his wife and two adult children have transferred their ownership of Patagonia, valued at about $3 billion, to a specially designed trust and a nonprofit organization. They were created to preserve the company’s independence and ensure that all of its profits — some $100 million a year — are used to combat climate change and protect undeveloped land around the globe.

EPA Must Act on Toxics, Court Orders
A federal court ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Aug. 30 to take the first step towards updating Washington’s water quality standards for 17 key toxic pollutants known to harm endangered salmon, steelhead, and the Southern Resident killer whales that depend upon them.

Lululemon founder Chip Wilson gifts $100M to help protect nature in B.C.
Lululemon Athletica Inc. founder and billionaire Chip Wilson is donating $100 million to the B.C. Parks Foundation to help protect and enhance the province's nature.