Salish Sea News Week in Review May 23 2025

Aloha World Turtle Day!

World Turtle Day aims to encourage humans to take action to help turtles and tortoises survive by protecting their habitats and stopping their illegal trade and sale. There are approximately 330 species of turtles and tortoises. Turtles are aquatic or semi-aquatic, while tortoises live on land. Both turtles and tortoises live long lives, although tortoises can live much longer, reaching up to 200 years. Turtles and tortoises have shells that are covered by scutes, which are hard scales. Turtles shed their scutes, but tortoises do not.

U.S. Sen. Murray says Trump zeroes out $500M for WA fish passage project
Washington’s U.S. Sen. Patty Murray is raising the alarm over a new spending plan by the Trump administration that doesn’t include $500 million in funding for a fish-passage project on the Green River near Seattle.

Trump orders the government to stop enforcing rules he doesn’t like
Critics say the administration is breaking the law and sidestepping the rulemaking process that presidents of both parties have long followed.

Billy Proctor, ‘Heart of the Raincoast,’ dies at 90
Billy Proctor, a fisherman known for his work to restore Pacific salmon and his personal museum featuring artifacts gathered from a lifetime in the Broughton archipelago, died Tuesday at 90 years old.

New WA law increases penalties for litter, delays plastic bag requirements
A new law signed by Gov. Bob Ferguson on Saturday toughens the punishment for littering and delays requirements for retailers to offer thicker bags for sale from Jan. 1, 2026 until 2028.  

What Experts Want You to Know About Microplastics
Scientists say it could be years before we have a full understanding of how these tiny plastic particles are affecting human health. But we do know they have been found from the depths of the Mariana Trench to the heights of Mount Everest. And we know that plastic is accumulating in our bodies, too.

A Home Made of Microplastics
Caddisfly cases from museum collections reveal that microplastics infiltrated “pristine” freshwater environments far earlier than suspected. 

Logging protest continues with climber in tree
An injunction hearing regarding the parcels has been scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday in Clallam County Superior Court. If a 90-day injunction is issued, the tree climber will remove themselves from the tree. If the decision is not in favor of the environmentalists, the climber likely will stay up there indefinitely. 

Wildfire season in WA: Above-normal risk in forecast
The summer is anticipated to bring above-normal fire risk, beginning in June, in the more arid grass- and shrublands and ponderosa pine forests of Central and Eastern Washington, and by July, creeping into wetter Western Washington.

How BC Wildfire Service is fighting misinformation with compassion
As more people engage with posts about wildfires on social media, the government agency is trying a new approach to combat the spread of misinformation. Matt Simmons reports. (The Narwhal)

Pink salmon return expected to boost local fisheries, wildlife
Pink salmon are set to return to the Fraser River in record numbers this year, with the run expected to begin in August.

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 msato(at)salishseacom.com .Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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