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When the tide returns: Fir Island Farms estuary
restoration (Puget Sound Partnership blog)
What happens when the tide returns to an ancient estuary
after a 100-year hiatus? The ground sings. “That first return of the tide, that
is something incredible to see,” said Leah Kintner, Skagit River Watershed
Ecosystem Recovery Coordinator at the Puget Sound Partnership.... On Monday,
October 17, the director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality,
Christy Goldfuss, toured the area, where she heard not only the Fir Island
Farms success story, but also gained an overview of the state’s investment in
Puget Sound through PSAR.
To read more >>
Obama administration steps up efforts to protect Puget
Sound (Bellingham Herald | Associated Press)
The Obama administration on Tuesday stepped up efforts to
protect Puget Sound, including forming a new federal task force to identify
priorities for restoring one of the nation's largest estuaries. The task force
of federal agencies will work with tribal governments and others to come up
with an action plan to better coordinate programs focused on Puget Sound. The
federal action represents the latest in a string of efforts over the decades to
tackle pressing environmental problems in the region, including dwindling
salmon runs, water pollution and the rapid loss of wetlands and other wildlife
habitat.
To read more >>
See also:
New Federal Action Plan For Puget Sound Restoration
Leverages Tribal Treaty Rights (KNKX)
Puget Sound In Line For Environmental Health Boost (KUOW)
Puget Sound recovery effort gets historic' $600M boost
(NWCN and KING 5 News)
The Obama administration steps up to the plate on
cleaning up Puget Sound (Seattle PI)
Feds step up efforts to protect Puget Sound marine life
(KOMO News)
Obama makes Puget Sound part of his legacy (Crosscut)
Congress mulls project to flood Washington farmland
(Capital Press)
An Inevitable Disaster, a Failed Spill Response (The
Tyee)
... Almost one week on, a double boom system with
absorbent pads is mostly containing the slick remaining around the tug. Replacement
booms across Gale Creek are holding. The bulk of the spill – which was never
contained – continues to spread.... The Nathan E. Stewart regularly carried
loads of liquid petroleum products from the south coast to ports in Alaska. Due
to its relatively small load, the Pacific Pilotage Authority allowed the vessel
to travel up and down B.C.’s rugged and unpredictable coast without a certified
marine pilot.
To read more >>
Feds: Seattle-bound ship’s owner must pay for oily
cover-up (Seattle PI)
A Greek shipping magnate's firms will pay $1.3 million in
fines after one ship's crew dumped thousands of gallons of oily water into the
Pacific Ocean and then tried to hide the mess.... U.S. Coast Guard inspectors
in Seattle found that the great grain hauler had been dumping soiled water into
the sea as it made its way to Puget Sound from China. They also found that two
engineers had lied about the pollution as a favor to the Cyprus-flagged ship’s
corporate owners, firms that prosecutors say belong to Greek shipping magnate
Evangelos Angelakos.
To read more >>
Hood Canal awards honor local efforts to improve
ecosystem (Kitsap Sun | Watching Our Water Ways)
Mike Anderson, chairman of the Skokomish Watershed Action
Team, and Thom Johnson, a leading expert in the recovery of Hood Canal summer
chum salmon, have been named recipients of this year’s Hood Canal Environmental
Awards. Other recipients of the awards, which are sponsored by Hood Canal
Coordinating Council, are Shore Friendly Mason and Shore Friendly Kitsap, two
programs that actively enlist waterfront property owners in the protection and
restoration of their shorelines.
To read more >>
Options eyed for Elwha River bridge on Highway 101 after
piers found to be on gravel (Peninsula Daily News)
The state Department of Transportation is exploring
options for the Elwha River bridge on U.S. Highway 101 west of Port Angeles as
the now-wild river continues to eat away at the riverbed under the bridge. The
state Department of Transportation is considering multiple solutions to the
problem, which could include completely replacing or retrofitting the bridge,
said Claudia Bingham Baker, DOT spokeswoman, adding that no decision has been
made yet.
To read more >>
Family sells 33 acres on Stillaguamish River for county
park (Everett Herald)
A new 33-acre county park along the Whitehorse Trail is
meant to be a place for hiking, bird watching or resting near the Stillaguamish
River. Snohomish County purchased the land in September for $310,000. The
nonprofit Forterra negotiated the sale between the county and the Curtis
family, who owned the property for more than 90 years.
To read more >>
City’s action saved upper Duwamish River | Tukwila’s
Story (Tukwila Reporter)
In the postwar years, Tukwila worked to preserve the
Duwamish River from industrial expansion by halting the Port of Seattle's plans
to further dredge the waterway. The entire reach of the Duwamish River might
have looked extremely different if the port's plan had been achieved. Yet,
during a time of emerging change it represented a turning point and the start
of new growth to Tukwila.
To read more >>
Seattle skyline is tops in construction cranes — more
than any other U.S. city (Seattle Times)
Seattle is — for the moment, at least — the crane capital
of America. As the city transforms with taller and taller buildings, Seattle
this summer had 58 construction cranes reshaping the skyline — more than any
other city in the country, according to recent data. The city has more cranes
than New York and San Francisco combined. It has twice as many as Chicago,
Washington, D.C., or Portland.... Beyond the physical impact of the cranes and
the related construction work — thousands of new housing units and jobs, plus
temporary headaches for anyone navigating past the numerous building sites —
they’ve come to symbolize how the city is changing.
To read more >>
Annexations would add thousands of people to Lake Stevens
(Everett Herald)
Leaders here are reviewing a plan that would allow the
city to grow by hundreds of acres, more than 1,700 households and potentially
thousands of people. The multiple proposed annexations would be spaced out over
the coming years, with the largest, most densely populated areas likely to be
added after 2018. The City Council is expected to vote on the plan Tuesday. It
would set the city up for annexing the rest of Lake Stevens’ urban growth area.
To read more >>
Ecology taking comments from public on portion of GP West
cleanup site until Nov. 1 (Bellingham Herald)
The public has a chance to comment on a plan to move
mercury-contaminated soil that’s been sitting on the Bellingham waterfront to
an approved landfill.... The work for this plan is scheduled to be complete in
March and is expected to cost about $1.5 million, according to Ecology. Half of
that comes from the Model Toxics Control Act, which is a tax on hazardous
substances that move through the state, Kenner said.
To read more >>
Volunteers needed to plant trees along Duwamish River in
Tukwila (Tukwila Reporter)
October is a prime time to plant native trees and shrubs
in local green spaces – especially along the Duwamish River shoreline.
EarthCorps and King County Parks, will host a volunteer planting event from 10
a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22, at Cecil Moses Memorial Park, 11099 27th Ave.
S., Tukwila, as a part of Duwamish Alive.... A biannual celebration, Duwamish
Alive collaborates with communities, municipalities, nonprofits and businesses
within the Duwamish River Watershed to preserve and enhance habitat for people
and wildlife and improve the health of Puget Sound.
To read more >>
Working for the earth: Students train for ecological
projects (Peninsula Daily News)
The Northwest Watershed Institute and its partners are
training environmental stewards for the future. Thirteen students from three
high schools in East Jefferson County — Port Townsend and Chimacum school
districts and Jefferson Community School — recently completed field training
for the newly accredited Watershed Science and Stewardship Class for the
2016-17 school year, said Jude Rubin, director of stewardship for the Northwest
Watershed Institute (NWI) of Port Townsend. During the remainder of the school
year, the students will serve for a minimum of 30 hours as leaders and
assistants on ecological service projects, she said.
To read more >>
More Elwha fish find way to dam-free upper watershed
(Seattle Times)
More sockeye, chinook and bull trout have made it above
the former Glines Canyon dam site so far this spawning season than documented
in any year since the unprecedented dam-removal project was completed on the
Elwha River. The fish returns this season are an encouraging sign that blasting
work in the river last summer to improve passage after initial dam removal has
made a difference. Numbers aren’t yet final, but so far snorkel surveys and
radio telemetry used by scientists to track and monitor fish throughout the
Elwha show that from the end of July through the end of September, about 70
chinook salmon made it above the former Glines Canyon dam site.
To read more >>
Groups challenge federal approval of genetically modified
salmon in court (CBC News)
Environmental groups head to court today to challenge a
Federal Court ruling which upheld the government's earlier approval of
genetically modified salmon. "This whole approval process has taken place
behind doors. There's been no engagement of Canadians on the subject should we
genetically modifying animals for food'," argued Karen Wristen, of B.C.'s
Living Oceans Society, one of the groups involved in the challenge.
To read more >>
Record number of juvenile yellowtail and black rockfish
recorded (Islands Sounder)
For a full week this September, the underwater rock walls
and kelp forests of the San Juan Islands swarmed with clipboard-carrying scuba
divers taking part in an annual study co-sponsored by SeaDoc and The Reef
Environmental Education Foundation (REEF). Among all the fish and invertebrates
encountered during 100 survey dives, the drysuited citizen scientists and
expert critter counters were blown away by how many YOYs they found.
Young-of-the-Year, or YOY, is marine biology speak for baby fish, and what the
dive teams saw weren't just any old fingerlings, but juvenile yellowtail and
black rockfish.
To read more >>
Report: oyster restoration in bay showing progress (GoAnacortes.com)
A report on the ongoing efforts to restore the Olympia
oyster to Fidalgo Bay and other areas was recently released by project lead
Paul Dinnel of the Skagit Marine Resources Committee. Since the restoration
project launched in 2002, the native oyster population in Fidalgo Bay is
estimated to have increased from about 50,000 oysters to about 4.8 million
oysters in 2016.
To read more >>
Planned geoduck farm draws objections (Kitsap Sun)
A large shellfish farm proposed on a south Kitsap
Peninsula lagoon will undergo special scrutiny over its potential impacts on
water quality and wildlife. Taylor Shellfish, the state's largest shellfish
grower, plans to convert existing commercial shellfish beds in Burley Lagoon to
one of the region's largest geoduck-growing operations. The 25-acre tideland
would be covered with a grid of plastic tubes and mesh that protect the large
clam's seed during its first years. Plastic netting would be draped over the
area as an added barrier to predators.
To read more >>
Officials keep an eye out for harmful insects (Skagit
Valley Herald)
Invasive insects are a threat that can come from
anywhere. The insects could be transported on a young tree on its way to a
nursery, they could be transported in dirt clinging to the underside of a
shipping container, or they could be nestled into the wood of pallets used to
ship products.... Inspectors are on alert for invasive pests — those that
aren’t from the area and can damage the environment if they establish a
population here.
To read more >>
City of Kirkland open house on new stormwater
regulations, zoning code revisions (Kirkland Reporter)
The City of Kirkland is in the process of adopting new
low impact development (LID) stormwater design regulations and revisions to the
zoning code and now invites the public to a workshop from 6-7 p.m. on Oct. 24
in the City Council Chambers at Kirkland City Hall to share information about
the proposed regulations.... The low impact process minimizes the effects of
stormwater runoff using vegetation, porous concrete and other green
infrastructure techniques to disperse water naturally instead of relying on
traditional underground pipes, tanks, and vaults.
To read more >>
Port Angeles, Combined Sewer Overflow system builder in
$1 million dispute (Peninsula Daily News)
A $1 million dispute centered on building delays and
construction costs has bubbled up between city officials and the builder of key
components of the city’s new $47 million Combined Sewer Overflow system, the
priciest public works project in the city’s history..... During a similar storm
Oct. 30-Nov. 1, 2015, when 1.89 inches fell in Port Angeles, the city’s old
system overflowed, spewing 450,000 gallons of rainwater and raw sewage into the
harbor, Fulton said. On Friday and Saturday, 1.93 inches fell on Port Angeles —
and the harbor saw nary a drop of effluent from the city system. “Due to the
CSO project, it was zero,” Fulton told council members.
To read more >>
State gives What’s Upstream until Dec. 1 to answer new
allegation (Capital Press)
The Washington Public Disclosure Commission has extended
until Dec. 1 the deadline for What’s Upstream to answer allegations by a farm
group that it broke the law by failing to report its federally funded political
activities. The PDC previously had expected a response by Oct. 17, but pushed
back the deadline after Save Family Farming leveled more allegations, an agency
spokeswoman said Tuesday. The farm group complained in September that What’s
Upstream failed to register as a grass-roots lobbying organization trying to
influence legislation by appealing to the public.
To read more >>
Poulsbo gets new rain gardens to clean stormwater run-off
(King 5 News)
The conservation district is building seven rain gardens
in a Poulsbo neighborhood. The gardens slope about a foot down to catch storm
water. That doesn’t just reduce flooding – it also reduces pollution. “Impacts
Puget Sound, salmon habitat, water quality, and any number of things that
stormwater carries off,” explained Puget Sound Regional Manager and Policy
Assistant at Washington Conservation Commission Shana Joy.
To read more >>
Giant plant wall will filter pollution along Duwamish
River (King 5 News)
The industrial neighborhood along the Duwamish River in
south Seattle is about to get a brand new splash of green. A new 13-foot wall
is being built by the Just Health Action organization with a grant from King
County. The wall will be covered with plants that will naturally filter
pollution, dust and other unhealthy particles from the air before they spread
from the industrial businesses to the residential buildings.
To read more >>
Storm pushes trash into Puget Sound (King 5 News)
Thousands of people may have breathed a sigh of relief
that Western Washington didn’t quite see the destructive wind that was
predicted but a local diver says the storm runoff caused damage in a different
way. There was plenty of rain and Laura James says much of that water goes
right from the streets of Seattle into the sound. “After that big storm the
streets are all very clean. The problem
is, where did all that go?” James said. James believes most people have no idea
that the storm water outflow goes right into the sound. “As soon as the rains start, they start
flushing into Puget Sound."
To read more >>
Marysville concerned about hunting on park trails
(Everett Herald)
The opening of duck season this month has raised concerns
about hunting in the Qwuloolt Estuary. The dike separating the 400-acre tract
from Ebey Slough was breached last summer, making it possible for boaters to
get into the estuary. At the same time, Marysville is building a new trail from
Ebey Waterfront Park down to the dike breach, and also on the east side of the
estuary near the Sunnyside neighborhood.
To read more >>
Olympic Discovery Trail nearing completion on Peninsula’s
east end (Peninsula Daily News)
The Olympic Discovery Trail is nearing completion on the
east end of the Olympic Peninsula, Rich James, Clallam County Public Works
transportation program manager, said at a Port Angeles Business Association
meeting Tuesday. Plans are set to finish the trail on the east end, connecting
Clallam and Jefferson counties, he said, adding there are several projects at
Discovery Bay in the advanced planning stages that are about to go to
construction.
To read more >>
Redondo Boardwalk open again after 2-year closure
(Federal Way Mirror)
The Redondo Boardwalk re-opened last week after storm
damage forced it to close for repairs for nearly two years. The popular walking
spot was ruined by a storm in November 2014, when gusty winds and a high tide
sent waves crashing over the boardwalk with enough force to knock out parts of
the seawall in some residents's yards.
To read more >>
Seattle’s own urban swamp gets a boardwalk trail (Seattle
Times)
Seattle’s own urban swamp gets a boardwalk trail...
Swamps don’t get the respect they deserve: Relentlessly filled for development
throughout Seattle as the city rose from its waterside setting, they today are
rare habitats. Neither wetland nor lake, swamps are their own sweet self, a
combination of woodlands and wetlands that provide a rich variety of living
situations for a wide variety of plants, animals and birds.
To read more >>
Weather forecasters explain the mega-storm that wasn’t
(Everett Herald)
What was widely advertised as a mega-storm descended on
the region Saturday but passed largely with a mere flutter, though it was
enough to turn off the lights in some areas. About 10,000 Snohomish County
Public Utility District customers lost power at the height of the storm, around
8 p.m.
To read more >>
Fast ferry backers hope third time’s a charm (Kitsap Sun)
Kitsap Transit, after voters twice rejected its fast
ferry proposals, is trying again. Why might the result be different? The agency
and those going to bat for the plan say a new boat that's proven to ply Rich
Passage is the difference maker... The lack of a vessel that could carry riders
swiftly through Rich Passage without damaging beaches was the state's downfall.
To read more >>
How is the Puget Sound ecosystem doing?
The 2015 State of the Sound reports on the current state of the ecosystem and the status of regional recovery actions. Learn more at www.psp.wa.gov/sos.
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