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Can Environment Break Through Olympia's School-Funding
Logjam? (Investigate West)
Should fighting climate change translate into spending
more on education? That’s what Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is advocating.
Wrangling over this and related proposals to shore up longstanding
education-funding shortages will likely overshadow most environmental issues in
the 105-day legislative session that got under way this week. But builders,
environmentalists, legislators and others in the environmental arena say that
even with the education-funding debate taking center stage, they will try to
move forward on a slew of fronts. Subjects likely to come up include growth
management, water rights, Puget Sound restoration and cleanup of toxic waste
sites.
To read more >>
If you have a dock, then add another, can you get more
oil? BP study still unfinished (Bellingham Herald)
More than 15 years ago, BP Cherry Point refinery added a
second wing to its oil transfer dock so it could receive more ships. Before it
was built, Fred Felleman helped environmental groups call attention to a
federal law known as the Magnuson Amendment, which prevents projects that would
increase crude oil tanker traffic in and near Puget Sound. They later filed a
lawsuit to ensure that the dock wouldn’t violate that rule. And now, a dozen
years after the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with Felleman and others
that the second wing needed to have an environmental evaluation before it was
built, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers still has not completed the
court-ordered study, and there’s no indication when it will be finished.
To read more >>
B.C. backs oil pipeline that will put tankers in Salish
Sea (SeattlePI.com)
The British Columbia government has put its backing
behind a giant, 890,000 barrels-a-day pipeline that would bring a seven-fold
increase in oil tankers traversing international waters of the Salish Sea and
Strait of Juan de Fuca. The Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, proposed by
Houston-based Kinder Morgan, has already been approved by Canada's federal
government. It is designed to bring
Alberta tar sands oil to a port where it can be exported to Asia.
To read more >>
Trans Mountain pipeline expansion granted environmental
certificate by B.C. government
The B.C. government has given the green light to the
Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project, after reaching an
"unprecedented" agreement with Kinder Morgan for up to $1 billion in
investment over 20 years…. B.C. was required to provide its own environmental
assessment — separate from the National Energy Board's — after a court ruling
stated it could not assign the matter on projects of this magnitude. That
assessment came with 37 new conditions, above and beyond the 157 conditions
required by the National Energy Board.
To read more >>
B.C. officials OK expanding Kinder Morgan pipeline from
Alberta (Bellingham Herald | Associated Press)
Canada’s Pacific Coast province of British Columbia on
Wednesday approved the expansion of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline
from the Alberta oil sands that would allow oil exports to Asia. British
Columbia Premier Christy Clark announced the conditions her government placed
on the project have been met with a deal that will help fund environmental
protection projects. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave federal
government approval late last year. Alberta, which has the world’s third
largest oil reserves, needs infrastructure in place to export its growing oil
sands production. Approving Trans Mountain helps diversify Canada’s oil
exports. Ninety-seven percent of Canadian oil exports now go to the U.S.
To read more >>
Pipeline expansion a death knell for endangered whales,
conservationists charge (National Observer)
To marine conservationists across North America, the
approval of a controversial pipeline proposal that includes heavy oil shipping
along the West Coast sounds like the death knell for a population of endangered
killer whales living in British Columbia waters. Several prominent,
international conservation organizations raised the alarm after the government
of B.C. Premier Christy Clark issued an environmental assessment certificate
for the hotly-contested Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain expansion on Tuesday
afternoon. The project has already been green lighted by the federal
government, which attached 157 technical, financial, and environmental
conditions to the proposal last November.
To read more >>
The inside story of Kinder Morgan’s approval (Vancouver
Sun)
Just three days after the Oct. 19, 2015 federal election,
a half-dozen of the most powerful political insiders in the country gathered
for dinner in the Byward Market, a historic section of the nation’s capital
filled with high-end restaurants, boutiques, courtyards and artisan shops.
Representing Justin Trudeau’s new government were his top two political
advisers, Gerry Butts and Katie Telford. With them was the woman who at the
time headed Canada’s public service, Privy Council Clerk Janice Charette. They
were facing Brian Topp, a wily political tactician who recently stepped down as
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley’s chief of staff.
To read more >>
Five oil spill-response bases eagerly awaited on
Vancouver Island (Times Colonist)
While opposition to Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain
pipeline expansion project is widespread on Vancouver Island, some communities
are looking forward to promised new oil spill response bases.... Nanaimo will
host the hub base for Vancouver Island, which will include an Island
administrative and dispatch centre. It will be home for a 5,000-tonne, 285-foot
barge and a 78-foot boom vessel, as well as landing craft and workboats. The
base will be responsible for rapid response for east Vancouver Island and
include equipment storage for 36-hour response. It will employ 22 people.
Completion is estimated by early 2018.
To read more >>
Gold Vs. Fish: Groups Threaten To Sue Wash. State Over
Suction Dredge Mining (KNKX)
A controversial recreational activity called “suction
dredge mining” has led to moratoriums on the practice in California and Oregon.
But Washington continues to allow it. Conservation groups have now threatened
to sue the state unless new regulations are passed. Suction dredge miners use
floating gas-powered vacuums to suck up gravel on the bottom of rivers and
streams in search of gold flakes. Conservation groups say it’s destroying
habitat for endangered salmon and steelhead.
To read more >>
Zoning changes could be coming for Pierce County farmers
(Tacoma News Tribune)
Attention Pierce County farmers and agricultural land
owners: Zoning changes aimed at protecting commercial farmland are coming your
way. Under the proposed changes, some farms could lose an agricultural
designation called agricultural resource land, or ARL, while others might pick
it up. The change is largely procedural and not expected to significantly
change how property owners can use their land.... What exists now is a
patchwork of protected properties, Vetter said. To remedy this, the consultants
proposed creating four “production districts” that comprise the county’s
primary agricultural lands.
To read more >>
Clallam County keeps shoreline consultant (Peninsula
Daily News)
Clallam County has retained a consultant to help complete
its shoreline management plan. County commissioners voted 3-0 Tuesday to
approve a waiver of bids to enter into an agreement with Seattle-based
Environmental Science Associates, or ESA.... Clallam County is on the home
stretch of a multi-year effort to update its shoreline plan to comply with new
procedural and substantive requirements of the state Shoreline Management Act.
To read more >>
Our view: A vision comes together in North Kitsap (Kitsap
Sun | Opinion)
Ten years of hard work, negotiations and fundraising
doesn't sound like all that much when contrasted against a payoff that will
last for generations. That's not to slight the efforts of Pope Resources,
public officials, nonprofit agencies and scores of outdoors enthusiasts over
the past decade as they've worked to protect 7,000 acres just south of Port
Gamble. Many have toiled to move the project where it is today. Nonetheless,
the recent news that the Kitsap Forest and Bay Project has added 1,355 acres to
the Port Gamble Forest Heritage Park, tripling its current size and essentially
sealing the project's successful public-private partnership to preserve the
major swath of forest, puts the entire experience in wonderful context.
To read more >>
Meadowbrook Creek rerouted to help migrating salmon in
Dungeness (Sequim Gazette)
Local and traveling salmon can find some solitude and
snacks in Dungeness much easier thanks to the North Olympic Salmon Coalition
and its partners. Crews with Interwest Construction Inc. of Burlington and
Sequim finished most of the The 3 Crabs Nearshore and Estuarine Restoration
Project, on Dec. 23, said Kevin Long, project manager with the Salmon
Coalition, the nonprofit spearheading the project. Long said the approximate
$3.2 million project from state and federal funds is about 99.9 percent done as
crews wait for railings to be complete for the new bridge over Meadowbrook
Creek and for warmer temperatures to paint road lines. The project, Long said, improves
ecological function of more than 40 acres of coastal wetlands and restores a
half-mile of stream channel.
To read more >>
We speak for the tree: A neighborhood conservation story
(Crosscut)
Amid all the changes in Seattle, one group of West
Seattleites is determined to save a small green patch that characterizes their
neighborhood. They call themselves the Friends of the Silent Giant (FSG) and
their goal it to save a 100-foot-tall ponderosa pine from a developer’s plans
to chop it down and replace it with what the FSG refers to as yet another
“toaster box” home. As the fight has developed in recent months, the cause has
taken on more significance than just the tree; they are seeking changes in what
they believe to be an unfair and complex code that favors developers.
To read more >>
Race is on to protect entire 1,600-acre core of Blanchard
Mountain from logging (Bellingham Herald)
The race is on to secure $7.7 million needed to protect
all 1,600 forested acres on Blanchard Mountain in Skagit County from being
logged. Gov. Jay Inslee set aside $1.5 million toward that total in his
proposed budget, but supporters of full funding said this legislative session
is the last chance to secure money for a 10-year agreement. If the money isn’t
allocated, logging likely will begin this year on some part of the 1,600-acre core....
Conservationists, recreation groups and the Skagit County Board of
Commissioners are pushing the state Legislature to secure funding to protect
all of the core that was the centerpiece of the Blanchard Forest Strategy,
reached in 2007. It was created by a diverse group that included recreation,
conservation and timber interests.
To read more >>
Mount Grant reaches campaign goal (San Juan Journal)
The San Juan Preservation Trust has reached their $4.2
million goal for the Campaign for Mount Grant Preserve.... The 141-acres
provides native plant and animal habitat, old-growth Douglas firs, wildflower
meadows and walking trails.
To read more >>
Farmland in Puyallup Watershed conserved with $8 million
grant (Tacoma News Tribune)
From leafy greens to livestock, farmland in the Puyallup
Watershed supplies the area with local products for consumption. But over time,
the size of local farmland has shrunk. Nearly 10,000 acres of farmland has been
lost in the past decade. With the help of an $8 million grant from the U.S.
Department of Agriculture, an estimated 1,000 acres of prime farmland in the
Puyallup Watershed will be conserved, Pierce Conservation District announced
Dec. 21.... The easements, legal agreements between a landowner and a nonprofit
land trust, ensures that the land will be used, in this case, for agricultural
and farming purposes — permanently. The project brings together ten different
partners, including the Pierce Conservation District, Pierce County, Forterra,
PCC Farmland Trust, the Puyallup Tribe of Indians and the Puyallup Watershed
Initiative.
To read more >>
Land Bank shares highlights of 2016 (Journal of the San
Juan Islands)
With a grant from the Washington State Salmon Recovery
Funding Board, the Land Bank was able to permanently protect 34-acres, which
includes over 2,500 feet of barrier beach and feeder bluff in Boundary Pass.
To read more >>
Amusing Monday: New steelhead license plate enhanced by
inspiration (Kitsap Sun | Watching Our Water Ways blog)
Washington Department of Licensing has embraced a
stylistic work of art in its new steelhead license plate, which became
available for purchase last week. The new license plate, which focuses on the
eye and head of a steelhead trout, is an obvious departure from previous
wildlife license plates that feature realistic images of animals. Derek
DeYoung, the artist who created the new plate, specializes in what he calls
abstract paintings of fish faces and flanks, as well as whole fish. The
original steelhead painting is called “Abstract Steelhead — Horizon Eye.”...
The new license plate is being sold to raise funds to benefit Washington’s
iconic steelhead, listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species
Act. Money will be used for fisheries management, hatchery operations,
monitoring and habitat restoration.
To read more >>
Clallam county lifts ban on herbicide use (Peninsula
Daily News)
After years of debate, Clallam County has lifted a
26-year ban on herbicides as one weapon in the fight against noxious weeds on
county roadsides. County commissioners voted 3-0 Tuesday to approve an
ordinance that creates an “integrated weed management” chapter in the county
code. The ordinance will be a blueprint for a publicly reviewed, annually
updated noxious weed management plan that would allow the limited use of
low-toxicity herbicides to control invasive plants that cannot be stopped by
mowing, hand pulling, hydroseeding, introducing insects or other control
methods.
To read more >>
Update: Volunteers needed to plant native trees; tribe
seeks to restore floodplain (Sequim Gazette)
The Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe and the North Olympic
Salmon Coalition seek volunteers to help plant native trees along the Dungeness
River on Jan. 14-15.... Exactly one year ago, the tribe purchased the property
with funding from Puget Sound Acquisition and Restoration and Floodplains by
Design. Thus began the restoration effort that involved removing three houses,
their septic systems and utilities, and revegetating the area in an attempt to
restore it to its historical state of a floodplain forest.
To read more >>
Park logging extended to pay debt, reach goals (Kitsap
Sun)
Kitsap County’s park logging program fell short of loan
payments and harvest goals in its first four years of operation. The county
commissioners voted to extend the self-sustaining pilot program another two
years, allowing more time to repay $75,000 in start-up costs and ratchet up
forest thinning projects in five county parks.... Timber sales have generated
about $600,000. All of the money is reinvested in the program or used for loan
repayment and park restoration projects, including replanting and culvert
replacement.... The full payoff won’t be evident for decades, but the removal
of dozens of small or failed logging road culverts is having an immediate
impact on stream and wetland health, Bergstom said. Since 2014, nearly all of
the approximately 50 culverts in Newberry Hill have been swapped out.
To read more >>
Dr. Wood: HazoHouse provides a place for things that
shouldn’t go in trash (The Olympian)
Did you know that household chemical products should not
be thrown in the garbage? Chemical products put in the garbage wind up in the
landfill and may eventually soak into the groundwater. In Thurston County, we
drink groundwater, so that means that you or someone else could end up drinking
your toilet bowl cleaner or lawn mower oil.
To read more >>
SeaWorld orca featured in 'Blackfish' dies (King 5 News)
The SeaWorld orca that killed his trainer, and
subsequently inspired the film Blackfish, has died. The theme park reports that
the whale had been battling a bacterial lung infection. Tilikum was taken from
his pod in Iceland and sold to Sealand in Victoria, B.C., about a decade after
the famous Penn Cove captures in Puget Sound. KING 5 reporter Don McGaffin
broadcast some of the only footage of the round-ups in the 1970s. Tilikum was
linked to a human death at Sealand, and later sold to SeaWorld in Orland. The
orca was linked to two more human deaths, including the most famous, his
trainer in 2010.
To read more >>
See also:
Famous orca Tilikum dies; researcher relieved
(MyNorthwest.com)
Tilikum, orca that killed trainer, dies (Kitsap Sun |
Associated Press)
Granny, the orca, was seen in poor condition before her
death (Kitsap Sun | Watching Our Water Ways)
About a month before the Center for Whale Research last
observed Granny, the killer whale, the elder orca was pictured in aerial photos
by researchers from NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center. The last aerial
photos of Granny showed her to be in “poor body condition,” according to a
report from marine mammal researcher John Durban on NOAA’s website.
To read more >>
PAT NEAL: Rest in peace, Granny (Peninsula Daily News)
THEY SAY THE good die young, but there are exceptions.
The oldest orca in Puget Sound is missing and presumed dead. She was nicknamed
“Granny” by the whale researchers who followed her and her family for years....
With the salmon being threatened and/or endangered, there’s few fish left for
the remaining 78 Puget Sound orcas. It’s a wonder Granny lived as long as she
did.
To read more >>
How grandmother orcas help explain the evolution of
menopause (CBC News)
The hot flashes, the hair loss, the bone depletion …
menopause isn't fun. But you aren't alone: Shamu felt it, too. New research from Fisheries and Oceans Canada
and the University of Exeter has shown that killer whales go through menopause
for the same reasons humans do — and they might help explain the evolution of
menopause for humans and orcas alike.
To read more >>
Groups propose orca protection zone along San Juan Island
(Skagit Valley Herald)
Three nonprofits propose limiting boat traffic within 1
mile of the west side of San Juan Island in an effort to protect the endangered
southern resident orcas that frequent the area during the summer. The proposal
— brought by the Orca Relief Citizens’ Alliance, the Center for Biological
Diversity and Project Seawolf — states boat activity disturbs orcas and should
be considered a violation of the Endangered Species Act. It calls on the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to create a whale protection
zone to limit boat activity in the area.
To read more >>
See also:
Feds weighing petition calling for whale protection zone
(Kitsap Sun | Associated Press)
Report: Salmon are in trouble, with most below recovery
goals (Peninsula Daily News)
Salmon throughout most of Washington state are in
trouble, and will need continued investment by state, federal and local
organizations if they are to be saved, according to a report released by the
Governor’s Salmon Recovery Office. In most of the state, salmon are below
recovery goals set in federally approved recovery plans. Puget Sound chinook
and steelhead, as well as sockeye, are of the main concern locally, said Mike
McHenry, a habitat biologist with the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. Chinook run in
both the Elwha and the Dungeness rivers, he said.
To read more >>
Conservation efforts hit snag as groups debate priorities
(SnoValley Star)
A split mandate the Department of Fish and Wildlife has
been operating under for years is showing signs of splintering, and the
fractures have worked their way to Tokul Creek Hatchery. Puget Sound steelhead,
including Snoqualmie River and Tokul Creek populations, are at the forefront of
a polarization of public opinion regarding the future management of the
salmonid species. Pressure from conservationists and fishing enthusiasts are
exposing an identity crisis at Fish and Wildlife.
To read more >>
Coho salmon rescuers between a rock and a hard place
(Vancouver Sun)
The fate of a wild salmon run on the Seymour River hangs
on a giant rock the size of a bus. The rock is barring the way to spawning
grounds for 40,000 coho — the biggest wild run of its kind on the North Shore.
A summer of rock-blasting costing $300,000 failed to dislodge the monster,
leaving fish rescuers at the Seymour Salmonid Society in a quandary: Do they
move it — or leave it in place and hope a passage can be cleared for the fish
on either side?
To read more >>
Beached sea lion is cause for concern for Feiro Marine
Life Center (Peninsula Daily News)
Feiro Marine Life Center staff are asking people to stay
away from a beached Steller sea lion at the Nippon Paper Industries USA mill
near Ediz Hook. The sea lion has been at the beach since at least Friday,
causing concern for Melissa Williams, executive director of the Marine Life
Center. Why the sea lion has been at the beach for so long isn’t yet known, but
it doesn’t seem to have any human-caused injuries, Williams said, adding that
staff had checked on the sea lion Sunday.
To read more >>
How To Save The Marbled Murrelet? Conservationists Want
More Habitat Protected In State Forests (KNKX)
How to protect marbled murrelet habitat in state-owned
forests is in the spotlight this week in Washington, as the state’s Department
of Natural Resources kicks off a series of public meetings on a range of
strategies for a 50-year conservation plan of the endangered seabird.... The
beach at Mulkiteo State Park is one of just a few spots around Puget Sound
where you might find marbled murrelets in winter. On a recent morning, a large
sea lion could be seen diving offshore near the park’s lighthouse and there
were lots of different seabirds flitting around in pairs. But there were no
marbled murrelets in sight.
To read more >>
Study shows past decline in Fidalgo Bay eelgrass (Skagit
Valley Herald)
A new study shows eelgrass in Fidalgo Bay has decreased
since the 1990s, adding historical perspective to the state’s finding last year
that the important marine plant has made recent gains in the bay. Eelgrass plays a key role in supporting
wildlife, including Dungeness crabs and chinook salmon, and is an indicator of
water quality. Because of its importance in the marine ecosystem, government
agencies and research institutions have kept a close watch on it in Puget Sound
and bays throughout the region.
To read more >>
Study documents cedar species’ decline due to climate
warming (The Olympian | Associated Press)
A type of tree that thrives in soggy soil from Alaska to
Northern California and is valued for its commercial and cultural uses could
become a noticeable casualty of climate warming over the next 50 years, an
independent study has concluded. Yellow cedar, named for its distinctive yellow
wood, already is under consideration for federal listing as a threatened or
endangered species. The study published in the journal Global Change Biology
found death due to root freeze on 7 percent of the tree’s range, including
areas where it’s most prolific. It cited snow-cover loss that led to colder
soil.
To read more >>
State high court backs stricter stormwater rules (Kitsap
Sun)
Environmental groups are applauding a state Supreme Court
decision that prevents local governments from applying outdated clean water
standards to new developments. In a ruling late last month, the court
unanimously rejected a contention by King and Snohomish counties that updated
state stormwater permit rules shouldn’t apply to development applications filed
before the new rules took effect in July 2015.
To read more >>
Stormwater Rising (Cascadia Weekly | The Gristle)
STORMWATER RISING: The Washington State Supreme Court
continues to strengthen and clarify water standards. Last week, the high court
declined to hear the appeal of a Skagit County water rights decision...
Together, the decisions strengthen Ecology’s rulemaking authority—with the
caveat that local governments, not Ecology, are responsible to enforce water
quality standards. And they suggest state courts mean to vigorously enforce
efforts to clean and protect the state’s waterways, even if that effort curtails
a development right.
To read more >>
Stormwater projects in Silverdale offer hope for a
degraded Clear Creek (Kitsap Sun | Watching Our Water Ways blog)
Detailed planning and design, followed by thoughtful
construction projects, have begun to tame the stormwater menace in Clear Creek,
an important salmon stream that runs through Silverdale in Central Kitsap.
Stormwater has been identified as the greatest pollution threat to Puget Sound.
In Kitsap County, many folks believed that the dense development pattern in and
around Silverdale has doomed Clear Creek to functioning as a large drainage
ditch for runoff into Dyes Inlet.
To read more >>
Aircraft carrier cleanup sparks pollution concerns
(Kitsap Sun)
The Navy’s fast-tracked preparations to dismantle an old
aircraft carrier could be putting Sinclair Inlet’s health in peril.
Environmental regulators and local groups are concerned that the Puget Sound
Naval Shipyard is scraping toxic amounts of copper-based paint directly into
the water from the hull of the USS Independence.
To read more >>
Keeping Agriculture's Upstream Waste Out Of Downstream
Waters (KUOW)
...Since 2014, the Portage Bay shellfish beds have been
closed due to high fecal coliform levels. That pollution could have come from
leaking septic tanks, from Canada, or from dairy farms. Cow manure is a big
problem in the West. The dairy cows of Washington, Oregon, and Idaho together
produce close to 57,000 tons of it every day. That can cause downstream
problems like bacterial contamination, nutrient overloads, and algal toxins.
Normally, that leads to conflict.... That’s why the Portage Bay Partnership was
formed. Seven of Whatcom County’s 93 dairy farmers signed on, agreeing to
donate money to Lummi fishermen who’ve lost income as well as to shellfish bed
enhancement.
To read more >>
Lummi clammers, dairy farmers team up to clean
bacteria-polluted bay, rather than fight (Seattle Times)
For more than two years now, Lummi Nation has been unable
to reliably open its prime clam beds on its reservation for harvest because of
bacterial pollution in Portage Bay near Bellingham. Now in an unusual leap of
faith, tribal leaders and seven family dairy-farm operators in Whatcom County
are launching a collaborative effort to clean up the bay.
To read more >>
Sewage spilling into Waughop Lake; source unknown (Tacoma
News Tribune)
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department issued a
sewage spill health advisory Monday for Lakewood’s Waughop Lake. The advisory
comes more than a month after raw sewage was spotted in the lake by a construction
crew building a trail around the 30-acre lake in Fort Steilacoom Park. ... A
city stormwater inspector confirmed the discharge as sewage and the city
immediately notified the state, local health department and neighboring Pierce
College. Stormwater pipes from the college feed the kettle lake.
To read more >>
Don’t Drip & Drive program returns to help local
drivers and Puget Sound (Kent Reporter)
Free checks for vehicle leaks return to the Puget Sound
area and expand throughout the state with the new year. Vehicle leaks can bring
heavy costs, both for the environment and for vehicle owners. The successful
Don’t Drip & Drive program will again provide Washington residents with an
affordable fix. Starting in January, drivers can take their vehicles to one of
more than 200 participating repair shops for a free and easy visual leak
inspection (a service valued at up to $80). If a leak is found, the shop will
offer a 10 percent discount on repairs (up to $50 value).
To read more >>
Foxes, others react to Supreme Court's decision (Skagit
Valley Herald)
Richard and Marnie Fox are coming to terms with the fact
that their legal battle over water rights has ended.... Richard Fox said he
doesn’t regret taking his dispute with the county to court, because now he and
his wife have a definitive answer from the state regarding water rights rules. He
said he hopes the case pushes legislators to work on the issue.
To read more >>
Clallam official to meet with Gov. Inslee’s staff on
Dungeness reservoir, recreation (Peninsula Daily News)
Clallam County Commissioner Mark Ozias will meet with a
member of Gov. Jay Inslee’s staff to discuss the proposed off-stream reservoir
for the Dungeness River and other topics.... Clallam County is working with a
variety of partners, including irrigators, the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe,
Clallam Conservation District, Washington Water Trust and the city of Sequim,
to build a reservoir on land now owned by the state Department of Natural
Resources. In addition to providing needed irrigation water in the summer and
early fall, proponents say the project would improve salmon habitat, reduce
flood risks and create new wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities.
To read more >>
Seattle climate scientists spread word on warming, skip
politics (Seattle Times | Jerry Large)
For years now, climate scientists have seen explaining
their work as a way to help the public make good decisions in response to
global warming — without politics. Climate scientists at the University of
Washington want to talk more about their work because it and public policy are
intertwined. They stick to the science side of the equation, which they want
the rest of us to understand better so that we can make informed decisions
about climate change.
To read more >>
Warming Oceans Could Boost Dangerous Toxin In Your
Shellfish Dinner (KUOW)
West Coast crab fishermen just ended an 11-day strike
over a price dispute. But a more ominous and long-term threat to their
livelihood may be on the horizon. A new study in the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences has found a link between warming ocean conditions
and a dangerous neurotoxin that builds up in sea life: domoic acid... And a
future with more frequent domoic acid events seems likely, says says Bill
Peterson, a NOAA senior scientist and co-author of the study. "We're
having more and more of these warm ocean events and we're going to have more
domoic acid blooms each year. It might become a chronic problem," he says.
To read more >>
Ocean acidification part of Sound Waters' one-day
university (Stanwood Camano News)
Sound Waters 2017, a "one-day university for all, on
all things Puget Sound,” has been offered on the first Saturday in February on
Whidbey Island since the early 1990s, said Anne Baum, chairperson. Presented by
Sound Water Stewards of Island County, the one-day university generally
attracts more than 600 people. Sound Waters attendees on Feb. 4 will have a
choice of 60 or more classes about the natural world and the fragile
environment of the Salish Sea, with about 70 percent new classes this year.
To read more >>
Emergency repair of Port Hudson breakwater to begin
Monday (Peninsula Daily News)
Emergency repairs of the Port Hudson Boat Haven
breakwater in Port Townsend are scheduled to begin Monday.... The section in
need of repair was built in the 1950s. It is located on the northernmost point
of the marina, near the entrance to the Boat Haven marina, according to Sam
Gibboney, Port of Port Townsend executive director, in a news release.... The
project has also been permitted and will be carried out in stages to avoid
negatively impacting nearby eel grass beds. According to Gibboney, the repair
should last for a few years but the entire structure will eventually need to be
replaced.... The new breakwater would be more durable but would also disturb
the marine life that has taken up residence in the old wall – including dens of
octopus.
To read more >>
Breakwater repair is first item on Port of Port
Townsend’s $16 million capital projects list (Peninsula Daily News)
The Port of Port Townsend checked one capital project off
its list as construction crews began on an emergency repair to the breakwater
near the entrance of the Boat Haven marina in Port Townsend. Port officials are
considering roughly $16 million in capital projects this year. The emergency
repair on the Boat Haven breakwater, which began Monday, is the first to be
tackled this year, but also one of the smallest, with a price tag of $206,016.
Most of that $16 million will go to repairs on several port properties,
Executive Director Sam Gibboney has said.
To read more >>
Progress made on Port of Everett’s plans for waterfront
(Everett Herald)
Construction workers are making progress on the first
stage of the Port of Everett’s plan to turn a stretch of the city’s waterfront
into a busy residential neighborhood and commercial area. An Oregon-based
contractor, Bergerson Construction, started work on the Waterfront Place
project’s first phase — Fisherman’s Harbor — in October, when the company began
driving pilings for a rebuilt seawall.
To read more >>
Port of Olympia approves lease and option agreement with
downtown developer (The Olympian)
The Port of Olympia commission’s first action of the new
year was to unanimously approve a ground lease and option agreement for an East
Bay parcel with prominent downtown developer Walker John.... The vote came
after the three-member commission heard from about a dozen people on Monday who
raised concerns about sea-level rise and whether the proposed project would
block an effort to restore Moxlie Creek, which flows underground much of the
way from Watershed Park into the East Bay of Budd Inlet.
To read more >>
Route selected for Kitsap Lake-Gorst trail (Kitsap Sun)
Plans are coming together for a 3-mile foot and bike path
linking Central and South Kitsap. Kitsap County, Bremerton and Ueland Tree Farm
have negotiated a preliminary trail route that would run through forestlands
from Jarstad Park near Gorst to the Kitsap Lake area. Designed as a
“nonmotorized highway,” the trail would be wide, paved and relatively flat. It
would link two areas of the county that aren’t easy or especially safe for
cyclists to navigate.
To read more >>
Bainbridge's trail segment work begins in spring (Kitsap
Sun)
Construction on the first segment of the Sound to
Olympics Trail on the island begins in the spring. On Tuesday night, the City
Council approved a $2.2 million bid from Nordland Construction Northwest....
Mayor Val Tollefson said the trail will be an attractive link to the rest of
Bainbridge for both island commuters and those stepping off the ferry. For
Tollefson, the idea of a full trail running the length of the island is
especially appealing, given his 35 years of commuting on a bike along Highway
305.
To read more >>
Sakai property to get trails, new consideration in coming
months (Kitsap Sun)
The first developments at the future site of Sakai Park
will soon be underway as larger plans for the 23-acre property take shape....
The site, which sits off Madison Avenue across from the Bainbridge Island
Aquatics Center, is undeveloped and is mostly marked by natural features,
including a pond, wetlands, streams and trees. Park district board member Ken
DeWitt said he anticipates the initial trails will consist of at least one loop
and possibly a loop that will circle the pond.
To read more >>
Photo contest aims to celebrate area's natural resources
(Skagit Valley Herald)
Time is running out for photographers to submit their
best fall photos for the Skagit Watershed Council’s first photo contest.... The
contest, called Seasons of Skagit, will continue through 2017 and include
spring and summer segments. It’s part of the watershed council’s community
engagement plan, which aims to get more residents talking about what makes the
Skagit River watershed special and how to work together to protect it.
To read more >>
Winter lecture series to focus on Salish Sea (Skagit
Valley Herald)
The annual winter lecture series hosted by the
environmental nonprofit Friends of Skagit Beaches will focus this year on the
Salish Sea. The series will launch Friday with a lecture from research
biologist John Calambokidis about a recent increase in whale sightings in the
area. The four lectures that make up the series are free and open to the
public.... Lecture organizer Matt Kerschbaum said he is looking forward to
learning more about the many species in the Salish Sea and how human activities
impact them.
To read more >>
Olympia’s McAllister Springs site to return to Nisqually
Tribe (The Olympian)
To save money, the city of Olympia is expected to
transfer ownership of McAllister Spring, its former drinking water source, to
the Nisqually Tribe. The Olympia City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to
declare four city-owned parcels totaling 177 acres at McAllister Springs as
surplus, which means the properties are no longer needed.
To read more >>
Seattle Times to cut newsroom jobs (Seattle Times)
The Seattle Times, facing falling ad revenue, will be
cutting jobs in its newsroom and other departments soon, even as it plans to
restructure how it publishes in print and online. Executive Editor Don Shelton
indicated in an email to newsroom employees Friday that 23 people are expected
to leave the newsroom.
To read more >>
See also:
After Buyouts and Layoffs, Nearly Two Dozen People Will
Leave the Seattle Times Newsroom (The Stranger)
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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