6/19 Port Angeles, Enbridge, Laura James, PA garbage dump, OR reserves, Drayton Harbor, tsunami debris, Wild Olympics, Jolley property, BC Caspians, Rio+20

Conservation Hero Laura James (West Seattle Herald)

Happy birthday, Port Angeles. On June 19, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed an executive order establishing a military and naval reservation at the former Spanish location of Puerto de Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles.  Happy 150th birthday today, Port Angeles!

If you like to watch: This anti-Enbridge pipeline video from Communities Against Super Tankers features some pretty sweet puppeteering, animation, and rapping.   Straight outta Haida Gwaii

West Seattle resident Laura James has been nominated as a Cox Conservation Hero. Votes for the finalist are being accepted at http://www.kirotv.com/s/heroes/ June 18 through July 16, 2012. If she wins, a $10,000 award will be given to her nonprofit of choice, Sustainable West Seattle. This past year, Laura organized a diving team that removed over 1,000 lbs of discarded marine and automotive batteries from a West Seattle scuba diving site. Diver and environmentalist Laura James nominated as Cox Conservation Hero

An eroding bluff is inching toward the edge of Port Angeles’ closed landfill, retreating at one point to just 11 feet away from spilling the old dump's rotting garbage 125 feet down into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. City Council members will consider the problem — and short- and long-term solutions that a consultant said could total up to $12 million — at their City Council meeting at 6 p.m. today at City Hall.  Old Port Angeles dump threatens to spill into Strait  

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has released rules for three new marine reserves on the Oregon Coast. The state Legislature approved the reserves at Cape Perpetua, Cascade Head, and Cape Falcon. The reserves will protect species like rockfish, shrimp, and sardines that live near the shore. A total fishing ban would apply in the core areas of the reserves. In other protected areas, the new rules would allow some salmon fishing and crabbing. Oregon Proposes Fishing Rules for Marine Reserves  

As students from Blaine Elementary School came face to face with fresh oysters on Drayton Harbor, the adults around them hoped they also were seeing the bigger picture.  The pollution that contaminates shellfish is invisible fecal coliform bacteria from thousands of small sources along creeks that feed into Drayton Harbor.  Fecal bacteria, found in the waste of humans, cows and dogs, comes from virtually everywhere in the 36,000-acre Drayton Harbor watershed, according to a new curriculum offered to the Blaine students by the Puget Sound Restoration Fund. Ralph Schwartz reports.  Blaine students learn about imperiled oyster farming in Drayton Harbor  

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire announced Monday a state plan to address tsunami debris that reaches the state’s coast from Japan but stressed that federal help is needed. Gregoire announced a “Clean Shoreline Initiative” to be led by state’s top emergency management leader, Maj. Gen. Timothy Lowenberg, and to include the state Departments of Health, Ecology and other agencies.  Cleanup plan readied for tsunami junk    See also: Tsunami Debris That Washes Ashore Tested For Radiation  

A new poll released by the Wild Olympics campaign of 500 likely voters in the 6th Congressional District showed a strong support for the proposal. Nearly two out of three voters expressed approval for the Wild Olympics plan proposed by Rep. Norm Dicks and Sen. Patty Murray. 49% not only supported the proposal but also supported it “strongly.” 20% of the district voters polled said they were undecided. This shows that only 15% of those polled within the 6th District were in opposition to the plan.  New poll shows majority support of Wild Olympics  

The San Juan County Land Bank’s property acquisition of the Jolley property on the west side of Orcas, 20 waterfront acres on President's Channel near Turtlehead and Turtleback Mountain preserves, was officially and unanimously accepted by the county council. The county will receive a statutory warranty deed.  Land Bank acquires 20 acres on President's Channel

Caspian terns have established a breeding colony in B.C., and they’ve picked the roof of the Fraser Terminals warehouse near River Rock Casino in Richmond. Caspian terns create flutter in birding community as B.C.’s first breeding colony discovered in industrial Richmond

As Brazil welcomes nearly 120 heads of state and government for a summit on global development this week, the mood could not be more different than it was two decades ago, when global leaders gathered here for the landmark Earth Summit. Back then, once-arcane concerns about climate change and deforestation had finally grabbed the world's attention, leading to a global treaty on biodiversity and decisions that cleared the way for the Kyoto agreement on greenhouse gases.  Instead of clean energy, food, the oceans and other topics scheduled for debate at Rio+20, as the summit is known, political focus is attuned to a teetering Europe, turmoil in the Middle East and a presidential campaign in the United States.  Environment expectations low for Rio+20  

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 234 AM PDT TUE JUN 19 2012
TODAY
S WIND 10 KT...BECOMING W 10 TO 15 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 TO 2 FT. W SWELL 7 FT AT 11 SECONDS. ISOLATED
 SHOWERS THIS MORNING.
TONIGHT
W WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 2 FT. W SWELL 6 FT AT 11 SECONDS.

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