1/21 Partnership, dead whale, marine area protection, wind storm, BC coal port, coal trains, Victoria sewage, rising seas, martens, orca tags

In celebration of service, opportunity and responsibility: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

New blog: "Puget Sound Partnership Executive Director Tony Wright took the helm of the agency charged with restoring the Sound to health late last July and yesterday sent a letter to us announcing his return to the private sector...." Whither Puget Sound Partnership, Whither Puget Sound? 


Six months into the job, Anthony "Tony" Wright is planning to leave his post as executive director of the Puget Sound Partnership and return to work at a private consulting firm.... After announcing his resignation, Wright says people are demanding to know the "real reason" he is leaving. "Nobody is asking me to leave, and I'm not angry at anybody," he said.... Inslee spokesman David Postman said the recruiting of director candidates started about two weeks ago. Interviews could begin as early as next week, he added, and the Leadership Council will play an integral role in the selection. Chris Dunagan reports. Director leaving Puget Sound Partnership after brief tenure

The State of Washington Joint Legislative Audit & Review Committee (JLARC) briefing report on PSP’S (the Puget Sound Partnership) 2012 Action Agenda Update finds that “Revised Approach Continues to Lack Key Accountability Tools Envisioned in Statute” January 23, 2013.  Specifically in three areas: 1) The Action Agenda Does Not Link Actions to the Amount of Progress They Will Make Towards the Long-Term Restoration Goals Established by the Legislature; 2) Actions are Not Prioritized to Meet Long-Term Restoration Goals; 3)Monitoring Data Is Not Available to Facilitate Adaptive Management

A gray whale has turned up dead near Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. It was first spotted Saturday night near the USS Ronald Reagan, then it couldn't be found Sunday morning — raising hope it might have swam away — but its body was later found nearby. Steve Jeffries, a marine mammal specialist with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, determined from a preliminary examination that it was a juvenile female gray whale about 28 to 30 feet long. The whale had old scars likely from an attack by an orca, Jeffries said, but there was no sign of recent trauma. The whale was emaciated and appears to have died of starvation, he said. Chris Henry reports. Dead gray whale found near PSNS

A new report from an environmental group says the federal government is moving too slowly in setting aside marine areas for environmental protection. The Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society was urging Ottawa to have a network of 12 protected sites by the end of 2012. In its report released Monday, the group says that while that didn't happen overall, progress is also too slow. Susan Lunn reports. Canada slow to protect marine areas, report argues  

On January 20, 1993, one of the strongest windstorms to strike Western Washington in the 20th Century rolled ashore that morning, bringing winds of 60-75 mph with some isolated gusts that were even stronger, including an 88 mph gust at the University of Washington. A registered gust of 70 mph at Boeing Field was the second-strongest gust there recorded in the past 60 years, According to Wolf Read's Storm King windstorm research site.  Six people died and over 600,000 people lost power, according to Historylink.org. Among those killed were a 19-year-old Lynnwood man who died when a tree fell on his car, and a 3-year-old Port Orchard boy who was killed by a falling tree. Scott Sistek reports. 20 years ago, the infamous Inauguration Day Windstorm struck  

A B.C. environmental group is promising a "firestorm" of protest if Port Metro Vancouver doesn't delay plans to ramp up the amount of coal moving through its terminals and hold more public consultations. The port is currently considering applications to expand two Metro Vancouver port terminals. One application would expand coal capacity at the Neptune Terminal in North Vancouver. The other proposal would create a new coal transfer facility at a terminal on the Fraser River in Surrey. But Dogwood Initiative executive director Will Horter says the port has failed to adequately consult with the public and has ignored opposition. Environmentalists vow to fight coal terminal expansion plans

Traffic was backed up at three major intersections in Mount Vernon. Bus routes stalled. Drivers waited almost an hour. This sounds like a scene from Skagit’s springtime Tulip Festival, when a torrent of tourists floods the valley with extra traffic. But this backup happened in December. A locked wheel had stalled a train on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe tracks that run through the center of the city, said BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas. No injuries or collisions were reported from the incident. But with crossings blocked at West Fir Street, Riverside Drive and College Way, that locked wheel threw a wrench in plenty of people’s morning plans. Gina Cole reports. Coal trains: What is the impact?  And, Mark Stayton reports: Local considerations: Concerns voiced about coal traffic’s effect on area economy

Victoria’s neighbours to the south are applauding the capital region’s sewage treatment plans. Port Angeles Mayor Cherie Kidd said her city, and others in Washington that face Greater Victoria, have been keeping a close eye as their Canadian neighbour progresses toward treating its sewage. Kidd mailed a letter to the Capital Regional District’s sewage committee encouraging the CRD treatment project for its long-term environmental benefits. The letter was received this month. Rob Shaw reports. Port Angeles mayor praises capital region’s sewage-treatment plan

State officials have approved Port Orchard's Shoreline Master Program — provided the City Council can accommodate about a dozen changes. Ecology could not agree to industrial development over the water unless it was "water-dependent" or fits criteria to show that a dock or other structure is truly needed. The city had previously agreed to discourage, but not prohibit, such structures. Other issues involve wetland identification and regulations, the need to include properties recently annexed, and textual changes for clarification. Ecology agreed to "buffer averaging," in which a buffer may be wider in some places and narrower in others, but said the technique should not create an average buffer less than 75 percent of the standard buffer. The city had proposed a reduction of up to 50 percent. Chris Dunagan reports. Port Orchard shoreline plan nearly finished

For political activists concerned about global warming and the rising level of Puget Sound, a confluence of events last week at the state capital presented an opportunity too good to pass up. The start of 2013 legislative activities Monday coincided with one of the highest tides of the year – a 16.9-foot whopper that at 7:47 a.m. pushed salt water to the verge of parking lots at the head of Budd Inlet, within sight of the Capitol dome. Despite the evidence that sea levels are rising, jurisdictions throughout Puget Sound – including Pierce County and the Port of Tacoma – have been slow to react, paralyzed by the potential enormity of the problem and lingering doubts that scientists’ projections of dramatic tidal change really will take place. Rob Carson reports. As tides creep up, some just look away

It’s about 25 degrees on a clear Saturday morning when Greg Treinish gathers a small group of outdoor adventurers around him near the Duckabush River in the Olympic National Forest. Treinish is the executive director of Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation, a non-profit that puts volunteers to work gathering data for scientists around the world. The mission for this group: Help biologists figure out if there are any martens left in the Olympic National Forest. They’ll be setting up motion-activated cameras in some of the forest’s snowiest, most remote territory. The citizen scientists fill their packs with a strange assortment of gear, including chicken wire, hammers, folding saws and — wait for it — human-head-sized chunks of beaver carcass. Ashley Ahearn reports. Searching The Olympic Forest For The Elusive Marten

Biologists are gaining new information about the winter movements of endangered Puget Sound orcas by tracking the daily activities of one of them by a satellite tag. Since scientists attached a transmitter to a 21-year-old male orca named as Scoter two weeks ago, they’ve watched as he sprinted more than 1,000 miles – from the Seattle area to north of San Francisco before curiously reversing course over the weekend and heading north. “One thing that has struck us is it seems to be directed movement. They haven’t paused very long in one place,” said Brad Hanson, a wildlife biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle who is leading the satellite tagging project. Phuong Le reports. Tag reveals winter movements of Puget Sound orcas

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 900 AM PST MON JAN 21 2013
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON PST TODAY
TODAY
SE WIND 15 TO 25 KT...EASING TO 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 5 FT AT 15 SECONDS. AREAS OF FOG IN THE MORNING.
TODAY
SE WIND 15 TO 25 KT...EASING TO 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT...SUBSIDING TO 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 5 FT AT 15 SECONDS. AREAS
 OF FOG IN THE MORNING.

--
"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato@salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

Follow on Twitter.

Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told