4/23 Horsetail, Skagit salmon, WA legislature, WA Ferries, un-development, beavers

Horsetail [F. Lamiot]

Horsetail Equisetum
Equisetum (horsetail, snake grass, puzzlegrass) is the only living genus in Equisetaceae, a family of vascular plants that reproduce by spores rather than seeds. Equisetum is a "living fossil", the only living genus of the entire class Equisetopsida, which for over 100 million years was much more diverse and dominated the understory of late Paleozoic forests. Some Equisetopsida were large trees reaching to 30 meters tall. The genus Calamites of the family Calamitaceae, for example, is abundant in coal deposits from the Carboniferous period. The pattern of spacing of nodes in horsetails, wherein those toward the apex of the shoot are increasingly close together, inspired John Napier to invent logarithms. Despite centuries of use in traditional medicine, there is no evidence that Equisetum has any medicinal properties. (Wikipedia)

Skagit River has lost half of important habitat for salmon that orcas depend on
The Skagit River Valley has lost more than 50 percent of its floodplains and Chinook salmon runs are just 10 percent of what they once were. It is on rivers like the Skagit where scientists are trying to figure out a balance: produce food for hungry humans and for hungry whales. The Skagit River is one of Puget Sound's most important rivers for Chinook salmon and the killer whales who depend on them. Last week, KING 5 visited a fish trap that looks like a floating hut. Each morning, state wildlife technicians check to see what's been caught. "We operate from January through mid-July to catch juvenile salmon as they are migrating towards Puget sound," said Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist Clayton Kinsel. Kinsel's team is mostly counting chum salmon right now, some 3,000-4,000 each night. Southern Resident killer whales do eat chum, but scientists believe their diet depends on Chinook salmon. Those salmon are dwindling like the whales who depend on them, and the fish trap is helping scientists figure out how to stop that. Alison Morrow reports. (KING) See also: Saving the orcas  Alison Morrow reports. (KING)

What's happening the last week of the Washington Legislature's session
A capital gains tax, I-1000, a $50 billion-plus budget — Democrats are negotiating with Democrats on these and other issues coming into the last week of the Washington Legislature’s session. Angela King and Austin Jenkins report. (KUOW)

Washington State Ferries announces plan to reduce emissions, protect whales
Washington State Ferries is working to go even greener. That's the message in WSF's new two-year Sustainability Action Plan, which they released Monday in honor of Earth Day. The plan outlines goals and actions the organization plans to satisfy the state's Department of Transportation's commitment to sustainability, as well as the goals set out in Gov. Jay Inslee's Executive Orders 18-01 and -02, regarding environmental and orca protections. That includes six areas of focus, including greenhouse gas emissions, air quality, biodiversity, water, waste, and community impacts and engagement. Specifically, the plan outlines a goal to reduce ambient ferry noise throughout the system, remove dangerous creosote-coated timber from Puget Sound, and further develop an electric hybrid ferry program. The department also plans to further implement "operational efficiencies to reduce fuel consumption." Zosha Millman reports. (SeattlePI)

Un-development: Buildings are coming down — and staying down
Crews started pulling apart a barn and outbuildings in February. Instead of slapping up a McMansion on this partially wooded land along 58th Avenue SE, Snohomish County doesn’t plan to build anything. The idea is to make it a better home for wild flora and fauna, particularly fish that swim through Little Bear Creek on the south end of the property.... For the county, the project represents a new way of doing business. It’s meant to offset environmental damage from road projects that have yet to be built — things like widening two-lane roads to four. Federal, state and local regulations require environmental improvements, also known as mitigation, to make up for harm that construction does to habitat. The county calls this project “advance mitigation.” Noah Haglund reports. (Everett Herald)

Leave it to beavers, seriously
Seattle city planners had an idea for Magnuson Park: To support wildlife, they would create a few ephemeral wetlands – habitats that would be wet in the spring and dry up in the summer. Seattle city beavers had another idea. You see, beavers really are eager builders. They can’t stand the sound of running water. It’s a nagging, innate thing they have to fix. “People have done some really cool studies where they’ve even taken a radio with the sound of running water and put it in a field. Beavers will come out and build a little circular dam over the top of the radio,” said Ben Dittbrenner, executive director of Beavers Northwest. So, yeah, the beavers in Magnuson Park threw out the plans and threw up some dams. They took over part of the park and changed the hydrology of the entire site. Those ephemeral ponds became permanent. Chris Morgan and Matt Martin report. (KUOW)



Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  237 AM PDT Tue Apr 23 2019   
TODAY  W wind 5 to 15 kt becoming NW 10 to 20 kt in the  afternoon. Wind waves 1 to 3 ft. W swell 9 ft at 12 seconds  subsiding to 7 ft at 12 seconds in the afternoon. A slight chance  of showers in the morning. 
TONIGHT  W wind 10 to 20 kt becoming NW 5 to 15 kt after  midnight. Wind waves 1 to 3 ft. W swell 7 ft at 11 seconds.

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