8/31 Salmon watch, windstorm, Hood Canal, Gorge waterway, Mt Baker glacier, oil train, Longview oil, Denali

Elwha 8/28/15 (Tom Roorda and CWI)

If you like to watch: Salmon in the Elwha  (John  Gussman) See also: pinks in the green  (Mark Powell)

If Seattle loses salmon, we also could lose city’s soul
Seattle’s the only city in the Lower 48 where lots of salmon run right through the teeth of the urban environment. But this summer the tour guides have had to work to come up with a fish story. Danny Westneat reports. (Seattle Times)

100,000 still without power after windstorm  (Seattle Times) B.C. storm: 60,000 in Metro Vancouver still without power  (CBC)

Lack of oxygen killing marine life in Hood Canal waters
A lack of oxygen in southern Hood Canal is killing fish, crab and other marine life, according to Seth Book, a biologist with the Skokomish Tribe who has been monitoring the marine waterway. Through the month of August, Book and other Skokomish staff have observed dead English sole and thousands of dead and dying eel pouts on the beaches. They also have found masses of dead cockles and butter clams, and on Friday, Book said he saw hundreds of crab along the beaches that were trying to get to the surface to breath. “It’s a dead zone anywhere east of Sister’s Point to Belfair, Mason County. There’s very low oxygen at depth,” Book said. Hal Bernton reports. (Seattle Times)

Victoria's Gorge waterway needs cleanup after barge full of scrap cars tips
A barge carrying scrap vehicles tipped in Victoria's Gorge Waterway Friday, sending more than 50 cars spilling into the water. The accident occurred when a crane that was loading cars onto the barge apparently tipped, causing the barge to list badly, said Katie Hamilton, a spokeswoman for the city of Victoria. (CBC)

Living on boats to be a thing of the past in Victoria's Gorge
The sight of live-aboard boats anchoring on the Gorge Waterway in Victoria could soon be a thing of the past. Council passed a bylaw banning overnight anchoring in the Gorge last year, and by the end of October, people living in boats could be told to raise anchor and leave. Council was mostly concerned about environmental impacts from the boats after hearing complaints that some of the people living on the dozen or so boats — some of which have been described as derelict — were dumping sewage and garbage into the ocean near a sensitive ecological habitat. (CBC)

Scientists, Nooksack tribe study shrinking Mount Baker glacier
…. The glaciers on Mount Baker, a volcanic peak about 125 miles northeast of Seattle, provide a critical water source for agriculture, cities and tribes during the late summer. The icy glacial melt keeps streams cool for fish and replenishes rivers during a time of year when they typically run low. For the Nooksack Indian Tribe, which has relied for hundreds of years on salmon runs in the glacier-fed Nooksack River, a way of life is at risk. Without that glacial runoff, rivers will dry up more quickly and warm up faster, making it harder for salmon to spawn or migrate to the ocean. Phuong Le reports. (Associated Press)

Request made to extend comment period on oil-by-rail environmental studies
Several Washington community leaders sent a letter Friday to Skagit County Commissioner Ken Dahlstedt and Gov. Jay Inslee requesting 120-day public comment periods for the proposed Shell Puget Sound Refinery rail unloading facility in Anacortes and the proposed Grays Harbor crude oil terminals. The letter, which was also sent to Hoquiam City Manager Brian Shay and state Department of Ecology Director Maia Bellon, urged officials to allow the longer comment periods for the draft environmental impact statements of the projects in order to give community groups more time to gather information. The draft environmental impact statements have yet to be completed. Shannen Kuest reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

Parched Olympic Peninsula Community Eyes New Reservoir
For more than a century, the snowmelt that fed the Dungeness River here has provided water for farmers’ crops as well as salmon journeying to the ocean and back. The system has worked well – except when there’s not enough water. And now that this part of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula is caught in the drought afflicting much of the West, interest in building a new reservoir is on the rise. For longtime advocate Gary Smith, that’s a good thing. Ashley Ahearn reports. (KUOW)

Oil And More: Longview Energy Company Proposes Expansion
An energy company wants to build a transfer terminal in Longview, Washington that could handle liquefied natural gas and crude oil, according to documents reviewed Friday by OPB. The project is an expansion on an already proposed oil refinery for Longview. The documents were obtained by Columbia River Keeper through a public records request. They describe an “off-load and transfer terminal” at the Port of Longview that could handle up to two unit trains per day. Conrad Wilson and Tony Schick report. (OPB)

Obama Renaming Continent's Highest Peak From Mt. McKinley To Denali
The White House announced Sunday that President Obama is changing the name of North America's highest peak. Mt. McKinley — named after William McKinley, the 25th president, who served in the White House until his assassination in 1901 — is returning to its traditional Alaska Native name, Denali. Obama will make a public announcement of the name change in Anchorage Monday, during a three-day visit to Alaska. Brakkton Booker reports. (NPR)

Lower Elwha Klallam tribe plans to restore beach on Ediz Hook
A restored beach of sand and dune grass will replace rip rap and concrete rubble on the south side of Ediz Hook this fall. The Lower Elwha Klallam tribe plans to re-establish original habitat to two-thirds of a mile of shoreline east of the old A-frame site. The remains of the A-frame log dock vanished in 2008, and the tribe restored the nearby beach in 2011. (Peninsula Daily News)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PDT MON AUG 31 2015
TODAY
SW WIND 5 TO 15 KT...BECOMING 10 TO 20 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 7 FT AT 11 SECONDS. RAIN.
TONIGHT
SW WIND 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 7 FT AT 11 SECONDS. RAIN.

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