1/8 Trail walk, Kpod, Brinnon resort, buoy job, First Nation plans, WA lege, Navy warfare, Grays Harbor oil

Maury Island Marine Park (rs.locationshub.com)

Trail of the week: Maury Island Marine Park
Maury Island Marine Park is a 320-acre park on the east side of the island. With big views, beachcombing and an uphill workout, the park packs plenty into a short hike. Starting from above on 244th Street, visitors can take in a sweeping view that on clear days includes Puget Sound, Mount Rainier and Tacoma. Below, almost the entire trail system can be seen. The trail drops to the beach, where visitors can enjoy a mile of shoreline. Craig Hill reports. (Olympian) For more, see: Maury Island Marine Park, King County Parks
 
K pod turns back and heads up into Canada
Chris Dunagan blogs: "…. In the last report on Monday (Water Ways, Jan. 4), the tagged killer whale K-33, a 15-year-old male named Tika, was milling around the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca in the Pacific Ocean with three other whales in his family group…. By Monday evening, the whales entered the Strait and headed east. By Tuesday afternoon, they had passed through Haro Strait between the San Juan Islands and Vancouver Island, where they were accompanied by J pod, based on hydrophone calls near San Juan Island. Yesterday [Wednesday], the whales were in the southern portion of the Strait of Georgia, then they quickly headed north. This morning [Thursday], they were in the northern portion of the Strait…. This must be an area with relatively abundant salmon, given the time of year. (Watching Our Water Ways)

Pros, cons argued on Pleasant Harbor Resort plans for Brinnon
The proposed Pleasant Harbor Resort would either be an economic boom for Brinnon or destroy its bucolic way of life, according to speakers at a Jefferson County Planning Commission meeting…. More than 150 people were crammed into Brinnon School's auditorium for the meeting on an application from Statesman Groupe of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, for a zoning change for 252 acres from rural residential to master planned resort. Planners heard public comment on the project and the final supplemental environmental impact statement, which was released Dec. 9. Charlie Bermant reports. (Peninsula Daily News)

USCG's 'dirtiest job' keeps Puget Sound clean
The crew aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Henry Blake knows their job is one of the dirtiest around. The ship is a buoy tender and its 25-person crew is responsible for maintaining several hundred buoys up the coast of Washington. "You have hazardous materials, oil tanker ships coming through full of oil, and hazardous chemicals going through Puget Sound," said Boatswains Mate Chief William Glenzer. "These buoys mark the safe channel or obstructions in the water." When crews pull Buoy 10 out of the water, it's covered in bird feces, mussels and seaweed. The smell is worst in the summer. Alison Morrow reports. (KING)

Ignore First Nations at your peril, says chief
B.C’s Assembly of First Nations regional chief delivered a bold message recently to the province’s business community, asserting aboriginals want not just to partner economically with resource developers, but to own the companies overseeing those developments. “Our longer-term goal is to own those companies,” Chief Shane Gottfriedson told 400 business people attending a conference sponsored by the Business Council of B.C. “We want to own those major projects. We are getting beyond being mom-and-pop, band council operations.” Barbara Yaffe writes. (Vancouver Sun)

As Legislature Reconvenes, Green Groups Say Protecting Hard-Fought Wins A Top Priority
Environmental groups say there’s really just one priority as lawmakers head back to the to the legislature in Olympia next week: no rollbacks.  Every legislative session, the broad spectrum of green-minded groups in the state gets together to discuss their main issues and work toward achieving them. Clifford Traisman is a lobbyist with Washington Conservation Voters and a spokesman for the Environmental Council that sets the priorities. For the early session this year, he says it’s pretty simple. They just don’t want things they’ve accomplished to be undone. Bellamy Pailthorp reports. (KPLU)

Forest Service crafting hundreds of responses to thousands of comments on naval electronic warfare exercises plan
The U.S. Forest Service is completing final draft responses to thousands of mostly negative comments directed at plans for expanded naval electronic warfare exercises over the North Olympic Peninsula, including Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest. But if you submitted one of the 3,397 correspondences on the $11.5 million Pacific Northwest Electronic Warfare Training Range project, don’t expect a response specifically to your submission. Greg Wahl, Olympic National Forest environmental coordinator, said this week that the agency is writing final drafts of up to about 100 general responses to the thousands of comments submitted by Nov. 28. Paul Gottlieb reports. (Peninsula Daily News)

Grays Harbor biodiesel plant cancels plan to ship crude oil
The new owner of the mammoth Grays Harbor biodiesel plant has pulled the plug on the controversial idea of using the facility to ship U.S. crude oil unloaded from trains. Renewable Energy Group (REG), the Iowa company that bought nearly all the assets of Imperium Renewables last summer, said in a document filed with state regulators that “its future plans at Grays Harbor do not include handling crude oil.” The document was filed in late November as comment on a draft environmental-impact statement. A REG spokesman confirmed the decision Wednesday. Angel Gonzalez reports. (Seattle Times)

Now, your weekend tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA-  311 AM PST FRI JAN 8 2016  
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING  

TODAY  E WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 9 FT  AT 14 SECONDS EARLY THIS MORNING...SUBSIDING TO 7 FT AT 13  SECONDS.

TONIGHT  SE WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 5  FT AT 12 SECONDS.

SAT  SE WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. SW SWELL 5 FT  AT 9 SECONDS...BUILDING TO 7 FT AT 10 SECONDS IN THE AFTERNOON. A  CHANCE OF RAIN.

SAT NIGHT  E WIND 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 9 FT  AT 15 SECONDS...BUILDING TO 11 FT AT 15 SECONDS AFTER MIDNIGHT.

SUN  E WIND 15 TO 25 KT...EASING TO 10 TO 20 KT IN THE AFTERNOON.  WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 10 FT AT 14 SECONDS...SUBSIDING TO  8 FT AT 14 SECONDS IN THE AFTERNOON.

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