8/25 Parks centennial, J14, Vic sewer, clean water, ferry food, wolf kill

Tahoma

Happy 100th birthday, national parks! Where to go for Washington's outdoor playgrounds
For the National Park Service’s centennial, here are ideas for anyone to enjoy Mount Rainier, Olympic and North Cascades national parks. Terry Wood reports. (seattle Times)

Editor’s note: Yesterday’s photo of the Elwha nearshore 8/20/16 should have been correctly credited as follows: “Dave Parks AND the COASTAL WATERSHED INSTITUTE (CWI).”

One orca is missing and presumed dead; another reported as ‘super-gaunt’
J-14, a 42-year-old female named Samish, has gone missing and is presumed dead, while J-28, a 23-year-old orca mom named Polaris, may living out her final days. “Things are shaping up to be pretty bad,” said Ken Balcomb of the Center for Whale Research, who keeps tabs on the orca population. “J-28 is looking super-gaunt, and I would say she is within days of her death.” Chris Dunagan reports. (Watching Our Water Ways)

McLoughlin Point, Rock Bay on sewage treatment site short list
McLoughlin Point in Esquimalt and Victoria’s Rock Bay have been shortlisted as potential locations for a new sewage treatment plant in the capital region. The independent panel overseeing the project released an interim report Wednesday that presents three options: • A single plant at McLoughlin Point; • A single plant at Rock Bay; • Two smaller plants — one at Rock Bay and the other at McLoughlin Point. The report by the Core Area Waste Water Treatment Project Board said the estimated project costs range from $750 million to $1.1 billion. Lindsay Kines reports. (Times Colonist)

Clean water vs. the cost of clean water
The state is about to get new standards for water quality calibrated in part on how much fish we eat. The question is which version? Will it be those chiseled out by the state’s Department of Ecology through four years of dispute and debate? Or will it be ones hammered together by the federal Environmental Protection Agency under the imperative of a court order? Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee opened the door for federal intervention July 31, 2015, when he scrapped a major rewrite of the state’s clean water rules drafted by department staff. Tribal leaders and environmentalists, many of whom are longtime political allies of Inslee, castigated those proposed rules as too weak. Inslee directed the agency to try again. It did. Inslee endorsed the revamped language and gave the go-ahead for Ecology Secretary Maia Bellon to submit the proposed rules to the feds. She did so Aug. 1. At that point, EPA officials had 60 days to accept the rules or 90 days to reject them and put theirs in place. On a calendar, that means decisions are due by Sept. 30 and Oct. 30 respectively. Jerry Cornfield reports. (Everett Herald)

Bremerton ferry food vendor won’t take contract fight to state Supreme Court
The family-owned Bremerton company that sells food aboard Washington ferries will not pursue further legal action aimed at preventing a Connecticut-based catering group from replacing them. The multinational corporation Centerplate outbid Olympic Cascade Services earlier this year for a new vendor contract with the state. Olympic Cascade sued to stop the switch, arguing that the bidding process was unfair. The local company paid the state just shy of $1 million to sell on the ferry system last year, according to the state Department of Transportation. On Wednesday, Olympic Cascade chose not to appeal to the Washington State Supreme Court after a panel of judges on Washington’s Court of Appeals declined Monday to extend an earlier court-ordered injunction barring Washington State Ferries from closing a deal with Centerplate. Walker Orenstein reports. (Tacoma News Tribune)

Washington To Exterminate Nearly 20 Percent Of State’s Wolf Population
Washington’s Department of Fish and Wildlife plans to kill an entire wolf pack in the northeast corner of the state. The decision comes after at least 12 cattle were killed in the area. Fish and Wildlife officials have confirmed seven of the 12 dead cows were killed by wolves. It’s likely that the remaining five were as well. The cattle graze on federal land between Kettle Falls and Republic, Washington, in the summer. After six calves and two cows were found dead, the state shot two female wolves from a helicopter. But on August 19, four more dead cattle were discovered.  Emily Schwing reports. (KPLU)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA-  853 AM PDT THU AUG 25 2016  

TODAY  E WIND TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 4 FT AT  8 SECONDS.
TONIGHT  W WIND TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 4 FT  AT 9 SECONDS.

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