2/22 'Tis Spring?, Wilbur Ross, Vic sewer, Songhees' wolf, Hawaii whales

Skunk cabbage (Steve Ringman/Seattle Times)

In flower, bud and ‘rib-it,’ signs of spring appear
The nettles are up, the ferns are budding and frogs singing: Officially, spring is a month away, but it’s arriving already. Lynda Mapes reports. (Seattle Times)

Trump's billionaire pick for commerce, oceans chief keeping his fleet of oil tankers
If there's one thing that's clear from Wilbur Ross's financial disclosure forms, it's that the billionaire nominee for Secretary of Commerce lives in a world most Americans can only fantasize about. His many holdings include at least $150 million in cash accounts. He also has a collection of art worth somewhere north of $50 million. How far north, we don't know: $50 million is the highest category in the federal government's disclosure forms. (Forbes magazine said a few years ago that Ross's art collection was worth three times that much. He likes to collect Magrittes.) His namesake firm, W.L. Ross and Co., also has a major stake in Diamond S Shipping's fleet of 12 crude-oil tankers and 33 refined-product tankers. While the crude-oil vessels Ross co-owns are too large to enter Puget Sound, several of his tankers make port calls in Puget Sound and sail through Washington state waters as they carry Canadian petroleum products from refineries in Vancouver, British Columbia. John Ryan reports. (KUOW)

McLoughlin Point sewage plant gets green light, rezoning application approved
Years of waiting and speculation over whether Esquimalt’s new sewage treatment plant would ever move forward came to an end Monday night. Esquimalt council unanimously approved a rezoning application, giving the green light for the project to be built at McLoughlin Point. The project has been years in the making. (CTV News)

Elusive B.C. wolf ‘captured’ in lucky island encounter off Victoria
Nature photographer Nancy Brown-Schembri was just along for the ride. She had accompanied a boatload of birders with Victoria’s Eagle Wing Tours in hopes of capturing some interesting migratory seabirds or maybe even a whale. What she got exceeded — pardon the expression — her wildest expectations. The tour boat was motoring through the Chatham Islands off Oak Bay when a wolf materialized from the trees near the shoreline. “It was a lucky encounter,” Brown-Schembri said in an interview. “We weren’t even looking for him. He just wandered out of the woods and sat down on the rock.” It’s a fortunate encounter so close to an urban centre. Mark Salter, manager of tourism for the Songhees, said the lone male wolf first showed up on the islands, including nearby Discovery Island, in 2012 — the same year that elected Chief Robert Sam, a member of the wolf clan, died. “The Songhees are particularly proud and protective of the wolf,” he said. “There is a certain affinity to the wolf being found wild there.” Larry Pynn reports. (Vancouver Sun)

How Hawaii Is Saving Whales From Fishermen And Tourists
Life is getting better for the thousands of humpback whales that make the trip from Alaska each winter to breed in Hawaii’s warm waters, but state and federal scientists, government officials and law enforcement officers are remaining vigilant. A 16-member crew aboard the U.S. Coast Guard’s Galveston Island, a 110-foot cutter based in Honolulu, patrolled the south shore of Maui last week along with a 45-foot response boat and another vessel from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. As part of Operation Kohola Guardian, a joint effort that also includes the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, they were monitoring the catamarans and other tour boats providing customers the chance to see 60,000-pound whales breach and their newborn calves spout. Nathan Eagle reports. (Civil Beat Hawaii)

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA-  251 AM PST WED FEB 22 2017  

TODAY  W WIND TO 10 KT IN THE MORNING BECOMING LIGHT. WIND  WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 6 FT AT 13 SECONDS. SHOWERS LIKELY IN  THE MORNING...THEN A CHANCE OF SHOWERS IN THE AFTERNOON.
TONIGHT  W WIND TO 10 KT BECOMING N AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES  1 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 6 FT AT 12 SECONDS. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS.

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