4/24 Steve, science march, green walls, Howarth Park, Vic Harbour birds, Qwoloolt trail, whale hit, EPA hits, sand cap, Hooker Chem, leadership

Steve [European Space Agency/BBC]

Aurora photographers find new night sky lights and call them Steve
A group of aurora enthusiasts have found a new type of light in the night sky and named it Steve. Eric Donovan from the University of Calgary in Canada spotted the feature in photos shared on a Facebook group. He did not recognise it as a catalogued phenomenon and although the group were calling it a proton arc, he knew proton auroras were not visible. Testing showed it appeared to be a hot stream of fast-flowing gas in the higher reaches of the atmosphere. (BBC) See also: Time lapse camera captures Northern Lights over Puget Sound  Scott Sistek reports. (KOMO)

Marchers stand up worldwide for the value of science 
The world saw brain power take a different form Saturday. From the Washington Monument to Germany’s Brandenburg Gate and even to Greenland, scientists, students and research advocates took to the streets for the March for Science, conveying a global message about scientific freedom without political interference, the need for adequate spending for future breakthroughs and the general value of scientific pursuits. Seth Borenstein reports. (Associated Press) See also: Seattle's March for Science draws thousands on Earth Day -- including a Nobel Prize winner   Erik Lacitis reports. (Seattle Times) And also: Bellingham March for Science takes aim at ‘political agendas on all sides’  Kyle Mittan reports. (Bellingham Herald) And also: March for Science wants humanity to continue advancing, not hide from facts that frighten us   Lisa Pemberton reports. (Olympian)

Immigrant Community Designs "Green Walls" to Clean the Air, The Only Walls They Favor  
 Hear the phrase “green walls” and you might think the southern border wall proposed by the Trump administration is taking on an eco-friendly theme. But the green walls going up in Seattle's South Park are designed to clean the air and reduce air pollution. And many members of the immigrant community are putting them up themselves.  Martha Baskin reports. (Green Acre Radio)

Habitat restoration at Howarth Park ready to be enjoyed by public
By the time the beach was remade and the bridge repaired at Howarth Park last year, warm weather already had passed. Beach-goers now have the chance to enjoy the enlarged waterfront at the city park for the first full summer since 2014. Snohomish County employees and researchers also continue to track environmental benefits from tons of sand deposited on the beach last year. The work was an attempt to re-create features of the natural environment that have been disrupted for more than a century. Volunteers and researchers are looking both at fish spawning and how the sand is drifting over time. Noah Haglund reports. (Everett Herald)

Victoria Harbour’s rebirth is for the birds
From a rocky outcrop along the coastal path that leads from Esquimalt to downtown Victoria, Jacques Sirois looks through binoculars across Victoria Harbour. The retired ornithologist has just pointed out dozens of buffleheads — tiny blackish and white seafaring ducks — when he spots a surprise…. The return of many bird populations to Greater Victoria’s shores is just one part of a larger story that Sirois says goes too easily unnoticed. Victoria’s waters are cleaner than they’ve been in 60 years, he says, which means all kinds of species are thriving. Amy Smart reports. (Times Colonist)

Marysville’s new waterfront trail draws big Saturday crowd
More than 100 people crowded Marysville’s Qwuloolt Waterfront Trail after an official ribbon-cutting Saturday morning. They ambled, strolled and, at least a few, scooted along the new trail, taking in the sprawling floodplain scenery. The crowd’s easy pace and the canary grass waving in the wind was a breathless retort to cars and truck rushing along I-5 in the distance. The trail instantly expanded the city’s waterfront from a mere 900 feet at Ebey Waterfront Park to nearly two miles along Ebey Slough’s lazy curves. Saturday’s grand opening was nearly two decades in the making. Dan Catchpole reports. (Everett Herald)

Boat hits whale near Whidbey Island
A boat hit a whale Sunday morning near Whidbey Island as whale watching vessels packed with spectators witnessed the entire incident. The whale was a gray whale. It is one that was has been spotted for many years in Puget Sound. It was swimming with a couple other whales when a boat drove right over it. Witnesses say he stopped for a few "moments," then continued on. The whale may have been the well-known "Patch," first photographed in the Puget Sound in the 1990s. Alison Morrow reports. (KING)

Port Angeles agrees to sand cap in harbor; pilot project aims to restore marine habitat
The city will chip in $15,400 for a pilot project to restore a patch of marine habitat along Ediz Hook by capping woody debris pollution with a 6-inch layer of sand. The goal: Make it fertile ground for marine life in a deep-water harbor that’s been home to logging industry and municipal detritus for decades. Council members unanimously agreed last Tuesday to spend $15,400 on the $77,000 pilot project. Paul Gottlieb reports. (Peninsula Daily News)

Hooker Chemical Cleanup Planning Getting Underway
One million pounds of toxic chemicals; that’s what estimated to be left behind over several decades because of work done at the Hooker Chemical plant on the Tacoma Tideflats. The plant was purchased by a company called Occidental in the late 1960s and finally shut down for good in 2002. Now the state Department of Ecology is deciding how to move forward on cleaning up the area. And the price tag for that cleanup is anywhere between $110 to $440 million. The public comment period for cleanup options closed April 27. Kirsten Kendrick, Ariel Van Cleave and Derrick Nunnally report. (KNKX)

50 programs scrapped at EPA
President Trump proposes a $54 billion increase in military spending, offset by slashing domestic programs. The Environmental Protection Agency would take the biggest hit, a 31 percent cut that would eliminate a quarter of the staff and save $2.6 billion, returning the agency’s budget to 1970s-era levels. Congress dictates spending, however, and some cuts face bipartisan pushback. The agency has begun offering buyouts to workers. Here is a sample of programs that would be eliminated: (SF Chronicle)

Where is the leadership?
Al Bergstein in Olympic Peninsula Environmental News writes: "Here we sit, four months into the most destructive Presidency of all time, as it relates to the environment. Where are the leaders to ask us to head into the field to take up the banner and stop this insanity? We are watching as laws are getting passed, and we are helpless to come to the table and demand a stop to this. We are asked to participate in an Earthday Science March, but really, this will  change nothing. Where are the leaders that will demand us to put ourselves in harms way to stop this insanity?  Who is willing to step up and show the way forward, the Martin Luther King, or Alice Paul, to help us define what is needed to slow the machine? Phone banks won’t win, though they help. But, point me to the person. We need leadership now more than ever."

Now, your tug weather--
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA-  309 AM PDT MON APR 24 2017  

TODAY  LIGHT WIND BECOMING NW 5 TO 15 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND  WAVES 2 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 6 FT AT 11 SECONDS. A SLIGHT CHANCE  OF SHOWERS.
TONIGHT  W WIND 10 TO 20 KT BECOMING 5 TO 15 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT.  WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 6 FT AT 10 SECONDS.

--
"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato (@) salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

Follow on Twitter.

Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told