5/28 Thimbleberry, climate science attack, sea lice, Pebble Mine, gray whales

Thimbleberry [Lyn Topinka/Edible Acres]

Thimbleberry Rubus parviflorus Nutt.
Thimbleberry is a favorite berry of children and adults as well as other wildlife. The common name describes its appearance, as it does resemble a thimble from the top, where the thimble has little indentations to push down upon the needle. Imagine a raspberry but smaller, with smaller but more numerous fruitlets. These berries are tart and may be eaten raw, or cooked and made into jam or jelly and other food items such as pemmican or fruit leather. It is red when ripe. Forest Jay Gauna explains. (US Forest Service)

Trump Administration Hardens Its Attack on Climate Science
President Trump has rolled back environmental regulations, pulled the United States out of the Paris climate accord, brushed aside dire predictions about the effects of climate change, and turned the term “global warming” into a punch line rather than a prognosis. Now, after two years spent unraveling the policies of his predecessors, Mr. Trump and his political appointees are launching a new assault. In the next few months, the White House will complete the rollback of the most significant federal effort to curb greenhouse-gas emissions, initiated during the Obama administration. It will expand its efforts to impose Mr. Trump’s hard-line views on other nations, building on his retreat from the Paris accord and his recent refusal to sign a communiqué to protect the rapidly melting Arctic region unless it was stripped of any references to climate change. And, in what could be Mr. Trump’s most consequential action yet, his administration will seek to undermine the very science on which climate change policy rests. Coral Davenport and Mark Landler report. (NY Times)

Conservation groups sound alarm over another sea lice outbreak in Clayoquot Sound
Conservation groups that monitor Clayoquot Sound are sounding the alarm for the second spring in a row about high levels of a parasite that can harm juvenile wild salmon. Several salmon farms in the region on the west coast of Vancouver Island have again reported levels of sea lice in recent months that exceed what is allowed. Under Pacific Aquaculture Regulations, fish farms must monitor and manage the parasite — which can be deadly to farmed and wild fish. Megan Thomas reports. (CBC)

Can Wild Salmon and the Pebble Mine Coexist?
Posing a problem for the proposed Pebble Mine in Alaska, new research shows salmon rely on entire watersheds. Ashley Braun reports. (Hakai Magazine)

Dead gray whale found near Kalaloch is 24th on Pacific NW coast this year
Olympic National Park said a decomposing gray whale washed ashore Friday morning north of Kalaloch Campground. That makes the 24th dead whale stranding in Oregon and Washington this year during the northbound migration. Tom Banse reports. (NW News Network) See also: 3 more grey whales found dead on B.C. Coast  Three dead grey whales have washed ashore on Haida Gwaii, just off the northwestern coast of mainland B.C.Their discovery means more than 60 grey whales have been found beached and dead along the West Coast between California and Alaska this year, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [NOAA]. Joe Ballard reports. (CBC) And, if you like to watch: Transient orcas seen feeding on gray whale in Puget Sound  A whale-watching tour witnessed a group of transient orcas feeding on a gray whale near Whidbey Island. Jennifer King reports. (KING)



Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  300 AM PDT Tue May 28 2019   
TODAY  NW wind to 10 kt becoming W 10 to 20 kt in the afternoon.  Wind waves 1 ft or less building to 1 to 3 ft. W swell 4 ft at 10  seconds. 
TONIGHT  W wind 10 to 20 kt becoming 5 to 15 kt after midnight.  Wind waves 1 to 3 ft. SW swell 4 ft at 14 seconds.

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