5/7 Salmonberry, Bigg's orcas, boat noise, teen climate march, Green Party win, gas car phase-out, Jordan Cove, Northern pike, dead whale

Salmonberry [Wikipedia]

Salmonberry Rubus spectabilis
Salmonberries are found in moist forests and stream margins, especially in the coastal forests. In open areas they often form large thickets, and thrive in the open spaces under stands of red alder (Alnus rubra). Both sprouts and berries were eaten by all northwest coastal peoples....Some groups mixed the berries in oolichan grease or dried salmon spawn, the berries were often eaten with salmon. Salmonberries are one of the earliest berries to ripen. (Wikipedia, Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast)

Reader Charlie E writes regarding the Nuttall's cockle featured yesterday: "The amazing thing about Nuttall’s Cockle is its escape response to potential predators. The very muscular foot is used like a kangaroo’s tail to hop away from danger. This allows the cockle to occupy very shallow burrows, whereas other bivalves must dig deeper and invest in long siphons to avoid predators... the strategy doesn’t seem to work against gulls…only sea stars, crabs and moon snails. When I was giving the tours at the [Friday Harbor] labs, I would always end with an escape response finale….putting a small sunflower sea star in a tank with an abalone, a cockle, a sea urchin and a giant sea cucumber. The responses were dramatic to say the least."

And reader Alan F sent some beautiful pictures of Trillium from Lost Lake and Lower Salal trails in the Chuckanuts with the note: "images from last week’s hike in the Chuckanuts in which I counted 175 of these spring treasures.  On the Cedar Lake trail I’ve counted as many as 300 on the way up the trail that also spends its way on the north slope of the Chuckanuts."

Bigg’s orcas in the Salish Sea point to shifting habitat of resident killer whales
To the untrained eye, the orcas socializing in the Salish Sea on Friday could have been the resident whales that many Islanders know and love. But those who know, like Stephen Pincock, owner of Ocean EcoVenture in the Cowichan Valley, recognize the significance of seeing Bigg’s orcas – slightly larger, mammal-eating killer whales – in the endangered Southern residents’ long-time habitat. “We’ve seen [resident orcas] shift to the outer coast more…because there’s more salmon out there for them than in the inner waterways,” Pincock said. “It’s kind of opened the door for the mammal-eaters to come in and take their place.” Nina Grossman reports. (Oak Bay News)

Salish Sea boat noise hurts orca hunting ability
The Salish Sea is like a water highway with all kinds of traffic creating all kinds of noise, and because Southern Resident killer whales use sound to locate their food, all the boat noise makes it hard for them to hunt. Killer whales echo-locate their prey, using sonar to find fish and capture it. Any loud noise can interrupt that signal. "What we are finding is that Haro Strait and the Salish Sea are noisy enough that whales are losing 62 percent of their opportunities to communicate over the background noise on a typical day," said Oceans Initiative Founder Rob Williams. "And on a really busy day, they can actually lose up to 97 percent of their opportunities to communicate over meaningful ranges." Williams, a Pew Fellow in Marine Conservation, has been studying the Southern Resident killer whales since 2003 and admits there is no easy fix for the orcas, who are facing extinction. Alison Morrow reports. (KING)

Teens march to Seattle's City Hall to demand action on climate change
Hundreds of youth marched from Occidental Park to City Hall on Friday to try to pressure legislators to do more to limit the use of fossil fuels and move toward renewable energy. The Seattle march was part of a global movement in which young people are skipping school on Fridays to ask politicians to prioritize climate change. In the U.S., their demands include ending the creation of new fossil fuel infrastructure, moving toward a 100 percent renewable economy and passing the "Green New Deal," a set of legislative proposals aimed at addressing climate change. Eilis O'Neill reports. (KUOW)

Green Party wins federal byelection in Nanaimo-Ladysmith
Green Party candidate Paul Manly has won the federal byelection in the B.C. riding of Nanaimo-Ladysmith. Manly is the second Green candidate elected to a federal seat after the party's leader, Elizabeth May, the sole elected Green MP in the House of Commons since 2011. With almost 99 per cent of polls reporting, Manly had 37.3 per cent of the vote. Conservatives captured 24.8 per cent, and the NDP 23.1 per cent. The Liberals lagged behind with 11 per cent. Michelle Ghoussoub reports. (CBC)

B.C. bill to phase out gas vehicles by 2040 spurs debate
When Travis McKeown considered getting rid of his 2007 Honda Civic recently, the high price of gas and the abundance of government rebates made the idea of switching to an electric vehicle too good to pass up.... The B.C. government is counting on motorists like McKeown to sort out the details and make the switch from gas to electric vehicles as part of its aggressive target to require all new car, SUV and light-duty trucks sales be zero-emission by 2040. The idea to phase out gas vehicles as part of the NDP’s Clean B.C. climate-change-pollution reduction goal is attracting both criticism and praise as the legislation winds its way through debate at the legislature. Opposition Liberal MLAs have raised concerns about so-called “range anxiety” on the travel distance of electric vehicles, the lack of available charging stations, battery-replacement costs of up to $8,000 exceeding the value of the vehicle, pollution caused from battery recycling, the high cost of retrofitting charging stations into existing strata buildings, and the need in some parts of rural B.C. to continue to use more-powerful gas and diesel-powered heavy duty trucks. Rob Shaw reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Key State Certification Denied For SW Oregon's Jordan Cove Natural Gas Export Project
Oregon environmental regulators delivered a blow Monday to a controversial energy export proposal on Oregon’s south coast, saying the Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas pipeline and terminal project falls short of meeting clean water standards. The state Department of Environmental Quality announced in a press release its decision that Jordan Cove doesn’t meet standards required under the 401 Water Quality Certification program, which regulates the extent to which projects like this can pollute or otherwise degrade waterways. For Jordan Cove, this would include impacts to rivers and streams from pipeline crossings, dredging, filling in wetlands and stormwater runoff. Jes Burns reports. (OPB)

It's 'All Hands On Deck' To Protect Columbia River Salmon From Invasive Northern Pike
Northern pike are some of the most troubling aquatic invasive species in the Northwest. So far, they haven’t made it past Washington’s Lake Roosevelt. Two dams stand in their way. And lots of people trying to stop them. If the fish make it past Chief Joseph Dam on the Columbia River, they could greatly harm imperiled salmon downstream. Courtney Flatt reports. (NW Public Broadcasting)

A dead gray whale has washed up on an Everett beach
Beachgoers gathered around a 43-foot-long gray whale Monday, examining the barnacles on its back and the scars in its rubbery skin. The creature washed ashore Sunday near Harborview Park. The Everett Police Department and the state Department of Fish and Wildlife are planning to have the carcass towed at high tide on Tuesday to Camano Island, where it will be left to decompose, said Michael Milstein, a spokesperson for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He did not know the exact destination on Camano. Julia-Grace Sanders reports. (Everett Herald)



Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  253 AM PDT Tue May 7 2019   
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS EVENING   
TODAY  W wind 5 to 15 kt rising to 15 to 25 kt in the  afternoon. Wind waves 1 to 2 ft building to 2 to 4 ft in the  afternoon. W swell 4 ft at 8 seconds. 
TONIGHT  W wind 15 to 25 kt easing to 5 to 15 kt after  midnight. Wind waves 2 to 4 ft subsiding to 2 ft or less after  midnight. W swell 5 ft at 8 seconds.

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