7/23 Sea cuke, nighthawk, Fraser slide, sewage, Tacoma LNG, butterflies, herring, Brinnon resort

Giant sea cucumber [Kathy Bouic/Dive Bums]

Giant sea cucumber Parastichopus californicus
Our larges sea cucumber, averaging 16 inches long. Very common sub tidally; often seen in low tide pools or crevices of rocky beaches... Moves on tube-feet in three rows along lower body. Can rear up and swim with slow undulations when approached by Sunflower Star. Cleans detritus from mop like tentacles surrounding the mouth. (Marine Wildlife of Puget Sound, the San Juans, and the Strait of Georgia)

Reader Rick Haley writes about yesterday's item about killdeer: "Killdeer are OK at the distraction thing, but a common nighthawk’s display to lure you from the nest puts the killdeer to shame.... If a killdeer has one broken wing, a nighthawk has two broken wings, messed up legs, and just flops around in the dirt (but leading you away from the nest) until you get close, when it suddenly takes flight vertically right in front of you."

Crews to blast away huge rock in Fraser River to help migrating salmon
Work crews around the site of a massive rock slide in the Fraser River will be blasting away a large overhanging rock in an effort to avoid future slides. A joint information bulletin from the B.C. government and Department of Fisheries and Oceans says a rock-scaling crew has drilled 50 holes in the rock to facilitate the controlled detonation. It says the blast has been carefully designed to restrict the size of rocks that will detach, which prevents harming the fish that may be in the river below. (Canadian Press)

Vancouver Park Board targets untreated sewage in waterways
Vancouver's desire to be considered one of the greenest city's in the world appears to be threatened by its dirty secret — untreated sewage in its waterways. On Monday night, the park board voted to request the City of Vancouver to prioritize sewer infrastructure plans within 10 years to improve water quality in Burrard Inlet, False Creek, the Fraser River and other waterways. As the city hits prime warm weather, four beaches have been closed due to high E. Coli bacteria levels. (CBC) See also: Clallam County health board hears objections to proposed septic fee  Jesse Major reports. (Peninsula Daily News) And:  Discovery Park, Kitsap beaches reopen Monday after sewage spills  Elise Takahara reports. (Seattle Times)

Public encouraged to weigh in on Tacoma's LNG facility
The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency has approved a permit application for the new liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility on the Tacoma Tide Flats. Puget Sound Energy said the $300 million plant will help control greenhouse gas emissions by providing cleaner fuel alternatives. The Puget Sound Energy Tacoma LNG facility would receive natural gas and chill it to produce between 250,000 and 500,000 gallons of LNG daily... Puget Sound Clean Air Agency said the proposal for the LNG facility “meets all of the Agency Regulations.”... The public is invited to weigh in on the facility from July 22 to Sept. 9. (KING)

Data being gathered on alpine butterflies
Butterflies of orange, white and blue that hovered above the wildflowers on Sauk Mountain last week caught the eyes of hikers on the trail to the mountain’s peak. A group of five members of the Cascades Butterfly Project, with long white nets at the ready and the occasional call of “Butterfly!,” also drew the attention of passersby....The volunteers with the Cascades Butterfly Project are involved with research that aims to study how butterfly species and their numbers in the alpine meadows of the Cascade Range change as the global climate warms. Kimberly Cauvel reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

Ancient harvests: A history of Salish Sea herring
For many decades, archaeologists, anthropologists, and ethnographers working in Puget Sound, the Salish Sea, and the Northwest Coast would have said that salmon were by far the most crucial food resource for those who lived in this region. So ingrained was this idea that Canadian archaeologist Gregory Monks coined the term “salmonopia” to describe the narrow focus on salmon and how it had long biased researchers away from herring and other foods. Recently, though, a shift has started to occur as researchers have begun to expand their vision beyond the Northwest’s most famous food. In 2014, an international team released a study that examined 171 archaeological sites spanning the past 10,700 years of human history. Herring were the most numerous fish specimen in 55 percent of the sites and the most commonly found fish, occurring in all but two of the sites, which ranged from Puget Sound to southeast Alaska. The researchers concluded that herring were “both widespread across the coast and a mainstay of ecological and socio-ecological systems over the Holocene.” David B. Williams writes. (Salish Sea Currents)

Amendments pass for Master Planned Resort near Brinnon
The Jefferson Board of County Commissioners approved an amendment to the Pleasant Harbor Master Planned Resort on Monday to adhere to a Kitsap County Superior Court’s reversal last March. The amendment added a community center and a nine-hole golf course to the plan, as well as other minor editing changes and wording updates....The MPR is a source of controversy within Jefferson County, as multiple citizens have been vocal about their disapproval of the resort. In April 2018, more than 70 members spoke during at public hearing and an additional 200 submitted written comments against the creation of the resort for a variety of reasons. Zach Jablonski reports. (Peninsula Daily News)


Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  256 AM PDT Tue Jul 23 2019   
TODAY  W wind to 10 kt rising to 10 to 20 kt in the afternoon.  Wind waves 1 ft or less building to 1 to 3 ft in the afternoon. W  swell 3 ft at 7 seconds. 
TONIGHT  W wind 10 to 20 kt becoming 5 to 15 kt after midnight.  Wind waves 1 to 3 ft. W swell 4 ft at 6 seconds. A slight chance  of showers after midnight.



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