7/8 Black bear, orca baby, orca return, Canadian monitoring, Skagit sockeye, drought, plant trees, treaty rights 101, B'ham waterfront, Miller Bay

Black bear [WDFW]

Black bear Ursus americanus
Black bears are common throughout Washington except for the non-forested areas of the Columbia basin. Black bears live in a diverse array of forested habitats in the state, from coastal rainforests to the dry woodlands of the Cascades’ eastern slopes. In general, black bears are strongly associated with forest cover, but they do occasionally use relatively open country, such as clearcuts and the fringes of other open habitat. On average, black bears in the Western U.S. weigh 100-300 pounds, with males larger than females. They stand approximately 2.5-3 feet at the shoulder when standing on all fours, and about 5 feet when standing upright. When on all fours, the black bear's rump is higher than its shoulders. (WDFW)

It's a girl: Researchers get closer look at J pod orca baby
A new baby orca born to J pod is a female, researchers have confirmed. The baby whale, probably born May 24, 2019, is designated J56 and her mother is J31, a 24-year-old. The birth of a female orca is particularly good news for the endangered southern residents. There are only 76 of the whales that frequent Puget Sound, and their births have been overwhelmingly male in recent years. The gender of another baby orca born to L pod in January still is not known. Lynda Mapes reports. (Seattle Times) See also: Southern resident orcas spotted in home waters off San Juan Island after unusual absence  Breaking an unprecedented run of days this summer without frequenting their home waters, J, K and even possibly L pod southern resident orcas were all seen Friday morning on the west side of San Juan Island. Lynda Mapes reports. (Seattle Times)

B.C. Civil Liberties Association to release CSIS papers on environmental groups
The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association is set to release what it calls a "trove" of heavily redacted documents disclosed by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service on Monday morning. They concern the BCCLA's allegation that CSIS was monitoring the organizing activities and peaceful protests of Indigenous groups and environmentalists who were opposed to the now-defunct Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline project. The civil liberties association complained to the Security Intelligence Review Committee in 2014, alleging CSIS was monitoring those opposed to the pipeline and sharing this information with the National Energy Board and petroleum industry companies. (Canadian Press)

Sockeye fishery a model of salmon recovery, sustainable food
Several small metal boats followed by drifting nets took turns late last week riding the Baker River’s flow from the Highway 20 bridge in Concrete down to its convergence with the Skagit River. As each group of two or three fishers hauled in their nets, they revealed varying numbers of shiny salmon; some just a handful, others a dozen or more. Then they waited their turn to return to the water. Kimberly Cauvel reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

Drought continues with fear of fire throughout Western Washington
Severe drought is settling in across most of Western Washington — including Kitsap County — where dry conditions raise the risks of wildfire, and low streamflows could impair salmon spawning this fall. Scattered showers and drizzle the past few days have done little to reverse a drying trend as we go into what is normally the driest period of the year, from now through August. As of today, the fire danger is moderate, but warmer weather could increase the risk substantially within a day or two. Chris Dunagan reports. (Watching Our Water Ways)

Best way to fight climate change? Plant a trillion trees
The most effective way to fight global warming is to plant lots of trees, a study says. A trillion of them, maybe more. And there’s enough room, Swiss scientists say. Even with existing cities and farmland, there’s enough space for new trees to cover 3.5 million square miles (9 million square kilometers), they reported in Thursday’s journal Science . That area is roughly the size of the United States. The study calculated that over the decades, those new trees could suck up nearly 830 billion tons (750 billion metric tons) of heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. That’s about as much carbon pollution as humans have spewed in the past 25 years. Seth Borenstein reports. (Associated Press)

Love the outdoors? You may need to take 'Treaty Rights 101'
Libby Halpin Nelson started leading what she calls “Treaty Rights 101” workshops in January. At the workshops, employees of environmental and outdoor recreation organizations spend a day learning about tribal history in the Pacific Northwest, what treaty rights are and how to work with tribes. Nelson, with the Tulalip Treaty Rights Office, said she launched the workshops because more people than ever are visiting Washington’s public lands. That’s making it difficult for local tribes to fish, hunt, and gather — activities guaranteed to them by treaty. Eilis O'Neill reports. (KUOW)

What’s next for Bellingham’s waterfront? Ecology releases a cleanup action plan
The Washington State Department of Ecology released a draft of a $4 million cleanup action plan for the Central Waterfront Site in Bellingham Wednesday. A 30-day public comment period on the plan opens Monday, July 8, and runs through Aug. 6. The cleanup site is made up of approximately 51 acres on Bellingham’s downtown waterfront, between the I & J Waterway and the Whatcom Waterway and between Roeder Avenue and the former Georgia-Pacific industrial wastewater treatment lagoon. The land, which is owned by the Port of Bellingham, Sanitary Service Company and Puget Sound Energy, was created in the early 1900s by filling tidelands for various industrial uses. David Rasbach reports. (Bellingham Herald)

State awards nearly $2M to recreation projects in Skagit County
From Blanchard Mountain with its waterfront views in west Skagit County to Snowy Lakes in the easternmost reach of the county, the state Recreation and Conservation Funding Board is providing about $2 million for recreation improvement projects.... The grants awarded for projects in Skagit County are part of a $126 million package for 2019-21. Here, the funding will support development of sports fields, trailheads, lake access and campgrounds on state, county and local lands. Kimberly Cauvel reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

Groups angling to purchase site on Miller Bay for nature preserve
Paul Dorn gradually fights his way up a steep embankment along Miller Bay Road, loose dirt slipping under his feet and knees as he scrambles to the top.... Eventually he makes it to the roadside and looks back down on a chunk of a 13-acre piece of property he and the community group Friends of Miller Bay are hoping to see maintained forever as a nature preserve. The fact that accessing part of the property requires a slide down a slope is a bit inconvenient but part of its beauty, in their eyes: It’s completely undeveloped, there are no driveways or established trails other than bear paths, and the site is dominated by trees and underbrush. Nathan Pilling reports. (Kitsap Sun)


Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  258 AM PDT Mon Jul 8 2019   
TODAY  W wind to 10 kt becoming NW 10 to 20 kt in the  afternoon. Wind waves 1 ft or less building to 1 to 3 ft in the  afternoon. SW swell 3 ft at 19 seconds. 
TONIGHT  W wind 10 to 20 kt easing to 10 kt after midnight.  Wind waves 1 to 3 ft subsiding to 1 ft or less after midnight. SW  swell 3 ft at 19 seconds.



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