10/23 Oregon frog, minority government, Greta Thunberg, saving orcas, Kimberly-Clark property, sinking ships, Cooke Aqua Bainbridge, Trump's California water, Jim Ellis

Oregon spotted frog [Fish & Wildlife Service]

Oregon spotted frog Rana pretiosa
The Oregon spotted frog has been lost from at least 78 percent of its former range. Precise historic data is lacking, but this species has been documented in British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California. It is believed to have been extirpated (locally extinct but exists elsewhere) from California. It is currently known to occur from extreme southwestern British Columbia, south through the eastern side of the Puget Trough and in the Cascades Range from south-central Washington at least to Klamath Basin in southern Oregon. In Washington, the Oregon spotted frog is known to occur in Whatcom, Skagit, Thurston, Klickitat, and Skamania counties, although historically were also found in Snohomish, King, Pierce, and Clark counties. (USFWS/WAFWS)

What a Liberal minority government means for Canada’s environment
From the carbon tax to fossil fuel subsidies, here are eight things we can expect from a minority government. Well, well, well, the dust has settled (kind of) and Canada has a Liberal minority government...What we know is this: the Liberals need 13 extra seats to stay in power. As of Tuesday morning, the Conservatives won 121 seats, the NDP won 24 seats, the Bloc Quebecois won 32 seats and the Greens won three seats....Both the NDP and the Bloc have strong environmental platforms — arguably stronger than the Liberals — so if anything the Liberals can be expected to take a stronger stance on environmental issues. There’s much we don’t know, but here are a few things we can reasonably expect to happen on the environment file. Emma Gilchrist writes, 10/21. (The Narwhal) See also: As the dusts settles in Canada's elections, Trans Mountain Pipeline controversy rages on  Craig McCulloch reports. (KNKX)

Greta Thunberg to attend Vancouver climate strike, organizers say
Climate activist Greta Thunberg will be in Vancouver for a post-election climate strike in the city's downtown core on Friday, according to rally organizers. Thunberg, 16, has been abandoning school on Fridays in favour of climate demonstrations since August 2018. Her once-individual movement has grown into a worldwide youth effort, including climate strikes held in unison across Canada and the rest of the world to demand world leaders do more to combat the climate crisis. The Swedish activist will be outside the Vancouver Art Gallery for her 62nd school strike on Friday, according to Sustainabiliteens, a group of teenagers that has organized previous climate strikes in Vancouver. (CBC)

Learning how endangered orcas hunt could be the key to saving them
....Historically, our understanding of how that foraging journey actually works has been limited to what we can see at sea level: surface kills, fecal samples, discarded floating prey. Without being able to follow orcas underwater ourselves, the process of hunting was opaque. But in 2003, researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts developed a novel temporary tool to help researchers noninvasively track orcas throughout their day. About the size of a cellphone, “DTags” are effectively suction cup-based whale Fitbits. Once attached to a whale, they track whale movement patterns, depth and hunting sounds up to 1,150 feet underwater...NOAA’s scientists realized they had a shot at tracking, codifying and analyzing the breadth of orca foraging tactics to create a picture of an orca salmon hunt, from length of the hunt to types of behaviors used. Hannah Weinberger reports. (Crosscut)

Port of Everett secures mill property, inks shipyard lease
The Port of Everett has authorized a $33 million agreement to buy Kimberly-Clark’s former waterfront mill property as part of a plan to clean up a contaminated stretch of industrial shoreline for redevelopment. Port commissioners voted 3-0 Tuesday afternoon to authorize port CEO Lisa Lefeber to sign the deal. The port had been pursuing the purchase since the pulp mill closed nearly eight years ago...The deal is expected to close by December...Kimberly-Clark’s Everett pulp mill and tissue plant had been in operation for about 80 years when the Dallas-based company shut it down back in 2012. About 700 people lost jobs. Noah Haglund reports. (Everett Herald)

‘It’s a real peach,’ Whatcom home owner says after second derelict boat sinks
For the past three years, Sandy Point resident Howard Gilbert has endured looking at what remains of the F/V Coral Sea sitting on the bottom of the channel a couple of docks down from his house along Saltspring Drive...On Thursday morning, Oct. 17, Gilbert told The Bellingham Herald that he woke up to find the F/V Furious Sea, a 60-foot boat he said is derelict, taking on water while still tied to the dock right in front of the Coral Sea. Gilbert said he could see a sheen on the water from what he suspected is leaking oil and diesel on the boat. The dock is adjacent to an empty lot on Saltspring Drive on the Lummi Reservation...After the Furious Sea sank Thursday, Ecology put out a boom as a precaution against leaking hazardous materials from the vessel while it determined if there is any fuel was on board, Ecology’s Spill Prevention, Preparedness and Response Communications Manager Ty Keltner said. David Rasbach reports. (Bellingham Herald)

No Atlantic salmon released from sinking Cooke Aquaculture pen
The Washington State Department of Ecology said no Atlantic salmon were released into the waters near Bainbridge Island when a Cooke Aquaculture pen with the fish started to sink. On Sunday, a pen owned by Cooke Aquaculture started to sink near Fort Ward Park. The Department of Ecology said the salmon were not in the sinking portion of the pen, so they did not escape into Washington waters.  (KING)

Trump Administration Moves to Lift Protections for Fish and Divert Water to Farms
The Trump administration on Tuesday moved to weaken protections for a threatened California fish, a change that would allow large amounts of water to be diverted from the San Francisco Bay Delta to irrigate arid farmland and could harm the region’s fragile ecosystem. The plan, which administration officials expect to be finalized in January, is a major victory for a wealthy group of California farmers that had lobbied to weaken protections on the fish, the delta smelt. It also might intensify ethics questions about Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, who was the lobbyist for those farmers until just months before he joined the Trump administration. Federal investigators are looking into whether Mr. Bernhardt’s efforts at the Interior Department to weaken protections for the fish violated “revolving-door” rules designed to prevent former lobbyists from helping past clients from within the government. Investigators also are looking into whether he improperly continued lobbying for those farmers even after he de-registered as a lobbyist just before joining the Trump administration. Coral Davenport reports. (NY Times)

Jim Ellis, who preserved Washington's nature and spearheaded public works, dies at 98
James Reed “Jim” Ellis never held elected office in his 98 years, but his legacy as a citizen — cleaning up Lake Washington and preserving public land for King County residents — rivals that of some of King County’s most accomplished officials. Mr. Ellis died in his Bellevue home Monday, after spending his final evening surrounded by family, said his son, Robert Ellis...Mr. Ellis led the charge to clean up Lake Washington in the 1950s; sparked the formation of King County Metro that earned him the moniker “Father of Metro” in the 1960s; and drove “Forward Thrust,” a series of bond measures to fund highway improvements and public amenities including the Kingdome, fire departments, parks and trails, public swimming pools and a youth service center. He encouraged development of the convention center in downtown Seattle and founded the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving 1.5 million acres of land — most of it public — around the Interstate 90 corridor between Seattle and Ellensburg.  Michelle Baruchman reports. (Seattle Times)


Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  145 AM PDT Wed Oct 23 2019   
TODAY  Light wind becoming SE 5 to 15 kt in the afternoon. Wind  waves less than 1 ft becoming 2 ft or less in the afternoon. W  swell 6 ft at 10 seconds. 
TONIGHT  SE wind to 10 kt. Wind waves 1 ft or less. W swell  4 ft at 10 seconds.



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