9/15 Tansy ragwort, smoke, Electron Dam, Antarctic glaciers, Tla'amin covid, border closure, marine wildlife hospital, fishing junk, seaweed, extinction

Oregon branded skipper on tansy ragwort [Ann Potter]

 
Toxic tansy ragwort is having a boom year
Pernicious, invasive and even sometimes deadly for livestock, tansy ragwort has enjoyed a booming bloom this summer in Whatcom, Skagit and San Juan counties and across the rest of western Washington and Oregon. Local weed boards and landowners seeking to eradicate the weed say they are finding more sites than ever this year. Tansy ragwort contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids, chemicals which can build up in an animal’s liver and eventually prove fatal. At least one farm animal in the area has died from tansy ragwort poisoning this year, according to Joseph Shea, coordinator of the Skagit County Weed Board. Alex Meacham reports. (Salish Sea Current) See also: Rampant tansey causing a weed 'pandemic'   Jesse Darland reports. (Kitsap Sun)

Rain not much help: Thick smoke to last into Thursday
The sound of raindrops might never have sounded better to a region covered in dangerous levels of thick smoke for a fifth day, but while it was a nice reminder of cleaner days, unfortunately it's not enough to make much of a difference. Think of it as emerging falling into a bog being covered head to toe in thick mud, then trying to clean off with a small squirt gun. In fact, the news gets even worse -- a shift to more southerly winds on Wednesday may bring up even a little more smoke from the Oregon wildfires to add in to our cauldron of hazy gunk. Is it October yet? Scott Sistek reports. (KOMO)

Electron Dam should come down 'as soon as possible,' Pierce County executive says
Pierce County is taking steps to remove the Electron Dam on the Puyallup River following a spew of crumb rubber and plastic debris into the river by the dam’s owners, Electron Hydro. Citing “inexcusable environmental harm” and “irresponsible management” by dam owner Electron Hydro, Pierce County Executive Bruce Dammeier Monday issued a letter imposing a series of steps the owners must take to clean up the mess and secure the dam site for the winter. Lynda Mapes reports. (Seattle Times)

Two major Antarctic glaciers are tearing loose from their restraints, scientists say
Two Antarctic glaciers that have long kept scientists awake at night are breaking free from the restraints that have hemmed them in, increasing the threat of large-scale sea-level rise. Located along the coast of the Amundsen Sea in West Antarctica, the enormous Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers already contribute around 5 percent of global sea-level rise. The survival of Thwaites has been deemed so critical that the United States and Britain have launched a targeted multimillion-dollar research mission to the glacier. The loss of the glacier could trigger the broader collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet, which contains enough ice to eventually raise seas by about 10 feet. The new findings, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, come from analysis of satellite images. Chris Mooney reports. (Washington Post)

COVID-19: Cases double in Coast Salish First Nations community
Tla’amin Nation Chief Clint Williams will meet officials Wednesday and decide whether to delay an election this Saturday, as COVID-19 numbers double and heavy smoke tests its members. The Tla’amin Nation outbreak is the second largest of any Indigenous community in B.C., after the 26-case Haida Gwaii outbreak that was declared over at the end of August. The Tla’amin Nation is located on the upper Sunshine Coast. David Carrigg reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Why many Canadians support the Canada-U.S. border closure, despite the costs
Canadian support for keeping the border closed to Americans remains strong, despite a decline in new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and a decimated tourism industry. A new poll by pollster Research Co. found that out of 1,000 Canadians surveyed online at the end of August, a whopping 90 per cent agreed with the current Canada-U.S. border closure to non-essential traffic. The show of support comes at a time when several Canadian border cities are licking their wounds over a loss of U.S. tourism. Nevertheless, they're maintaining their support for the border closure, to help stop the spread of COVID-19 from the country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths. Sophia Harris reports. (CBC)

Washington state is getting a new marine wildlife hospital
asey Mclean looks out over a 14,000-acre construction site in the shadows of residential buildings and boatyards of Des Moines, 30 minutes south of Seattle. Right now, it looks like the world’s smallest state fair in mid setup, with a large tent and modular building free of decoration, but the bones of what will be the state’s first large speciality marine wildlife hospital are all there, oriented around the facility’s hallmarks: two deep rehab pools designed to hold 2,000-pound animals... As a veterinary nurse and executive director of Sea Life Response Rehab and Research (SR3), the facility represents the culmination of nine years of work for her team. When it opens in a month or two, Mclean believes the hospital could serve about 100 animals a year, where they can receive medical treatment, recuperate and learn to eat on their own before going back to sea. Hannah Weinberger reports. (Crosscut)

‘Tons and tons of fishing equipment’: B.C. tour operators clean up ocean debris during coronavirus pandemic
Waste from fishing industry accounts for about 70 per cent of garbage collected in 61-tonne haul, according to captain on expedition supported by provincial government. Matt Simmons reports. (The Narwhal)

Scientists Use Seaweeds to Travel Back in Time
.... In recent years...scientists have discovered several new ways of extracting data from century-old pressed algae—and they’re being used to solve a suite of marine mysteries, including the cause of Monterey Bay’s devastating sardine fishery crash. In a new study published this past June, researchers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium examined a collection of dried, pressed seaweeds—dating back over 140 years—to learn what ocean conditions in the bay were like in the early 19th century. Annie Roth reports. (Hakai Magazine)

Extinction: Urgent change needed to save species, says UN
Humanity is at a crossroads and we have to take action now to make space for nature to recover and slow its "accelerating decline". This is according to a report by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. It sets out a bullet point list of eight major transitions that could help stop the ongoing decline in nature. Victoria Gill reports. (BBC)

Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  230 AM PDT Tue Sep 15 2020   
TODAY  SE wind 5 to 15 kt in the morning becoming light. Wind  waves 2 ft or less. SW swell 6 ft at 9 seconds. Smoke. A chance  of showers. 
TONIGHT  Light wind becoming SE to 10 kt after midnight. Wind  waves 1 ft or less. SW swell 5 ft at 9 seconds. Smoke. A chance  of showers.

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