11/18 Amphissa, Burnaby salmon, Puget Sound kelp, dam removal, Bezos Earth Fund, global warming, WA climate champs, Trump's ANWR, RIP Lootas, border

Wrinkled amphissa [Dave Cowles]

 
Wrinkled amphissa Amphissa columbiana
Ranges from Kodiak Island, Alaska to San Pedro, California.  Common in the Puget Sound area and the outer Northwest coast. Found on rocky to muddy beaches and subtidally on many substrates. This species is mainly a scavenger on dead flesh and dead algae, which it uses its long siphon to find. It turns and flees rapidly when it encounters the seastars Pisaster ochraceus or Leptasterias hexactis.  If several tube feet have attached to the shell, the snail dislodges the tube feet with its proboscis.  When moving, a single muscular wave moves along the snail's foot from front to back.  They climb well, and often rear up on the back of the foot to feel for new substrate. (Walla Walla University)

Burnaby streams see 'pretty decent' salmon run after years of rehabilitation
At nearly 70 years of age, Mark Angelo is still filled with delight when he sees salmon swimming up the streams in Burnaby, B.C., where he lives. "It's very, very special, and we're very lucky to live in a city where we can see things like that," said Angelo, chair and founder of World Rivers Day. The creeks suffered major damage and pollution throughout the history of urban development in the region, but salmon have been returning in recent years, along with all of the life that depends on them. Rafferty Baker reports. (CBC)

Puget Sound kelp need your help; kelp beds disappearing throughout area
An effort is underway with federal, state, and local government agencies, nonprofits, and tribes to save the Puget Sound’s kelp. The stakeholders include, among others, the Northwest Straits Commission, NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, the Puget Sound Restoration Fund, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, and Marine Agronomics. The Kelp Plan seeks to track and monitor the recession of kelp, raise awareness of the problem, create kelp protection areas, restore kelp beds, and encourage people to do their part to stop the trend. Nichole Jennings writes. (My Northwest)

Plan revived for dam removal on Klamath River in Oregon, California
After months of uncertainty, plans are once again moving forward to remove four dams on the Klamath River in Southern Oregon and Northern California. The governors of both states announced a new deal Tuesday with dam owner PacifiCorp and the Karuk and Yurok tribes. It revives plans for the largest river restoration in U.S. history, which had been floundering since a problematic federal regulatory decision last summer. Jes Burns reports. (OPB) See also: The rebirth of a historic river  For over a century, one of the most important salmon runs in the United States has had to contend with historic dams – and now four of them are set to be taken down. Alexander Matthews reports. (BBC)

Bezos Earth Fund gives nearly $800 million to climate groups in first round of grants
In its first round of grants, the $10 billion Bezos Earth Fund will award $791 million to 16 environmental organizations largely focused on researching and implementing ways to reduce carbon emissions, build green jobs and restore wildlife. The funding round announced Monday was remarkably large for an organization that does not have a website and has not published a list of staff, named a director or released instructions on how to apply for grants. Five big-name environmental nonprofits — the Nature Conservancy, Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Defense Fund, World Resources Institute and World Wildlife Fund — each received $100 million. Those grants will fund projects that track and mitigate the effects of climate change, including by protecting and restoring mangroves, developing satellite fleets to monitor carbon dioxide and methane emissions and electrifying U.S. school buses. Katherine Khashimova Long reports. (Seattle Times)

Global Warming by the Numbers, Because This Week Is Too Much
Sometimes the human trauma of the climate crisis is too painful to recite, and this is one of those times: the busiest hurricane season ever recorded is continuing on into the late fall, with consequences so horrifying one can hardly stand to look. Bill McKibbon writes. (The New Yorker)

Advocates say election outcome means more ‘climate champions’ headed to Olympia
Climate action advocates say they’re hopeful they’ll see more success in Olympia, when lawmakers return to session. “In the Legislature, there was no net gain — no change for the partisan split of either the House or the Senate,” said Vlad Gutman-Britten, the Washington Director of Climate Solutions...But Gutman-Britten says this election provided a net gain of what he calls "climate champions" headed to Olympia. These are lawmakers they feel they can count on to join them in pushing the state for reforms to advance their agenda. He counted at least two of them, including Sen.-elect T’wina Nobles, representing South Tacoma and Pierce County. Bellamy Paithorp reports. (KNKX)

Trump Plan to Sell Arctic Oil Leases Will Face Challenges
Even if in its waning days the Trump administration succeeds in selling oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, the leases may never be issued, legal and other experts said Tuesday. The leases would face strong and likely insurmountable headwinds from two directions: the incoming Biden administration and the courts, they said. Henry Fountain and John Schwartz report. (NY Times)

Seattle Aquarium's oldest sea otter, Lootas, dies at 23
The Seattle Aquarium’s oldest sea otter, Lootas, died Sunday at age 23. She was the oldest living sea otter in a North American aquarium or zoo. Lootas came to the aquarium in 1997 after her mother was killed in a boating accident in Alaska. Aquarium staff raised her by hand but didn’t know if she’d be able to be part of the breeding program, said Traci Belting, a curator of birds and mammals for the aquarium. At that point, human-raised otters hadn’t successfully given birth to pups that had lived to adulthood. Taylor Blatchford reports. (Seattle Times)

U.S.-Canada border closure likely to be 'with us for a while'
The most recent extension of the U.S.-Canada border closure expires...November 21, but no one expects the restrictions to be lifted then. First implemented in March, the closure of the land and sea border to nonessential crossings have been extended monthly by mutual agreement between Ottawa and the Trump administration. In an interview with public radio on Tuesday, Canadian ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman declined to speculate when the border might reopen, but it won't be soon. Tom Banse reports. (NW News Network)

Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  250 AM PST Wed Nov 18 2020   
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE TONIGHT   
TODAY  SE wind 5 to 15 kt becoming SW in the afternoon. Wind  waves 2 ft or less. SW swell 10 ft at 11 seconds. Rain in the  morning then a chance of rain in the afternoon. 
TONIGHT  W wind 15 to 25 kt easing to 10 to 20 kt after  midnight. Wind waves 2 to 4 ft. SW swell 7 ft at 10 seconds. Rain  likely in the evening then a slight chance of rain after  midnight.

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