12/10 Pine siskin, PS overview, Big Bar, WA crab closure, Van bag ban, bullet train, Arctic oil, SnoCo reorg, bighorn sheep, redwoods, psilocybin, whale sounds

Pine Siskin [Alan Fritzberg]

 
Pine Siskin Spinus pinus
This nomadic finch ranges widely and erratically across the continent each winter in response to seed crops. Better suited to clinging to branch tips than to hopping along the ground, these brown-streaked acrobats flash yellow wing markings as they flutter while feeding or as they explode into flight. Flocks are gregarious, and you may hear their insistent wheezy twitters before you see them. Listen for a distinctive, harsh "watch-winding" call (also likened to the sound of slowly tearing a sheet of paper in two) amidst their constant flock twitters. (All About Birds)

Summary of 2019 Puget Sound environment from the Puget Sound Partnership
A condensed summary of the Puget Sound Partnership's Marine Waters 2019 Overview  (2.5 minute read) thanks to Al Bergstein. (Olympic Peninsula Environmental News)

$176M permanent salmon fishway announced for Big Bar landslide site on B.C.'s Fraser River 
The federal government is spending $176 million to install a permanent fishway through the site of the Big Bar landslide on the Fraser River north of Lillooet, B.C.  Design and construction work is expected to begin this winter with an operational date set for the start of the early 2022 salmon runs. It's believed the massive landslide in B.C.'s southern Interior occurred in late October or early November 2018, but it wasn't discovered until June of 2019 when early returning salmon had already arrived at the site. Karin Larsen reports. (CBC)

Marine toxin closes most of Washington coast to Dungeness crab fishing
A large portion of Washington’s coast is closed to Dungeness crab fishing due to elevated marine toxin levels, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife announced on Wednesday. The agency says all recreational Dungeness crab fisheries from the Queets River to the Columbia River are closed, KOMO-TV reports. This includes Grays Harbor and the Westport Boat Basin. Commercial Dungeness crab fisheries along the coast, in Grays Harbor, Willapa Bay, and the Columbia River are also closed until further notice. (Associated Press)

Vancouver pushes plastic bag ban, disposable cup fee to 2022 due to COVID-19 pressure on businesses
Businesses in Vancouver will be able to give out plastic bags and free disposable cups for another year. Council passed a motion delaying previously approved changes on those items until Jan. 1, 2022, instead of the original Jan. 1, 2021. Justin McElroy reports. (CBC)

Cascadia bullet train: Go for it or 'kill this thing'? 
A new government report on high speed rail in the Pacific Northwest recommends that Oregon, Washington and British Columbia formalize their interest in a Cascadia bullet train by creating an independent body to plan and eventually build it. But a critic associated with a conservative think tank responded that the region should take heed of California's high speed rail woes and put a spike in the Cascadia bullet train ambitions. Tom Banse reports. (NW News Network)

ARCTIC: Exxon Valdez 2.0? Trump oil plan sparks fears
The Trump administration's push to ease drilling regulations in the Arctic region as it leaves office may be one of the final nods to the oil and gas sector from a pro-oil administration that's paid particular attention to access in Alaska. But in the far north, the proposal is perceived as risky by experts. Still unpublished, the proposed changes would eliminate nearly half of the provisions penned during the Obama administration to mitigate against oil spills and revise others, according to an Interior Department fact sheet. President Trump's plan would make it easier for operators that currently hold leases in the Beaufort Sea to explore there and give them better access to operational extensions. It would also eliminate overlap with EPA regulations by cutting Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement oversight on some drilling practices. Heather Richards reports. (E&E News)

Snohomish County to form new Conservation and Natural Resources department
Snohomish County is creating a new department of Conservation and Natural Resources which will consolidate the Parks, Recreation, and Tourism department with Surface Water Management, Energy and Sustainability, and Agriculture offices. The Marine Resources Committee [MRC] will continue to be a service of Surface Water Management with no changes proposed to the MRC. (Snohomish County)

Wildlife advocates say feds must do more to protect bighorn sheep
Bighorn sheep in Central Washington could be in danger if domestic sheep continue to graze nearby. That’s the concern from two groups suing the U.S. Forest Service. Domestic sheep or goats can pass a deadly bacteria to bighorns. Environmental groups WildEarth Guardians and the Western Watersheds Project say that’s why there’s cause for concern in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, where about half of Washington’s bighorns roam the landscape. Courtney Flatt reports. (NW News Broadcasting)

They’re Among the World’s Oldest Living Things. The Climate Crisis Is Killing Them
California’s epic wildfires in 2020 took deadly aim at the state’s most beloved trees. In a relative instant, countless ancient redwoods, hundreds of giant sequoias and more than one million Joshua trees perished. The blackened wreckage sends a clear message. These trees are in the fight of their lives. John Branch reports. (NY Times)

Some doctors, therapists get Health Canada permission to use magic mushrooms
Four months after it allowed a handful of palliative care patients to use psilocybin as a way to relieve end-of-life suffering, Health Canada has cleared the way for more than a dozen health professionals to use the psychedelic drug themselves to help develop therapies for future use. Health Canada says it granted 16 exemptions to a selection of nurses, doctors, therapists and social workers, allowing them to possess and use psilocybin for personal training without fear of prosecution under the country's drug laws.  Kate Dubinski reports. (CBC)

The Military Wants to Hide Covert Messages in Marine Mammal Sounds
The human fascination with hiding military messages in whale and dolphin sounds has led to US military Cold War experiments and modern Chinese research. Jeremy Hsu reports. (Hakai Magazine)

Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  234 AM PST Thu Dec 10 2020   
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 10 AM PST THIS MORNING  THROUGH LATE TONIGHT  
TODAY  SE wind 10 to 20 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell  7 ft at 12 seconds. A chance of rain in the afternoon. 
TONIGHT  SW wind 10 to 20 kt. Wind waves 1 to 3 ft. W swell  7 ft at 12 seconds building to 10 ft at 13 seconds after  midnight. Showers likely in the evening. A slight chance of  tstms. A chance of showers after midnight.

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"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to msato (@) salishseacom.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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