12/17 Holly, BC emissions, hooligan decline, sunflower sea stars, Vic sewage, orca habitat, newsrooms unionizing

English holly [King County]

English holly Ilex aquifolium
English holly is a large, dense, slow-growing evergreen tree or shrub found from natural areas to native forests. Plants reach 15-50 feet tall and 15 feet wide. 1-3-inch-long, thick, glossy, dark green, wavy, and usually spiny leaves grow alternate on stems. Small, whitish, sweetly scented flowers lead in winter to red, yellow, or orange berries. Berries are poisonous to humans and pets. Reproduces mainly by seed, but also spreads vegetatively via suckering and layering. Birds eat the berries and spread the seeds to new areas. In King County, English holly is classified as a Weed of Concern and its control is recommended in natural areas that are being restored to native vegetation and in protected forest lands. (King County) 

B.C. sets new 2025 emissions target after falling behind on climate goals
The British Columbia government is setting a new target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 2025 after determining it is further from reaching its goals than previously forecast. The new emissions target requires greenhouse gases in B.C. to fall 16 per cent below 2007 levels within the next five years. It also provides benchmarks to reach the province's legislated emission targets for 2030, 2040 and 2050 of 40, 60 and 80 per cent below 2007 levels, respectively. (Canadian Press)

Once hearty 'hooligans' declining in the Salish Sea
A river spawning species of forage fish known as the longfin smelt is rare and getting rarer in the Salish Sea. Biologists are looking into the mysterious decline of the ‘hooligans’ of Bellingham Bay. Eric Wagner reports. (Puget Sound Institute)

5.7B sunflower sea stars have died in past decade, bringing species to brink of extinction
New research shows that more than 90 per cent of sunflower sea stars off the West Coast have died over the past decade, and the species is close to extinction. The study, led by Oregon State University, the Nature Conservancy and over 60 partner institutions led by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, estimates that as many as 5.75 billion sunflower sea stars have died since 2013. The loss represents a 90.5 per cent decline. Roshini Nair reports. (CBC)

Long-awaited, long-debated new wastewater plant ends Victoria's dumping of untreated sewage
After decades of debate, delay and denunciations, the Capital Regional District this week officially ended the practice of releasing untreated sewage directly into the ocean near Victoria. Four years of construction and several weeks of testing on the McLoughlin Point Wastewater Treatment Plant in Esquimalt, B.C., were completed just in time to meet the federal government requirement for a functioning facility before the end of 2020. (CBC)

Lawsuit Launched Over Stalled Habitat Protection for Endangered West Coast Orcas
The Center for Biological Diversity filed a notice of intent to sue the federal government today [12/16] for its failure to finalize expanded habitat protections for critically endangered Southern Resident killer whales, whose population has dipped to just 74 orcas. The National Marine Fisheries Service proposed designating 15,627 square miles of new critical habitat in September 2019. The rule would expand current protections in Washington’s Salish Sea south along the coasts of Washington, Oregon and California to Point Sur. The proposed rule followed an April 2019 court-ordered agreement after the Center sued the Trump administration in 2018 for failing to issue habitat protections required by the Endangered Species Act. The Act requires agencies to finalize proposed rules within one year. Today’s notice letter gives the Fisheries Service 60 days to comply. (Center for Biological Diversity News Release)

The News Tribune, The Olympian, The Bellingham Herald, and  the Tri-City Herald journalists seek to unionize
Journalists at The News Tribune in Tacoma, The Olympian, The Bellingham Herald, and the Tri-City Herald are unionizing.  Nearly 90 percent of eligible reporters, visual journalists and digital staff at the newspapers, all owned by the McClatchy Company, have signed cards authorizing representation by The Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild of The NewsGuild-CWA. (Washington State NewsGuild News Release)

Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  231 AM PST Thu Dec 17 2020   
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE TONIGHT   
TODAY  NW wind 20 to 30 kt becoming W 15 to 25 kt in the  afternoon. Wind waves 3 to 5 ft. W swell 14 ft at 12 seconds. A  slight chance of rain in the morning. 
TONIGHT  W wind 10 to 20 kt becoming S 5 to 15 kt after  midnight. Wind waves 1 to 3 ft. W swell 13 ft at 12 seconds  subsiding to 10 ft at 11 seconds after midnight. A slight chance  of rain in the evening then rain likely after midnight.

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