4/8 Mice, Skagit dam study, sewage spills, port emissions Coquitlam habitat, oil spill cleanup, benthos babies, PT MSC

Western Harvest Mouse [NPS]

 
Mice
There are over 70 species of mice and rats widely distributed across North America. Washington is home to 12 of these species including, nine native species: Great Basin Pocket Mouse, Kangaroo Rat, Western and Pacific Jumping Mice, Bushy-tailed Woodrat, Northern Grasshopper Mouse, Deer Mouse, Keen’s Mouse and the Western Harvest Mouse and three non-native or introduced species: House Mouse, Norway Rat and Black Rat. (PAWS)

Seattle City Light submits revised dam study plan to regulatory agency 
Seattle City Light announced Wednesday that in response to requests from the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe and other stakeholders it has broadened its study plan for the relicensing of its Skagit River dams. The utility said the revised study plan it submitted Wednesday morning to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) doubles its financial commitment to at least $20 million and increases the number of topics to be studied to 33. Kimberly Cauvel reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

Heavier rainfall to cost Seattle area billions to avoid sewage spills
More-intense storms are expected to cost the Seattle area billions of dollars in coming decades — and that doesn't include the potential for more flooding or landslides. The extra billions would be needed to build sewage treatment plants big enough to handle heavier runoff as the climate changes. John Ryan reports. (KUOW)

Pacific Northwest ports unveil cross-border pact to cut emissions
The ports of Seattle and Tacoma, their Northwest Seaport Alliance container shipping joint venture, and the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority in Canada are adopting a voluntary joint plan to phase out emissions by 2050. The collaboration, unveiled Wednesday by leaders of the four publicly owned port agencies, has been named the Northwest Ports Clean Air Strategy. Officials said they will seek to meet their targets through changes in equipment, fuels and port infrastructure. Andrew McIntosh reports. (PS Business Journal)

Sensitive salmon habitat in Coquitlam damaged by vandalism, extra traffic
The City of Coquitlam is asking people to stick to park trails after sensitive salmon habitat in a city creek was damaged by vandalism and extra traffic.  In late March, rocks and sandbags were found in a culvert that feeds into Maple Creek's off-channel pond. (CBC)

U.S. salvage firm hired to assess shipwreck leaking oil off Vancouver Island
(3/31) The federal government is calling on the services of a U.S. ship-salvaging firm as officials continue to grapple with a historic shipwreck that’s been leaking oil for months off Vancouver Island. Fisheries and Oceans Minister Bernadette Jordan announced Wednesday that Ottawa had awarded a $7-million contract to the Florida-based Resolve Marine Group... The 150-metre cargo ship MV Schiedyk ran aground and sank in Nootka Sound, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, in January 1968. The wreck lay dormant for decades until last fall when a two-kilometre oil slick was suddenly visible on the ocean’s surface near Bligh Island, part of an ecologically sensitive marine park. Todd Coyne reports. (CTV)

Babies of the Benthos – Worm Edition
Spring is finally here, and life in Pacific Northwest forests, farms, and backyards is beginning to replenish itself after the long winter. While spring might bring to mind chirping chicks and fuzzy bunnies, marine mud-dwellers are busy proliferating too, in ways vertebrates only dream of. In this Critter edition, let’s dive into the “birds and the bees” of benthic worms, and the resulting faces that only a mother (or an invertebrate taxonomist) could love. Jimmy Norris writes. (Dept of Ecology)

Port Townsend Marine Science Center partially reopens
The Port Townsend Marine Science Center Aquarium and Museum staff are eagerly looking forward to Saturday. That’s when the two exhibits will be reopened to the public on a limited basis. The center was closed on March 10, 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, reopened for a few weeks in the fall, and closed again until this weekend, when hours will be from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, with reservations required. (Peninsula Daily News)

Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  300 AM PDT Thu Apr 8 2021   
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH THIS EVENING   
TODAY  W wind 15 to 20 kt. Wind waves 1 to 3 ft. W swell 8 ft  at 7 seconds. 
TONIGHT  W wind 5 to 15 kt becoming SW to 10 kt after midnight.  Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell 5 ft at 9 seconds.

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