6/10 Beach pea, Keystone XL, Fairy Cr old growth, gray whales, Nootka Sound shipwreck, Biden's wetlands, oceans 5

Beach pea [Mary Jo Adams]

 
Beach pea Lathyrus japonicus
The beach pea, a member of the legume or pea family, can be found among drift logs and other sandy areas of the backshore along the American West Coast from Alaska to California.  It is also present along the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Coast of the U.S., and in Chile, and Japan.  In the Pacific Northwest it is a native species and flowers from May until September. Other common names for this species are sea pea and sand pea. (Mary Jo Adams/Sound Water Stewards)

Keystone XL pipeline developer pulls plug on controversial project
The firm behind the Keystone XL pipeline officially scrapped the project on Wednesday, months after President Biden revoked a cross-border permit for the controversial pipeline and more than a decade after political wrangling over its fate began. The pipeline, which would have stretched from Alberta’s boreal forests to the refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast, became the center of a broader controversy over climate change, pipeline safety, eminent domain and jobs. Those same concerns have spawned similar battles to stop pipelines in states including Montana, Minnesota and Virginia, part of an effort to keep fossil fuels in the ground. Brady Dennis Steven Mufson report. (Washington Post)

B.C. agrees to defer old-growth logging for 2 years in Fairy Creek and central Walbran areas
British Columbia has approved the request of three First Nations that want old-growth logging deferred for two years in part of their territories, including at the site of ongoing protests and arrests. Premier John Horgan said Wednesday the province has taken a transformative step in forestry and respecting the nations' land-management rights is part of its commitment to align policies with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The move is also in keeping with the government's adoption last September of recommendations of an independent panel, starting with the deferral of nearly 200,000 hectares of old-growth forests. Camille Bains reports. (Canadian Press)

A Group Of Gray Whales Survives Die-Off With An Annual Detour To Puget Sound
..Every spring, gray whales migrate up the West Coast, on an epic 6,000-mile trip from their breeding grounds in Mexico to the Alaskan Arctic, where they feed. After decades of conservation, the species came back from the brink of extinction caused by commercial hunting. Scientists are now monitoring what they call an unusual mortality event that's been reducing their population again. But, a small group is surviving the die-off by taking an annual detour into Puget Sound. Researches call this group the Sounders. Normally, gray whales wait till they get to the Arctic to eat. They feed on tiny crustaceans, all summer long. But for about 30 years now, researchers have observed this small group in North Puget Sound every spring, feeding on ghost shrimp that burrow beneath the sand. The Sounders are made up of a core group of about 12 known individuals. Bellamy Pailthorp reports. (KNKX)

Feds sign $5.7M deal to pump out Nootka Sound shipwreck
The federal government has signed an emergency contract worth $5.7 million to pump bunker oil and mixed fuels from a sunken wreck in Nootka Sound. The 483-foot MV Schiedyk cargo ship went down on Jan. 3, 1968 after striking a submerged ledge off Bligh Island, and rests about 350 feet below the surface. It has been leaking fuel and fouling areas of the Zuciarte Channel since last fall. Darron Kloster reports. (Times Colonist)

Biden pushes protection for more streams and wetlands, targeting a major Trump rollback
The Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers said in a joint statement they had determined that the Trump administration’s rollback is “leading to significant environmental degradation.” The change could have broad implications for farming, real estate development and other activities, the latest salvo in a decades-long battle. Dino Grandoni reports. (Washington Post)

How many oceans are there on Earth? National Geographic now says five.
For the first time in the more than 100 years that the National Geographic Society has mapped the world’s oceans, it will recognize five of them. The organization announced this week that it will recognize the Southern Ocean, a body of water that encircles Antarctica, as the world’s fifth. Paulina Firozi reports. (Washington Post)

Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  310 AM PDT Thu Jun 10 2021   
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH  FRIDAY AFTERNOON   
TODAY  SE wind to 10 kt becoming NW in the afternoon. Wind  waves 2 ft or less. W swell 2 ft at 8 seconds. A slight chance of  rain. 
TONIGHT  NW wind 5 to 15 kt becoming SE after midnight. Wind  waves 2 ft or less. N swell 2 ft at 7 seconds. A slight chance of  rain in the evening then a chance of rain after midnight.

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