6/21 House spider, hot days, orca sightings, border travel, old growth, BC mining, Barnaby Reach restoration, Coast Salish peoples

Giant House Spider
[Ryan Hodnett/WikiCommons]

 
Giant House Spider Eratigena atrica
The giant house spider is commonly found in and around Washington homes west of the Cascade Mountains. Its range also includes parts of coastal Canada and Oregon.  Giant house spiders prefer dark areas for web-building and are ideally adapted to life indoors. They are often found in garages or basements, as well as outdoors in firewood or in gaps between bricks or stones. They build sheets of webbing with a funnel-like hole in the center, where the spider sits waiting for prey. The giant house spider is not an extremely active climber and indoors is usually found on the floor or trapped in sinks or bathtubs where it has ventured in search of water. (WSU Pestsense)

Hottest day of 2021 (so far)
Monday is the first full day of summer and it will sure feel like it! Highs warmer than yesterday’s 81 at SeaTac by 5-6 degrees. Tim Joyce predicts. (Q13) Vancouver Weather: Hot town, summer in the city  Environment Canada has issued a heat wave alert for Metro Vancouver and temperatures are expected to be five to 10 degrees above the seasonal average. Scott Brown reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Salish Sea is having ‘one of the best seasons on record’ for orca whale sightings
A group of orca whales visited Fidalgo Bay on Friday off the shore of Anacortes. Representatives of the Pacific Whale Watch Association said it’s uncommon for the whales — of the mammal-eating transient, or Biggs’, orca species — to be seen so close to Anacortes. But it’s not unheard of, particularly as the population continues to grow, unlike that of the fish-eating and endangered southern resident orcas of the region. Kimberly Cauvel reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

Canada to announce easing of some travel restrictions after passing vaccination threshold
Public Safety Minister Bill Blair says the federal government will soon announce the loosening of some border measures, including changes around quarantine hotels and quarantine periods, for fully vaccinated Canadians and permanent residents. (Christian Paas-Lang reports. (CBC)

More than 100 celebrities, prominent Canadians ask B.C. premier to preserve remaining old-growth forest
More than 100 prominent Canadians — and a few international celebrities — have signed an open letter to British Columbia Premier John Horgan demanding he preserve the province's remaining old-growth forests. Rockers Bryan Adams, Neil Young and activist Greta Thunberg a few who signed the call to protect old-growth. Yvette Brend reports. (CBC)

Remember that big tree on the truck? Experts say it probably wasn't big enough to save under B.C. rules  massive spruce trunk photographed being transported down a Vancouver Island highway last month might not have been big enough to warrant saving under B.C.'s new protections for big trees. The image of the giant section of spruce on a truck sparked international outrage, causing the Ministry of Forests to clarify that the tree had been cut down months before new regulations came into force. But experts say it only underlines the shortcomings of protection for giant, old trees. Yvette Brend reports. (CBC)

Audit of B.C.’s tailings pond regulations casts shadow on government’s ‘world class’ mining claims
B.C. positions itself as a world leader in responsible mining, but an internal review of the province’s tailings management regime, designed to avoid another Mount Polley-style disaster, sheds a disconcerting light on the work yet to be done. Judith Lavoie reports. (The Narwhal)

After at least 10 years of planning, Barnaby Reach restoration set to begin
After several years of additional studies and design work, the organizations that want to restore fish habitat in the Barnaby Reach near Rockport are ready for the work to begin. In early July, a crew will begin to remove old fish hatchery infrastructure to restore fish passage to Barnaby Slough, a horseshoe-shaped side channel of the Skagit River. The area has long been identified as important spawning and rearing habitat for salmon. Jacqueline Allison reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

Coast Salish people persevered in the Puget Sound region despite settlers who took their land and forced them into unfair treaties
An edited excerpt from David B. Williams’ new book, “Homewaters: A Human and Natural History of Puget Sound,” published by University of Washington Press.

Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  242 AM PDT Mon Jun 21 2021   
TODAY  Light wind becoming NW 5 to 15 kt in the afternoon. Wind  waves 2 ft or less. W swell 6 ft at 9 seconds. 
TONIGHT  W wind 10 to 20 kt easing to 10 kt after midnight.  Wind waves 1 to 3 ft. W swell 6 ft at 8 seconds.

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