8/12 Brazil nut, heat's on, shellfish farms, lower Fraser habitat, Capitol Lake estuary, kelp, northern leopard frogs

Brazil nut [anuts]

Brazil nut Bertholletia excelsa
The Brazil nut is a South American tree in the family Lecythidaceae, and it is also the name of the tree's commercially harvested edible seeds. It is one of the largest and longest-lived trees in the Amazon rainforest. (Wikipedia)

Excessive Heat Warning Issued Across Puget Sound
The National Weather Service predicts that temperatures could get nearly as hot as June's deadly heat wave. Charles Woodman reports. (Patch) Vancouver Weather: Hot and humid   A heat warning remains in effect for Metro Vancouver, with temperatures expected to reach 29 C and 36 C inland today. Tiffany Crawford reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Shellfish farmers line up for disaster aid after heat wave decimates oysters and clams 
Sixty shellfish farms in Washington state have applied for federal disaster aid after a double whammy of extreme heat and afternoon low tides killed most of their oysters and clams in June. They’re bracing for a second heat wave this week. Many shellfish operations in south Puget Sound and Hood Canal reported losing the majority of of their saltwater livestock during the June heat wave, according to Travis Martin with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency. John Ryan reports (KUOW)

From Delta to Hope, 85% of B.C.’s lower Fraser salmon habitat no longer accessible to declining fish populations
Using field manuals from 170 years ago, scientists have identified the monumental impact human development has had on B.C.’s struggling Fraser salmon — and what can be done to reverse it. Brishti Basu reports. (The Narwhal)

Olympia City Council wants Capitol Lake to become an estuary
The Olympia City Council has decided to support a plan to allow Capitol Lake to revert to an estuary. The man-made lake that serves as a reflecting pool for the state Capitol has long been a symbol of Olympia. But for years the lake has been closed due to poor water quality and invasive species that threaten the lake’s ecosystem. After years of study and debate about the lake’s future, at the end of June, the state Department of Enterprise Services (DES) released a draft environmental report on Capitol Lake and surrounding bodies of water that lists options. Leo Brine reports (Olympian)

‘Kelp Expedition’ stops in PT for research, celebration
The beds of kelp floating just offshore of Port Townsend’s North Beach County Park are a fixture of the landscape, familiar to those who stroll the beach and kayak the waters alike.  However, these beds are only just the canopy of a dense forest that rises from the bottom of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Among the stalks of bull kelp that grow to up to 130 feet long, an entire ecosystem of marine life thrives. But while North Beach’s kelp forest may be rich with life, others across the Puget Sound and Salish Sea are disappearing, taking with them the ecosystems that depend on them. Brennan LaBrie reports. (Port Townsend Leader)

Hopping into the wild: endangered frog release could help boost only known population in Washington
Northern leopard frogs are rapidly disappearing in the Northwest. Hundreds of endangered northern leopard frogs have hopped into the only wild place these frogs are found in Washington...These tiny frogs first hatched at the Oregon Zoo and Northwest Trek Wildlife Park in Washington’s Pierce County. Now that they’ve grown to roughly six centimeters long, the frogs are ready to join the state’s only known population at Central Washington’s Columbia National Wildlife Refuge. Courtney Flatt reports. (NW News Network)

Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  344 AM PDT Thu Aug 12 2021   
TODAY  E wind to 10 kt becoming 5 to 15 kt in the afternoon.  Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell 6 ft at 10 seconds. 
TONIGHT  NW wind to 10 kt in the evening becoming light. Wind  waves 1 ft or less. W swell 5 ft at 11 seconds.

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