11/22 Cranberry, GasLink protest, Tacoma LNG, BC flood, food system, salmon in flood, microbial soup, BC dikes, Swil Kanim, ecosystem recovery, green crab, Canadian beavers, Everett port cleanup, Ohop Cr

Cranberry [WikiCommons]

 
Cranberry Vaccinium subg. Oxycoccus
On the West Coast, cranberries are harvested in British Columbia, Washington state and Oregon. In Washington, bogs color the Long Beach Peninsula and Grays Harbor locales. Oregon bogs are found in Clatsop County near Gearhart and southern Oregon. The plants require sandy soil and cool ocean nights. (Discover Our Coast)

RCMP arrest journalists, matriarchs and land defenders following Gidimt’en eviction of Coastal GasLink
RCMP arrested two journalists, including photojournalist Amber Bracken, on assignment for The Narwhal, during police enforcement of a Coastal GasLink injunction in northwest B.C. Friday. The arrests of Bracken and Michael Toledano have prompted widespread condemnation from media rights organizations, with the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Canadian Association of Journalists both calling for their immediate release. Matt Simmons report.s (The Narwhal)

Tacoma liquid gas plant gets go-ahead from state pollution board
A liquified natural gas plant on the Tacoma waterfront has gotten the green light from the Washington Pollution Control Hearings Board. The board gave its final go-ahead for the controversial plant at the Port of Tacoma on Friday. The Puyallup Tribe and five environmental groups have been trying to stop Puget Sound Energy from opening the plant for years. John Ryan reports. (KUOW)

In a single week
A timeline of how once-in-a-century flooding unfolded across B.C. Rhianna Schmunk reports. (CBC)

How BC’s Food System Will Be Affected by Flooding 
No need to panic buy. But farmers and distributors face major challenges in the months ahead. Jen St. Denis reports. (The Tyee) Flooding another blow to Skagit County farms  After a year of drought and record-breaking heat, Skagit County farms this week had to deal with another extreme weather event in the form of flooding. Water submerged fields and killed some farm animals. Jacqueline Allison reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

What toll did recent flooding take on Whatcom’s salmon? 
...The scope of the flood has yet to be measured exactly, but provisional data shows that it was one of the top three on record for the North and Middle Forks and the Nooksack River at Ferndale, said Treva Coe, habitat program manager for the Nooksack Indian Tribe’s Natural and Cultural Resources Department. That’s not great news for salmon: Years with high annual peak flows are associated with low survival, Coe told The Bellingham Herald in an email. Ysabelle Kempe reports. (Bellingham Herald)

'Microbial soup' from B.C. floods poses real danger to farmers and volunteers
Swimming in the flood waters are all of the bacteria and parasites routinely found in B.C. sewage plants, such as cryptosporidium, salmonella, E. coli and giardia. Daphne Bramham reports. (Vancouver Sun)

How to build back B.C.’s flood infrastructure better
Ninety-six per cent of dikes in the Lower Mainland are not high enough to block extreme floods. Some experts say we have to think beyond concrete. Stephanie Wood writes. (The Narwhal)

Surviving the flood: Violinist recounts harrowing scene as Nooksack rose to record levels
The floodwaters on the Nooksack River reached record heights this week. Hundreds of homes in communities north of Bellingham were swamped. Violinist Swil Kanim’s RV was one of them. He’s a member of the Lummi Tribe and he spoke with KNKX as the floodwaters receded around his neighborhood in Ferndale. Bellamy Pailthorp reports. (KNKX)

Recovery of Puget Sound species could hinge on better understanding of ecosystems
To restore or improve salmon habitat in a stream, the challenge is to understand what has been broken in a complex interactive system. Factors include water quality, water flow, clean gravel, and the intricate interactions of the food web — from microscopic organisms to large fish, including predators that eat young salmon. Chris Dunagan writes. (Puget Sound Institute)

Researchers want you to add green crabs to your menu to help combat this invasive species
Scientists at the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve near Coos Bay have an idea for one way to counter the crabby invasion: Catch green crabs and eat them. “Basically, any green crab you remove means a little less impact,” said Shon Schooler, the lead scientist at the reserve. “And if we can get enough people doing it, we can reduce the impact of these crabs on our natural resources.” Schooler and his colleagues have posted a list of recipes for green crab that have been used by restaurant chefs and amateur cooks in Europe and on the east coast of the United States, where green crabs have been around for generations. The list of recipes includes ramen soup, pozole, fried rice and more. Chris Lehman reports. (OPB)

Beavers Misbehave. Canadians Love Them Anyway.
Blamed for flooded fields, damaged roads and the occasional death, the beaver, which has played a seminal role in Canadian history, is now viewed by many as a problem, not a point of national pride. Ian Austen reports. (New York Times)

Port of Everett to get $350K for its costs in soil clean-up
ExxonMobil and a local oil distributor will pay the Port of Everett $350,000 for costs related to an environmental cleanup that extends onto about a half-acre of port property, under a new settlement agreement. Rachel Riley reports. (Everett Herald)

Nisqually Land Trust buys more Ohop Creek land for restoration
The Nisqually Land Trust has purchased more property along Ohop Creek in an effort to restore the tributary and bring populations of threatened salmon back to the area, according to a news release. The two newly purchased land parcels include 45 acres of floodplain and more than a half-mile of shoreline on the creek just west of Eatonville. The shoreline is currently used by four species of salmonids native to the Nisqually Watershed, including threatened Chinook salmon and steelhead trout, according to the land trust. Ty Vincent reports. (Olympian)

Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  300 AM PST Mon Nov 22 2021   
TODAY  S wind 10 to 20 kt. Wind waves 1 to 3 ft. W swell 7 ft  at 11 seconds. Rain in the morning then a chance of rain in the  afternoon. 
TONIGHT  W wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 to 4 ft. W swell 11 ft  at 13 seconds subsiding to 9 ft at 12 seconds after midnight.  Showers in the evening. A slight chance of tstms. A chance of  showers after midnight.

--
"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service by Mike Sato. To subscribe, send your name and email to mikesato772 (@) gmail.com. Your email information is never shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

Follow on Twitter. 

Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told