5/5 Horsetail, humpback, Red Dress Day, totem journey, gopher plan, ghost crab pots, water conservation, Western wildfires, woolly dogs

 Common horsetail [USFS]

Common Horsetail Equisetum arvense
Equisetum arvense is distributed throughout temperate and arctic areas of the northern hemisphere, growing typically in moist soils. Being a relative of ferns, common horsetail does not reproduce via pollen but via spores which are borne on the plant’s reproductive stems. Equisetum arvense has a long history of cultural use with Native Americans and ancient Roman and Chinese physicians using it to treat a variety of ailments. It is still of interest today as an herbal remedy because of its purported effectiveness as a diuretic. (Robinson Sudan/USFS)

Naturalists spot first Salish Sea humpback whale calf of the year
Just in time for Mother’s Day, the first humpback whale calf of the 2022 season was spotted in the Salish Sea in Boundary Pass near the U.S./Canadian border Monday. (KIRO)

Raising awareness of missing, murdered Indigenous women
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day has been observed in the United States on May 5, after the first national day of recognition was initiated in 2017. Terri Thayer writes. (Salish Current) In Edmonds, red dresses represent a crisis of missing Native people  (Everett Herald) On Red Dress Day, Coquitlam students, activist call for action on missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls  (CBC)

Lummi-carved totem will travel 2,300 miles for salmon advocacy
A 14-foot totem pole sculpted by master carvers in the Lummi Nation will travel more than 2,300 miles over the next few weeks as part of an advocacy campaign for salmon restoration.  The totem, which features a child resting on an orca atop two large Chinook salmon, was blessed during a ceremony at the start of its journey Tuesday night. Faith leaders from churches around Bellingham joined representatives from the Lummi Nation to pray over the totem and salmon restoration in the region. Julia Lerner reports. (CDN)

Thurston County’s habitat conservation plan for gophers nears final approval
Thurston County’s long-coming plan to locally manage federally protected species took another step toward realization on Wednesday with the release of a final environmental impact statement. Once approved, the county’s Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) should make it easier for developers to get permits for projects in unincorporated Thurston County. Martin Bilbao reports. (Olympian)

Northwest Straits Foundation to retrieve derelict crab pots
While most crab pots sent into the depths of the Salish Sea are recovered with or without crab, many are not. Pots remaining on the seafloor can cause havoc for years, trapping and killing marine wildlife unlucky enough to be caught. The Northwest Straits Foundation is doing something about that. Vince Richardson reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

Conserving water in Metro Vancouver still vital — even with cooler, wetter summer ahead, experts say
Although this summer in British Columbia is forecast to be cooler and wetter compared to 2021, experts say the need to conserve Metro Vancouver's water supply is more important than ever. While a cool, damp spring has made the recent introduction of lawn watering restrictions appear unnecessary, such measures are required to preserve the region's water supply through to the end of summer. Kiran Singh reports. (CBC)

NOAA Image Catches Wildfire Smoke and Dust on Collision Course
A time-lapse image of smoke from wildfires in New Mexico and dust from a storm in Colorado illustrates the scope of Western catastrophe. Maggie Astor reports. (NY Times)

Woolly dogs
David B. Williams in Street Smart Naturalist writes: "Sailing down Puget Sound on May 24, 1792, Captain George Vancouver wrote in his journal of an abundance of dogs, which “were all shorn as close to the skin as sheep are in England…and were composed of a mixture of a coarse kind of wool, with very fine long hair, capable of being spun into yarn.” A few weeks later Vancouver added that Mr. Whidbey had observed about 200 Native people “walking along the shore [of what is now Camano Island], attended by about forty dogs in a drove.” The dogs, too, were shorn..."    

Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca- 228 AM PDT Thu May 5 2022
TODAY SE wind 10 to 20 kt becoming SW 5 to 15 kt in the afternoon. Wind waves 1 to 3 ft. W swell 8 ft at 14 seconds. Rain.
TONIGHT W wind 10 to 20 kt becoming 5 to 15 kt after midnight. Wind waves 1 to 3 ft. W swell 6 ft at 13 seconds. Showers likely in the evening then a chance of showers after midnight.

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