7/18 Spiraea, Atlas Network, mud snails, endangered plants, heat pumps, devil's club, sea gardens

Douglas Spiraea [Native Plants]  

           
Douglas spiraea Spiraea douglasii Hook.
The word Spiraea comes from a Greek plant that was commonly used for garlands.  Douglas Spiraea is named after David Douglas.  It is also commonly known as Hardhack, Steeplebush, or as Western, Pink or Rose Spiraea.  There are two recognized varieties, var. douglasii, which has grayish wooly hairs on the undersides of its leaves; and var. menziesii, (sometimes known as S. menziesii) which has smooth or only slightly hairy leaves. (Native Plants of the Pacific NW)

How a conservative U.S. network undermined Indigenous energy rights in Canada
A U.S.-based libertarian coalition has spent years pressuring the Canadian government to limit how much Indigenous communities can push back on energy development on their own land, newly reviewed strategy documents reveal. The Atlas Network partnered with an Ottawa-based think tank — the Macdonald-Laurier Institute — which enlisted pro-industry Indigenous representatives in its campaign to provide “a shield against opponents.” Geoff Dembicki reports. (The Narwhal)

Billions of mud snails in Padilla Bay
The Japanese mud snail arrived on the West Coast in the 1930s after hitchhiking on Pacific oysters transported from Japan to save the oyster industry, which was collapsing from pollution and overharvesting. Now, as many as 15 billion Japanese mud snails cover the shorelines of Padilla Bay.Benjamin Leung reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

Endangered plants being 'trampled into extinction' at Oak Bay's Cattle Point
Jacques Sirois kneels on the bank of a Garry oak maritime meadow at Cattle Point in Uplands Park, gently pulling aside some vegetation to reveal a flowering plant called tall woolly-heads — Psilocarphus elatior. While it is an endangered plant, what is rarer still is that it has not been trampled by the sheer number of people who have visited the park since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. “The park is just being loved to death,” said Sirois, a biologist and naturalist. Pedro Arrais reports. (Times Colonist)

Climate change prompts a push away from natural gas
What's an effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? Heat pumps, advocate say. And new building codes could require them. Julie Titone reports. (Everett Herald)

In search of devil's club, a prickly shrub long used as medicine by Northwest tribes
Deep in the forests of the northwest, a peculiar shrub with palm-like leaves and stingers on its spines holds within it medicines that have been used by local tribes for thousands of years. Azure Bouré is specially trained to pierce the prickly defenses of devil's club, peeling the outer layers of its stems to find a remedy inside that's been used to treat everything from arthritis to indigestion.  Josh Farley reports. (Kitsap Sun)

How Indigenous Sea Gardens Produced Massive Amounts of Food for Millennia
By focusing on reciprocity and the common good—both for the community and the environment—sea gardening created bountiful food without putting populations at risk of collapse. Ashley Braun reports. (Hakai Magazine)

Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  216 AM PDT Mon Jul 18 2022   
TODAY  Light wind becoming W 5 to 15 kt in the afternoon. Wind  waves less than 1 ft becoming 2 ft or less in the afternoon. W  swell 4 ft at 7 seconds. 
TONIGHT  W wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell  2 ft at 15 seconds.

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