12/21 Holly and Oak Kings, Salmon People, WA SEPA, nutrient reduction, king tides, COP15, recycling plastics, Tacoma trees, Intalco, shipwreck gold

Oak King and Holly King

Oak King and Holly King
The Holly King and Oak King are personifications of the winter and summer in various folklore and mythological traditions. The two kings engage in endless "battle" reflecting the seasonal cycles of the year: not only solar light and dark, but also crop renewal and growth. Wikipedia. Happy winter solstice!

Salmon People: A tribal fishing family’s fight to preserve a way of life
When the salmon are running up the Columbia River, Native fishermen are there with them. They live, eat and sleep at the river. Their children grow up at the river. They catch salmon for subsistence, for ceremonies, and for their living. This is the life of the Wy-Kan-Ush-Pum, the Salmon People. It is a life Columbia River tribal people have lived since time immemorial and have fought for decades to protect. Over the last century and a half, they have watched as forces eroded their access to salmon. Treaties removed them from their traditional fishing areas; dams massively reduced the numbers of salmon that swam in the waters; environmental contamination further poisoned the well. (Katie Campbell reports. (ProPublica/OPB)

Expedited rulemaking to amend state SEPA rules; Rules to increase exemptions for housing construction
Ecology writes: "The rules we are changing would increase the exemption levels that local governments can incorporate into their SEPA policies and procedures for apartments, houses less than 1,500 square feet and attached homes such as duplexes. The rule amendments also reflect legislative directives dating back to 2017, adjust inconsistencies with SEPA, and fix typographical errors. The updated SEPA rules are planned to take effect in mid-January 2023. (Dept of Ecology)

The quest continues for a nutrient reduction plan
Human sources of nitrogen in Puget Sound have been blamed for increasing the intensity of algae blooms, lowering oxygen to critical levels, and impairing sea life. In response, officials with the Washington Department of Ecology are developing a Puget Sound Nutrient Reduction Plan to strategically reduce nitrogen in various places... According to Ecology estimates, about two-thirds of the human-induced nitrogen is coming from sewage-treatment plants perched along the shoreline. The rest comes from diverse sources such as septic systems, fertilizers from farms and urban landscapes, animal waste from livestock and pets, and atmospheric deposition from the burning of fossil fuels and organic materials. For planning purposes, these diverse sources of nitrogen are grouped as “watershed” sources, and they enter Puget Sound mostly via streams and stormwater outfalls. Chris Dunagan reports. (Puget Sound Institute)

Puget Sound This Weekend: King Tides and Climate Change
At 7 am Christmas morning, when most of us will be focused on tinsel and eggnog, Puget Sound will fill to capacity — its highest level in a year. The sound will bulge to more than 1,000 square miles. Beaches will all but disappear. Waves on Elliott Bay may slosh onto piers and ferry ramps will flatten. High water will refloat thousands of beach logs, posing navigational hazards until they’re washed up on another beach miles away. Ross Anderson writes. (Post Alley)

Canada made big promises to save nature at COP15. Will it follow through?
196 countries set new global targets to stop the biodiversity crisis. The test now is to put words into action. Ainslie Cruickshank reports. (The Narwhal)

King County recycling pilot kept 25 tons of plastic out of landfills
A five-month recycling pilot shows a promising way to keep plastic wrap and bags from going to the dump.Between Jan. 18 and May 31, a handful of grocery stores in the Puget Sound region hosted bins for a Seattle-King County pilot that let people drop off film packaging like produce bags or bubble packaging material, which are not accepted in traditional recycling bins. Stores like Target, Fred Meyer, Safeway and QFC already offer plastic bag and wrap recycling. However, the pilot expanded the service to independent grocers. Amanda Zhou reports. (Seattle Times)

In Tacoma, growing the urban tree canopy is a community effort
...Tacoma has fewer trees than any other city that has measured its canopy in the Puget Sound region. It currently covers about 20% of the land mass. In places, the canopy registers only about 10%. The city identified several priority neighborhoods, including McKinley, where the history of redlining has left residents especially exposed. The lack of investments by racist banks correlates with a lack of tree-cover. So 12 years ago, Tacoma set one of the region’s most aggressive goals for growing the urban canopy: to get to 30 percent coverage by 2030 – and to do so equitably. Bellamy Pailtorp reports. (KNKX)

What’s next for WA aluminum manufacturing? The fight goes on
The hard-fought battle to reopen a “green” aluminum plant near Bellingham came to a halt this month. But it may not be the end. A new Department of Defense report to Congress says production of aluminum, specifically high-purity aluminum, may need a boost from the Defense Production Act. The DPA gives the president the power to order companies to produce goods for national defense. Isabella Breda reports. (Seattle Times)  See also: Intalco restart: can ‘green’ aluminum get ‘clean’ power? Eric Scigliano reports. (Salish Current, 7/21/22)

British Columbians seek gold from newly discovered shipwreck
The U.S. company that discovered the site of the Pacific Northwest’s deadliest maritime disaster has heard from a number of British Columbians claiming to be descendants of the ship’s passengers, says the man who found the vessel. On Monday, Rockfish Inc. president Jeff Hummel told Postmedia News that those people had contacted his company since word got out that it had secured salvage rights to the Pacific — a coal-powered sidewheeler that sank off the tip of the Olympic Peninsula on Nov. 4, 1875 with the loss of at least 350 lives. David Carrigg reports. (Vancouver Sun)

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Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  410 AM PST Wed Dec 21 2022   SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH THURSDAY EVENING   
TODAY  E wind 15 to 20 kt becoming 15 to 25 kt in the  afternoon. Wind waves 2 to 4 ft. W swell 4 ft at 8 seconds. 
TONIGHT  E wind 20 to 25 kt becoming 20 to 30 kt after  midnight. Wind waves 4 to 6 ft. W swell 2 ft at 8 seconds.

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