4/10 Rhody, orca rules, SCEA ends, carbon cap, Hood Canal salmon, tidal energy, offshore wind, Pitt R restoration, protest rights, anarchists

 

Pacific Rhododendron [Native Plants PNW]

Pacific Rhododendron Rhododendron macrophyllum
The rhododendron genus includes plants commonly known as azaleas.  It is a very large genus with about 1200 described species. ..The Pacific Rhododendron is found west of the Cascades from southern British Columbia to Northern California. (Native Plants of the Pacific NW)

Latest bill version enforces orca boundary
An orca protection bill has come full circle, making 1,000-yard boater restrictions mandatory instead of voluntary. Engrossed Substitute Senate Bill 5371 which had passed the Senate with a mandatory penalty was passed out of House Ag and Natural Resources as voluntary but was restored to mandatory by House Appropriations and moved to House Rules. Paul Gottlieb reports. (Peninsula Daily News)

Skagit Conservation Education Alliance to dissolve after 22 years
After dealing with staffing and board issues, including illness, the Skagit Conservation Education Alliance has announced it will dissolve June 30...The alliance previously organized several other events such as the Bivalve Bash, the Low Tide Mud Run and the Drip and Drive Campaign...The alliance also organized the ECO Network, which connects local volunteers with environmental projects. Emma Fletcher-Frazer reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

How Washington plans to spend money from the new carbon-cap law
Lawmakers are looking to invest revenue from the Climate Commitment Act in electric buses, ferries and more clean-energy projects around the state. Joseph O'Sullivan reports. (Crosscut)

Fish get stuck at Hood Canal Bridge. Will this giant contraption save them from the seals?
...Salmon and steelhead like to stay in the top 3 feet of water and the fish struggle to figure out they can go under the floating bridge. Instead they hit it like a wall and swim back and forth until they discover how to go around the pontoons. There, seals can find a swim-through buffet of baby fish, often corralled in the corners, where longer pontoons jut out. That might soon become harder for seals after crews install a massive fish-guidance structure made of plastic pipes and sheets at the bridge this week. The aim is to direct steelhead around the bridge to safety. Isabella Breda reports. (Seattle Times)

Results from tidal-energy floating turbine, made to power remote BC
A tidal energy project on remote West Thurlow Island could help off-grid coastal communities wean themselves off diesel generators and switch to clean, renewable energy, researchers say... B.C. has one of the longest coastlines in the world, but more than 50 coastal communities still depend on fossil fuels for heat, light, transportation and industry. Darron Kloster reports. (Times Colonist)

NW scientists study the promises and challenges of offshore wind
With the climate rapidly changing, researchers are trying to find ways to make clean energy developments less expensive and easier to build. For the Northwest, offshore wind power could play a critical role, but it also presents major challenges. One of the lead research groups in this area is Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. This year, they received federal funding to build upon an earlier study that reviewed obstacles to fully developing offshore wind along the West Coast. Courtney Flatt reports. (NW News Network)

Restoration at Pitt River highlights work to meet biodiversity targets
Members of the Katzie First Nation have fished salmon for generations in the Pitt River but when the water turned an ominous rust-colour—a sign of low oxygen—and they found fish belly up, they knew they were in trouble. Now, with funding from the World Wildlife Fund, the community is successfully restoring the water flow in a branch of the Pitt River they call the Red Slough, which was cut off years ago by logging road construction. Tiffany Crawford reports. (Vancouver Sun)

Judge rules in favour of BC logging protesters
Granting such as order for information “would have a chilling effect” on a group’s activities in support of their political and social aims. John Boivin reports. (Times Colonist)

When anarchists attack
How police say a peaceful, Indigenous-led protest over a B.C. pipeline was hijacked by violent outsiders. Rob Brown, Anusha Kav and Mia Sheldon report. (CBC)

Ship with history of safety, pollution violations moored indefinitely in Tacoma
A 77-year-old fishing ship with a reputation of pollution and safety violations has been docked on the Foss Waterway in Tacoma since August after smashing into a private pier an raising concerns about its integrity. Craig Sailor reports. (Tacoma News Tribune)

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Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  234 AM PDT Mon Apr 10 2023   
TODAY  SE wind to 10 kt. Wind waves 1 ft. W swell 8 ft at  11 seconds. A chance of rain. 
TONIGHT  SW wind to 10 kt becoming S after midnight. Wind waves  1 to 2 ft. W swell 7 ft at 11 seconds. A chance of rain in the  evening then rain after midnight.

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