4/27 Western toad, SRKW protection, BC Hydro contracts, sunk fuel truck, First Nations suit, marbled murrelet protection, superbloom

Western toad [Andrew Nydam]

Western Toad Anaxyrus boreas
The Western Toad has all the qualities of a typical toad: warty skin, a predominantly terrestrial lifestyle, and a large toxin-exuding parotid gland just posterior to each eye. Breeding takes place in the spring when female Western Toads deposit long strings of eggs in shallow ponds that are then fertilized by the male. Western Toads are active for most of the year, depending on the weather, and can be out of hibernation from January through October. (Save The Frogs)

Protected areas, fishery closures announced to help protect B.C.'s threatened southern resident killer whales
The federal departments of fisheries, environment and transport have issued a joint news release outlining what is described as a fifth consecutive year of strong action to protect and restore the southern resident population. There are 10 measures this year, including mandatory 10-knot speed zones in two areas near Swiftsure Bank, northwest of Victoria, a rich feeding ground for the salmon that the resident whales like to eat. But a scientist says the measures need to go much further to help the animals thrive. Ashley Joannou reports. (Canadian Press)

‘Deeply troubling’: BC Hydro secretly handed out $430 million in Site C dam contracts
Beleaguered engineering firm SNC-Lavalin was among the big winners of no-bid contracts for the over-budget hydro project on B.C.’s Peace River, according to documents obtained by The Narwhal. Sarah Cox reports. (The Narwhal)

A Time Bomb under BC Coastal Waters
A mission is under way to recover a fuel truck holding 17,000 litres of diesel oil that rolled off a barge and sank off Vancouver Island last week. The Canadian Coast Guard and other responders are trying to raise the truck that sank in the Chancellor Channel about 55 kilometres north of Campbell River...The department says it and First Nations and a marine pollution response company are now trying to extract the truck within the next three days. They believe it is between 27 and 37 metres below the surface. Zak Vescera reports. (The Tyee)

10 First Nations sue Ontario and Canada over resource extraction and broken Treaty 9 promises
Arguing that resource extraction has violated Indigenous jurisdiction for over a century, the case could stall the Ontario government’s plans to mine the Ring of Fire. Emma McIntosh reports. (The Narwhal)

Marbled murrelet advocates seek court order
Advocates for the marbled murrelet have launched a court case seeking to halt old-growth logging on southwest Vancouver Island. The Friends of Fairy Creek Society filed its petition in the B.C. Supreme Court registry in Victoria. The society is seeking a judicial order that the Migratory Birds Act 2022 does not allow “indiscriminate destruction” of nests of these seabirds through logging old growth in tree farm licence 46 which includes Fairy Creek. Carla Wilson reports. (Times Colonist)

Superbloom - Seattle Style
David B. Williams in Street Smart Naturalist celebrates Spring: "The great Linnaeus was the first to provide a scientific name for skunk cabbage (albeit one native to Japan and the Kamchatka Peninsula). He named it Dracontium foliis lanceolatis, or roughly “little lance leaved dragon,” if my Latin still serves me. Our species is now known as Lysichiton americanus, a reference to the spathe, or large yellow bract, that surrounds the flower spike." (Street Smart Naturalist) https://streetsmartnaturalist.substack.com/p/superbloom-seattle-style?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

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Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  252 AM PDT Thu Apr 27 2023   
TODAY  SE wind to 10 kt becoming E 5 to 15 kt in the afternoon.  Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell 4 ft at 9 seconds. 
TONIGHT  NW wind to 10 kt becoming E after midnight. Wind waves  1 ft or less. W swell 3 ft at 9 seconds.

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