5/24 Earthworm, tree ordinance, saving trees, Delta port expansion, GasLink sediment, WA tribes gas, rail safety, tent caterpillars, kelp seed bank, wildfires, Hecate Is bogs

Earthworm [TES]

Earthworm
An earthworm is a terrestrial invertebrate that belongs to the phylum Annelida. They exhibit a tube-within-a-tube body plan; they are externally segmented with corresponding internal segmentation; and they usually have setae on all segments. They occur worldwide where soil, water, and temperature allow. (Wikipedia)

Seattle City Council passes new tree ordinance
The Seattle City Council voted Tuesday afternoon to pass an updated version of a city ordinance regulating trees on private property, which had not been adjusted since 2009. The legislation will fully overhaul the ordinance for the first time since the section of code protecting trees was adopted in 2001, years before the climate and housing crises came to dominate both city discourse and priorities. Hannah Weinberger reports. (Crosscut)

What We Owe Our Trees
Forests fed us, housed us, and made our way of life possible. But they can’t save us if we can’t save them. Jill Lepore writes. (The New Yorker)

Environmental alliance launches legal challenge against expansion of B.C. container port
A group of Canadian conservationists says it has launched a legal challenge against Ottawa's $2 billion plan for an expanded container terminal in Delta, B.C. The David Suzuki Foundation, Georgia Strait Alliance, Raincoast Conservation Foundation and the Wilderness Committee say they have filed an application for a judicial review in federal court under the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act. (CBC)

‘Heartbreaking’: an overhead view of Coastal GasLink sediment spills into Wet’suwet’en waters, wetlands
On an Indigenous-led monitoring flight over the Coastal GasLink pipeline, The Narwhal documented worksites overwhelmed by spring melt and numerous environmental infractions including slope failures, flooded worksites and sediment entering wetlands and waterways. Matt Simmons reports. (The Narwhal)

Tribes ramp up pressure on WA over gas prices as climate laws’ effects take hold
Leaders from at least a dozen Washington tribes may soon meet with Gov. Jay Inslee’s administration to raise concerns and ask questions about the effects of the state’s new carbon-cap system on gas prices and tribal sovereignty...The laws require major polluters like fuel suppliers to pay to release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and to reduce their emissions over time... But fuel suppliers are passing their new expenses down the line to distributors and customers, including Native American tribes, which are sovereign nations that shouldn’t have to pay, Lummi Nation's Henry Cagey said...Misty Napeahi, vice chair of the Tulalip Tribes, weighed in this week, saying fuel suppliers should be shouldering the new costs, rather than the tribes and other customers. Daniel Beckman and Isabella Breda report. (Seattle Times)

Rail workers call for safety improvements in Washington state
This week, Democratic Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell said that lawmakers need to pass new safety rules to help prevent train derailments and prepare communities in case of railway emergencies. Proposed legislation would do that, and also increase penalties for companies that violate federal rail safety statutes. The bill would create new rules, such as requiring a two-person crew on certain freight trains. Some railways have proposed having one person operate some trains. Casey Martin reports. (KUOW)

March of the caterpillars is here, but don’t be alarmed
Tent caterpillar season is here and millions of the fuzzy creatures are emerging from their silky cocoons to feast on the foliage of trees. They’re in backyards and on fences and sidewalks and sometimes hitchhiking on your clothing or inching up your arm. Depending on the tree and your area, the caterpillars will be munching on leaves for the next few weeks and going to ground where they will turn into moths. Darron Kloster reports. (Times Colonist)

Preparing for the Worst with a Kelp Seed Bank
In Washington State, the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s new preservation facility offers a back-up plan for an uncertain future. Natalia Mesa reports. (Hakai Magazine)

Rise in extreme wildfires linked directly to emissions from oil companies in new study
The peer-reviewed study, published last week in the journal Environmental Research Letters, found that 37 per cent of the total burned forest area in Western Canada and the United States between 1986-2021 can be traced back to 88 major fossil fuel producers and cement manufacturers. Benjamin Shingler reports. (CBC)

Weird, Rare, and Everywhere
In the bogs of Hecate Island, British Columbia, a writer and novice naturalist joins researchers for a glimpse of a multiyear biodiversity mission—and gets acquainted with some odd organisms. Arno Kopecky writes. (Hakai Magazine)

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Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  237 AM PDT Wed May 24 2023   
TODAY  Light wind becoming W 5 to 15 kt in the afternoon. Wind  waves 2 to 3 ft. W swell 5 ft at 8 seconds. 
TONIGHT  W wind 5 to 15 kt becoming to 10 kt after midnight.  Wind waves 2 to 4 ft. W swell 5 ft at 7 seconds.

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