6/28 Golden rod, wildfires, youth vote, Desolation Sound, Bamberton quarry, logging reduction, drunk hummers

 

Golden rod [WSU]

Golden rod Solidago sp. 'Goldenmosa'
'Goldenmosa’ is an improved goldenrod cultivar that is considered better than the species it was derived from. It blooms in late summer to early fall. The flowers are brilliant yellow, and are held in 12" long conical panicles resembling golden feathers. (WSU)

PNW primed for wildfire as officials prepare for likely active season
Experts predict an above-normal potential for wildfire for most of Washington and parts of Idaho, Montana and Oregon. It’s the culmination of lots of available grassy fuels and hot and dry conditions expected through the summer months. Isabella Breda reports. (Seattle Times)

Paradox of passion, apathy impact young voter turnout
Younger voters care deeply about renter protections, homelessness, social justice and racism — but will they go to the polls to make their voices heard in this year’s election? Kai Uyehara reports. (Salish Current)

‘We Didn’t Treat it as a Park. That Was Our Home.’
Tla’amin people have lived in Desolation Sound for generations. New efforts are underway to reclaim ancestral ties. Andrea Bennett reports. (The Tyee)

Bamberton expansion won’t undergo environmental review
The Malahat First Nation’s planned quarry expansion will instead undergo an enhanced review through the Mines Act permitting process. Andrew A. Duffy reports. (Times Colonist)

Logging reduction aims to save threatened B.C. seabird
The B.C. government has dropped the amount of wood that can be legally cut in a corner of Vancouver Island vital to the recovery of the marbled murrelet — a migratory seabird threatened under the federal Species at Risk Act. On Monday, the Ministry of Forests said it was ordering a 19 per cent decrease in the annual allowable cut of Tree Farm Licence (TFL) 44, a swath of forest straddling the Alberni Inlet near Barkley Sound. Stefan Labbé reports. (Times Colonist)

Hummingbirds get a bit of alcohol with their food
Your backyard hummingbird feeder filled with sugar water is a natural experiment in fermentation—yeast settle in and turn some of the sugar into alcohol. The same is true of nectar-filled flowers, which are an ideal gathering place for yeast—a type of fungus—and for bacteria that metabolize sugar and produce ethanol. To biologist Robert Dudley, this raises a host of questions. How much alcohol do hummingbirds consume in their daily quest for sustenance? Are they attracted to alcohol or repelled by it? Robert Sanders reports. (Futurity)

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Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  236 AM PDT Wed Jun 28 2023   
TODAY  Light wind becoming NW 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 10 seconds. 
TONIGHT  W wind 5 to 15 kt. Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell  3 ft at 10 seconds. Patchy drizzle after midnight.

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