12/20 Anna's hummer, Sumas Lake, old-growth forests, gas vehicle phase-out, deer kill, salmon hatcheries, Cascade R, conserving forests, deep-snow caribou, bird divorce, Whale Trail

Anna's hummingbird- immature male
[Cynthia St. Clair]

Anna's hummingbird Calypte anna
Anna’s Hummingbirds are a blur of motion as they hover before flowers looking for nectar and insects. Listen for the male's scratchy metallic song and look for him perched above head level in trees and shrubs. The Cornell Lab reports that only females care for the young. Each female chooses her own nest site and, using plant down and spider webs, constructs her nest. She lays two eaggs, each about half an inch long, and incubates them for 16 days, followed by a nesting period of 20 days. She has two to three broods each year. (Contributed by Cynthia St. Clair.)

Sumas Lake: a once (and future?) feature of the border
The catastrophic floods of November 2021 on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border brought to mind an Ice Age souvenir that many Whatcom residents didn't know existed.Once six times larger than Lake Whatcom, the area long covered by Sumas Lake is now largely farmland. Lane Morgan reports. (Salish Current)

Debate intensifies over conservation of PNW’s old-growth forests
The fight over the future of the last old and mature forests in America intensified Tuesday when the Biden administration called for preservation of old-growth trees. The administration, after creating an inventory of the nation’s old growth, wants to amend 128 forest land-management plans to conserve and steward 25 million acres of old-growth forests and 68 million acres of mature forest across the national forest system. Lynda Mapes reports. (Seattle Times)

Canada lays out plan to phase out sales of gas-powered cars, trucks by 2035
New regulations being published this week by Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault will effectively end sales of new passenger vehicles powered only by gasoline or diesel in 2035. Automakers will have the next 12 years to phase out combustion engine cars, trucks and SUVs with a requirement to gradually increase the proportion of electric models they offer for sale each year. Mia Rabson reports. (Canadian Press)

Parks Canada says 84 deer killed in $834,000 cull
Parks Canada said Tuesday in a statement that the first phase took place from Dec. 1-11. Three certified marksmen killed the 84 deer through a mix of nighttime ground-based hunting and daytime aerial work that involved one marksman operating out of a single helicopter over five days.  Cindy E. Harnett reports. (Times Colonist)

Analysis of Northwest, other salmon hatcheries finds nearly all hurt wild salmon populations
More than 200 studies across 40 years revealed large-scale salmon hatchery programs weaken wild salmon diversity and lead to wild population declines. Alex Baumhardt reports. (Washington State Standard)

State finalizes new protections for Cascade River
The state Department of Ecology announced Monday that it will officially add protections to three rivers and one lake, classifying them as Outstanding Resource Waters. The four bodies of water include the upper watershed of the Cascade River in Skagit County, as well as the upper watershed of the Green River in Skamania County, the Napeequa River in Chelan County and Soap Lake in Grant County. Emma Fletcher-Frazer reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

State sets aside 2,000 acres of forestland
More than 1,000 acres of state Department of Natural Resources land in Clallam and Jefferson counties have been moved into conservation status, including part of the controversial Power Plant sale near Port Angeles. Jefferson County has the most land being moved into conservation, with about 950 acres preserved in two sites. The largest is the 670 acres around Dabob Bay announced last month, and another 280 acres near Mount Walker also will be set aside. Peter Segall reports. (Peninsula Daily News)

Inside the fight to save one of North America’s last deep-snow caribou herds
The ’boo shack, as locals in southeast British Columbia call it, is the centre of operations for what could become a multimillion-dollar effort to rescue a caribou herd on the verge of local extinction. But low numbers and a dwindling habitat — ramped up by clearcut logging — means the herd’s survival is far from guaranteed. Sarah Cox reports. (The Narwhal)

These Birds Are Never, Ever, Ever Getting Back Together
Personalities play a role in whether seabirds “divorce”—but sometimes climate change does, too. Rebecca Heisman reports. (Hakai Magazine)

The Whale Trail's annual winter gathering
Hear updates about southern resident orcas from researcher Brad Hanson, Ph.D. Learn about current approaches to assess the health of the population, and what the data is showing. Featured speakers also include Washington State Orca Recovery Coordinator Tara Galuska, and researchers Mark and Maya Sears. Dec. 21, 7 p.m.,C&P Coffee Company, 5612 California Ave SW, Seattle; $5 suggested donation. Advance tickets: brownpapertickets.com

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Now, your tug weather--
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  238 AM PST Wed Dec 20 2023    
TODAY  SE wind 5 to 15 kt becoming E to 10 kt in the afternoon.  Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell 7 ft at 13 seconds. Rain likely  in the morning then a chance of rain in the afternoon.  
TONIGHT  Light wind becoming SW to 10 kt after midnight. Wind  waves less than 1 ft becoming 1 ft or less after midnight. W  swell 6 ft at 12 seconds. Rain likely in the evening then a  chance of rain after midnight.

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