4/1 Pacific rhody, baby orca, bigger buffers, herring spawn, zombie fires, bird flu, bee count, eDNA, gray whales

 

Pacific Rhododendron [Native Plants PNW]

Pacific Rhododendron Rhododendron macrophyllum                                                               
The Pacific Rhododendron is also known as the Coast Rhododendron, California Rhododendron, or California Rosebay.  Rhododendron macrophyllum literally means, “Rose tree with big leaves.”  It is the state flower of Washington State. The rhododendron genus includes plants commonly known as azaleas.  It reaches to about 24 feet (8m); taller in the shade than in the sun. It grows in in fairly dry open forests and edges. It commonly grows along roadsides in the rainshadow of the Olympic Mountains. (Native Plants PNW)

Today's top story in Salish Current: Community Voices / A gentle force in a small package

Rescuers look for improved tides in effort to save orphaned B.C. whale
Work to coax the two-year-old Bigg's killer whale over a sandbar and into the open ocean started after its mother died more than a week ago. (Canadian Press)

B.C. group pushes for greater buffer between boats, killer whales
The Raincoast Conservation Foundation launched a petition to urge Ottawa to increase the existing vessel buffer from 400 metres to 1,000 metres. Washington state passed Senate Bill 5371 which, beginning in January 2025, will require boaters to stay 1,000 yards away from southern resident killer whales. helle Morton reports. (CBC)

Satellites track the tiny silver fish hugely important to marine life
A new scientific endeavour has taken to the sky using high-tech drones and satellite images to understand better the annual spring herring spawn vital to salmon and wildlife on the West Coast. Between February and March each year, frigid ocean waters transform to a milky tropical-looking turquoise green when male herring release milt to fertilize the countless eggs deposited by females on eelgrass, kelp and seaweed fringing coastal shores. Rochelle Baker reports. (National Observer)

Fires from 2023 still smouldering under snow reveal B.C.'s dangerous new reality
B.C. had 90 zombie blazes burning as of mid-March, holdovers from last year’s record fire season, while Alberta started the year with 64. Thomas Seal and Robert Tuttle report. (Bloomberg News)

For the first time, U.S. dairy cows have tested positive for bird flu
Livestock at multiple dairy farms across the U.S. have tested positive for bird flu — also known as highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI — in an outbreak that's likely spread to at least five states. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service confirmed Friday that cows in Texas, Kansas and Michigan had been sickened by the virus, and there were presumptive positive test results for additional herds in New Mexico and Idaho. It's the first time the disease has been found in dairy cattle, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. Jon Hernandez reports. (NPR)

Wait, does America suddenly have a record number of bees?
Hidden deep within the latest Census of Agriculture lurks a shocking fact: The United States has more bee colonies than ever before. Is it true? What happened? Andrew Van Dam reports. (Washington Post)

'CSI on the ocean': Whale researchers comb B.C. waters for eDNA
The non-profit conservation group Ocean Wise and researchers have spent more than a week on the water regularly observing the whales and collecting water samples to study the environmental DNA (eDNA) of Bigg's killer whales, North Pacific humpbacks and B.C.'s endangered southern resident killer whales. than Sawyer reports. (CBC)

New count of gray whales along West Coast suggests rebound
A new count of the gray whale population along the West Coast shows “signs of recovery” five years after hundreds of them washed ashore and the population began declining, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. Scientists estimate the total number of eastern north Pacific Gray whales to be somewhere between 17,400 and 21,300, an increase from last year’s estimate, which had shown another year of decline. Last season, scientists estimated between 13,200 and 15,960 whales. Amanda Zhou reports. (Seattle Times)

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Here's your tug weather—
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  237 AM PDT Mon Apr 1 2024    
TODAY  W wind to 10 kt becoming NW 5 to 15 kt in the afternoon.  Wind waves 2 ft or less. W swell 6 ft at 12 seconds.  
TONIGHT  W wind 5 to 15 kt easing to 10 kt after midnight. Wind  waves 2 ft or less. W swell 7 ft at 13 seconds.

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