4/4 Rattlesnake plantain, orca calf, Skagit gas spill, NW hydro, BC logging deferrals, bird flu

 

Rattlesnake plantain [Rebekah D. Wallace]

Rattlesnake plantain Goodyera oblongifolia
Rattlesnake plantain is a terrestrial perennial monocot in the orchid family, Orchidaceae, rising from a fibrous rhizome. The genus, Goodyera, occurs worldwide, but is primarily in Southeast Asia. In the western hemisphere, there are 16 species and in North America, it narrows to only four. Even though it is not abundant, rattlesnake plantain is widespread throughout North America extending from Canada and Alaska in the north, to Mexico in the south. (USDA)

Today's top story in Salish Current: Removing the barriers for people with disabilities

Rescuers plan helicopter airlift of orca calf stranded in B.C. lagoon
Plans are now underway to airlift a stranded killer whale calf out of a remote tidal lagoon off northern Vancouver Island in an effort to reunite the young orca with its extended family. Fisheries Department and First Nations officials say the plans involve placing the two-year-old calf into a sling, lifting it out of the lagoon by helicopter and putting it in a holding net pen in the ocean while they wait until its family pod is nearby before the young orca is released. Dirk Meissner reports. (Canadian Press)

With emergency response to gasoline spill completed, remediation work to begin
Four months after about 16,000 gallons of gasoline from the Olympic Pipeline were spilled into waterways and soil near Conway, the unified command in charge of the cleanup has announced the end of the emergency response.  In total, crews recovered 332,776 gallons of oily water, and removed 11,973 cubic yards of soil. Crews also treated 1.1 million gallons of contaminated water and returned it to Hill Ditch. Emma Fletcher-Frazer reports. (Skagit Valley Herald)

Power from NW dams fell last year to lowest level in two decades
Hydropower generated for electricity from Oregon and Washington dams fell to historically low levels last year, and experts expect it could drop further by year’s end. Eleven Western states produce up to 60% of the country’s hydroelectricity. Washington, California and Oregon are the three largest contributors, with Oregon and Washington producing more than one-third of all U.S. hydropower. Both Oregon and Washington generated 20% less hydropower in 2023 than in 2021. Alex Baumhardt reports. (Washington State Standard)

Finalizing Logging Deferrals to Save BC Old Growth Goes Slowly
More than three years after announcing plans to defer logging of old-growth forests, the British Columbia government continues talking with many individual Indigenous nations about whether or not to move ahead with the deferrals proposed on their territories. There are more than 200 Indigenous nations in the province, and there’s forestry happening on the territories of well over three-quarters of them. Andrew MacLeod reports. (The Tyee)

Now that bird flu is spreading among cows, scientists worry where H5N1 will jump next
Over the last two decades, this deadly form of bird flu began striking more and more wild and farmed bird species. The threat exploded in 2022 with tens of millions of global bird deaths. And a rising number of mammals are also getting infected, from mink to seals to domestic dogs and cats. This March, prior to the discovery of cases among cattle, Minnesota reported an H5N1 infection in a young goat, marking the first known U.S. case of bird flu in a ruminant. Lauren Pelley reports. (CBC)

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Here's your tug weather—
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  203 AM PDT Thu Apr 4 2024    
TODAY  N 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  NW wind 10 to 20 kt easing to 10 kt after midnight.  Wind waves 1 to 3 ft subsiding to 1 ft or less after midnight. W  swell 6 ft at 11 seconds.

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