10/3 Green anemone, polluted estuaries, SRKW, quake, Hood Canal chum, Klamath dam, Snohomish salmon, TM pipe, BC logging, WA parking

Giant green anemone [Sound Water Stewards]

 

Giant green anemone Anthopleura xanthogrammica
Look for the giant green anemone in tidepools, surge channels, and on rocks along exposed rocky beaches from the mid intertidal zone to a subtidal depth of 100 feet. Like other anemones, it is a carnivore and feeds on displaced mussels, crabs, small fish, and sea urchins. The scientific name means "yellow lined flower". Other common names for this species are giant tidepool anemone and solitary anemone. (Sound Water Stewards)

Today's top story in Salish Current: Whatcom Artist Studio Tour engages community through art and connection

Sister seas on opposite shores face same foe: polluted runoff
For decades, Puget Sound and its East Coast counterpart, the Chesapeake Bay, have had federal, state, and local programs aimed at restoring them to ecological health. Yet America’s two biggest estuaries south of Alaska remain in poor health. John Ryan reports. (KUOW)

3 killer whales lost from southern resident population: census
A census of endangered southern resident killer whales off the coast of British Columbia and Washington State shows the pods have lost three orcas, bringing the population to 73, excluding a new calf born after the survey. The Center for Whale Research completed its 49th census as part of its Orca Survey program in July, and found the three pods had lost two adult males. The population also lost a male calf, the only whale born within the annual census period. (Canadian Press)

Another earthquake strikes off Vancouver Island
Wednesday’s earthquake off Nootka Sound was the 60th seismic event over the past month in southwestern B.C. — and the largest measured during that time. Darron Kloster reports. (Times Colonist)

Hood Canal salmon run sees booming recovery as fish face extinction
Washington salmon are threatened with extinction. Why is a Hood Canal run booming? Isabella Breda reports. (Seattle Times)

Salmon lawsuit ends in settlement but tensions over hatcheries simmer
The Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife is closing two Southwest Washington hatchery programs and lowering releases at another as a part of a settlement agreement stemming from a lawsuit by two environmental groups. The Washougal River winter steelhead hatchery program will close near the end of the year. The Deep River net pens coho salmon program in Wahkiakum County will close by April. And the Kalama River/Fallert Creek Chinook salmon hatchery program will release only 1.9 million hatchery fish in 2025. Henry Brannan reports. (The Columbian)

Tribes celebrate the end of the largest dam removal project in US history
The largest dam removal project in U.S. history was completed Wednesday, marking a major victory for tribes in the region who fought for decades to free hundreds of miles of the Klamath River near the California-Oregon border. Hallie Golden reports. (Associated Press)

Stillaguamish, Snohomish river salmon projects get state help
ight projects aimed at improving habitat for salmon and trout within Snohomish County received $2.85 million in state grants this week. In total, the state’s Salmon Recovery Funding Board handed out over $50 million in fish project grants across the state. About half was funded through the Climate Commitment Act. Jordan Hansen reports. (Everett Herald)

Canadians Are Still Paying for Trudeau’s Trans Mountain Pipeline
Would you rent out a property for less than half of what you need to pay off your mortgage? The federal government is the owner of the $34 billion Trans Mountain pipeline expansion (TMX), yet charges oil companies less than half of the tolls required to recover the eye-watering capital costs owed to the Canadian taxpayer. According to a new report from the International Institute of Sustainable Development (IISD), this amounts to a subsidy to the fossil fuel sector of up to $18.8 billion, or $1,248 per Canadian household. Mitch Anderson
writes. (DeSmog)

‘We’re Dying up Here.’ Inside BC’s Forest Industry Crisis
Few communities in British Columbia have been hit as hard by the declining fortunes of the forest industry as Mackenzie. All that remains of the network of mills that drove the town’s economy is a lone sawmill limping along on one shift and the value-added mill that remains in business only because of imports of rejected lumber pieces from Alberta. Ben Parfitt reports. (The Tyee)

The State of Parking Mandates in Washington
Minimum parking requirements are paving over Washington, regardless of how much parking residents or businesses actually need. Katie Gould reports. (Sightline Institute)

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Here's your tug weather—
West Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-  212 AM PDT Thu Oct 3 2024    
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM FRIDAY MORNING THROUGH  FRIDAY EVENING   TODAY  E wind 10 to 15 kt. Seas 5 to 7 ft. Wave Detail: E 2 ft  at 4 seconds and W 6 ft at 12 seconds.  
TONIGHT  SE wind 5 to 10 kt. Seas 3 to 5 ft. Wave Detail: E  2 ft at 4 seconds and W 5 ft at 11 seconds. Rain likely.

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