10/12 Salish Sea News & Weather: Explosives barge, KAPO, CSO, fish dish, Fish Guys, sunken treasures, FEMA, gun club, LOTT, Arctic ice

Fish Guys/PHOTO: Marcus Donner

Coming up on Saturday, your volunteer day to save Seattle’s hometown river. Duwamish Alive!

The barge with explosives that ran aground Monday is off the rocks and in a safe harbor. Munitions barge arrives safely at Navy destination after running aground

After being rebuffed by the Washington State Court of Appeals and the Washington State Supreme Court on the issue of shoreline buffers that protect Puget Sound, Kitsap Alliance of Property Owners are now appealing to the U.S Supreme Court. Kitsap property rights group seeks higher court review

Dave Meyer at KPLU-FM dives deep on the subject of Seattle’s plan to remedy the spilling of about 190 million gallons of sewage into Puget Sound during heavy rainfall times. Keeping sewage out of Puget Sound  Knute Berger at Crosscut climbs down with artist Stokely Towles into the bowels of Seattle. Seattle's real underground tour

What’s on your dinner plate? The state’s estimate of how much fish and shellfish is consumed isn’t accurate and the Ecology Department is undertaking a process to update that amount in order to develop better standards for the amount of toxic pollutants allowed in our waters and sediments. State officials to update fish consumption rate

Hurrah for the Fish Guys! Pike Place fish have been recognized as the state’s first independent fish market selling only sustainable seafood. Pike Place Fish hailed for selling only sustainable seafood

Now what? Chris Sullivan of KIRO-FM blogs on the possibility that the shipwrecks of the last 200 years in Washington waters could be salvaged for riches that could line the state’s coffers. Could sunken treasure be a fix for Washington budget woes?

The cities of Mount Vernon and Burlington appealed how the Federal Emergency Management Agency mapped the Skagit River flood plain but have been notified that the agency can’t deal with the appeal— which puts flood insurance issues up in the air. FEMA puts flood mapping on hold, frustrating Burlington officials

Guns and the environment came together when Kitsap County testified in court that the Kitsap Rifle and Revolver Club violated environmental regulations when it filled wetlands in upgrading its gun range on Seabeck Highway. When bulldozers are outlawed, only outlaws will have bulldozers. Gun club case turns to environmental issues

The Capitol Land Trust and the LOTT (Lacey Olympia Thurston Tumwater) Clean Water Alliance tonight will be asking the LOTT board to contribute $260,000 towards purchasing a 60-acre parcel of wetlands and forests on the peninsula between Budd and Henderson inlets. John Dodge in The Olympian reports: LOTT is asked to help buy land
 
Whoa, slow down: Researchers at CNRS, Université Joseph Fourier and Massachusetts Institute of Technology explain why Arctic ice climate models have been wrong and why by the end of the century there will be something else to argue about. Why Climate Models Underestimated Arctic Sea Ice Retreat: No Arctic Sea Ice in Summer by End of Century?

Now, your (Tuesday PM) tug weather:
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 249 PM PDT TUE OCT 11 2011
  SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE TONIGHT
  TONIGHT
 SW WIND 15 TO 25 KT...EASING TO 10 TO 15 KT LATE. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT...SUBSIDING TO 1 OR 2 FT. W SWELL 13 FT AT 12 SECONDS...BUILDING TO 15 FT AT 15 SECONDS. SHOWERS.
 WED
 W SWELL 15 FT AT 14 SECONDS. SW WIND 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT. CHANCE OF SHOWERS.
 WED NIGHT
 W SWELL 13 FT AT 12 SECONDS. LIGHT WIND. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS.

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10/11 alish Sea News & Weather: Explosives barge, Goldstream salmon, more Elwhas, septic fees, cold winter, Tox-ick Monster, creosote logs, ferry traffic, hairy crabs

SeattlePI.Com/Getty Images

Today’s Partnership public meeting on what you think needs to be done to restore the Sound to health by 2020 is from 4:30-7 PM in Olympia at the LOTT Clean Water Alliance

Deer hunting season begins on Saturday. On Vashon, too. 

Yesterday’s blog: “Doing Easy Vs. Hard Stuff”

If you like to watch: Monday’s grounded dry-cargo barge on Belle Rock five miles southwest of Anacortes in Rosario Strait was captured by a U.S. Coast Guard video. Barge with explosive ordnance, vehicles aground on Belle Rock

Speculation extends to whether a gasoline and diesel spill last spring is contributing to coho and chinook salmon arriving in Saanich Inlet not entering the Goldstream River. Salmon missing at Vancouver Island's Goldstream River; Annual run almost two weeks late following large fuel spill in April

Billy Frank, Jr., writes: “We all owe a big  ‘thank you’ to the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. They never gave up on getting those two dams torn down, and today that dream is becoming a reality. For 100 years they have had to wait for their treaty rights to be restored and for the salmon to return.  The salmon never gave up either. At a recent dam removal celebration, I saw 73 chinook swimming in the clear green water at the foot of the Elwha Dam, ready and waiting. And it won’t be long before the river’s estuary comes back to life, too, with clams spitting all over the place.” There are a lot more Elwhas out there 

On Thursday, Thurston County will have a public hearing on an ordinance assessing residents in the Nisqually Reach watershed an annual operation and maintenance fee for their onsite septic systems. Fees could protect shellfish

Brrrr. The winter forecast is for one of the coldest winters in the past 20 years for Western Canada. Vancouver, Western Canada facing record cold temperatures this winter

Diver and photographer Laura James reports that more than 70 adults attended last evening’s polluted runoff public workshop in West Seattle. Bad news for the Tox-Ick Monster = good news for Pathfinder

Look for a helicopter working to remove creosote logs on October 19 from Fisherman Bay on Lopez Island. It’s all a part of a project led by the Washington Department of Natural Resources working with the San Juan County Land Trust and a crew from the Puget Sound Corps. Land bank works to remove toxic creosote logs from Fisherman Bay preserves

Susan Gilmore in the Seattle Times reports that the total number of trips taken by Washington State Ferries customers dropped 13 percent between 2000 and 2008, but revenue has gone up as a result of fare increases.  Ferry riders take fewer trips, but revenue up

Maybe not only in China but certainly in China: Frank Langfitt on NPR reports that “Fake products permeate nearly every corner of China's economy... Each fall, the fakery even extends to the world of seafood and East China's Yangcheng Lake, which is just a short train ride from Shanghai. Yangcheng is home to what are reputed to be China's tastiest and most expensive hairy crabs.” Something's Fishy About Chinese Hairy Crabs

Now, your tug weather:
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PDT TUE OCT 11 2011
  GALE WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 5 AM PDT EARLY THIS MORNING
 SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 5 AM PDT EARLY THIS MORNING THROUGH LATE TONIGHT
  TODAY
 SW WIND 25 TO 35 KT...EASING TO 15 TO 25 KT EARLY IN THE MORNING. WIND WAVES 4 TO 6 FT...SUBSIDING TO 2 TO 4 FT IN THE
 MORNING. SW SWELL 8 FT AT 8 SECONDS...BUILDING TO W 10 FT AT 9 SECONDS IN THE AFTERNOON. SHOWERS.
 TONIGHT
 SW WIND 15 TO 25 KT...EASING TO 10 TO 20 KT LATE. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 13 FT AT 11 SECONDS...BUILDING TO 15 FT AT 15 SECONDS AFTER MIDNIGHT. SHOWERS.

--
"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service.

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10/10 Salish Sea News & Weather: NZ oil, coal export, PA sewage, pinto abalone, crabbing, Dabob Bay, spotted frogs, American Alps, caterpillars

Glines Canyon Dam 10/9

Today’s Puget Sound Partnership public meeting to hear what you have to say about what needs to be done to recover the health of the Sound by 2020 is at the Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve from 4:30 to 7 PM.

If you like to watch: Check out the progress on the Elwha restoration from the online cams at selected sites.

Definitely not good: Oil spill off the east coast of New Zealand poses threat to local populations of penguins, whales, seals and seabirds  New Zealand oil spill: Conservationists warn of wildlife 'tragedy'

Good for Mount Vernon and the Salish Sea: City Council and Mayor Bud Norris determined that increased train traffic associated with a new coal terminal at Cherry Point will affect Mount Vernon’s residents’ quality of life. MV urges rail traffic be included in review of coal terminal   

The City of Port Angeles is spending more than $40 million to eliminate sewage overflows and will hold a special public meeting on Tuesday to present the details. Meeting to examine big Port Angeles sewage overflow project

NOAA Fisheries has given the state Fish & Wildlife Department $560,000 for hatchery and nursery programs to recover the population of Puget Sound pinto abalone which have fallen to critically low levels. Grant will aid state plan to restore pinto abalone

Commercial crabbers went to court to stop the state from expanding Dungeness crab fishing by sport crabbers, claiming that the decision gave sport crabbers and unfair opportunity and was made in an “arbitrary and capricious manner.” Thurston County judge denies motion by Puget Sound commercial crabbers

Big deal: Have you heard about the “Department of Defense’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Initiative?” That’s the basis of a $3 million, five-year partnership announced between the Navy and The Nature Conservancy to protect the Navy’s underwater research range on Dabob Bay and allow for acquisition of land from willing landowners for preservation.   Navy, environmentalists reach pact for Dabob Bay range 

The state Fish and Wildlife Department worked with the Woodland Park Zoo, Northwest Trek Wildlife Park, Oregon Zoo and the Cedar Creek Corrections Center to raise 1,200 rare Oregon spotted frogs and release them in a wetlands at Joint Base Lewis-McChord last Thursday. Go frogs. Rare Oregon spotted frogs released at JBLM wetland 

A coalition that includes the North Cascades Conservation Council and Republicans for Environmental Protection are working on the American Alps Legacy Proposal. Former Washington governor and U.S. Senator Dan Evans, a Republican, says, “My attitude toward wilderness or toward protection is when in doubt, protect it. If things change and if it becomes appropriate to withdraw things from wilderness or from park protection, you can do that. If you don't protect it now, the chances are pretty good that what you're attempting to protect won't even be there in the future." Coalition proposes to expand North Cascades National Park by nearly 238,000 acres 

Uh, oh. Western hemlock looper caterpillars this summer defoliated hemlocks and other conifers in the Cascades. Hungry caterpillars take toll on forest

Now, your tug weather:
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PDT MON OCT 10 2011
  SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE TONIGHT
  TODAY
 E WIND 10 TO 20 KT...RISING TO 15 TO 25 KT THIS AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT...BUILDING TO 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 10 FT AT 11 SECONDS...SUBSIDING TO 6 FT AT 10 SECONDS. RAIN.
 TONIGHT
 SW WIND 10 TO 20 KT...BECOMING S 15 TO 25 KT THIS EVENING. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT...BUILDING TO 2 TO 4 FT. SW SWELL 6
 FT AT 9 SECONDS. RAIN LIKELY THIS EVENING...THEN RAIN AFTER MIDNIGHT.
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10/7 Salish Sea News & Weather: Victoria sewage, herring bait fishery, shellfish toxin, 'fireproof whales', growing grapes, Mill Town, 'shrooms, lungfish

PHOTO: Laurie MacBride

Laurie MacBride, retired executive director of Georgia Strait Alliance, has been busy with her photography and writing. Check out her work on her new web site, Eye on Environment, Photography and Writing by Laurie MacBride
 
Next Monday and Tuesday the Puget Sound Partnership meets with its publics to hear comments on revising its Action Agenda to restore the Sound to health by 2020. Padilla Bay Reserve on Monday; Olympia on Tuesday. Details here.

Victoria’s road to fixing its sewage woes hit another bump with finger-pointing over who has to put money on the table before proceeding. $782-million sewage fix left in limbo; Treatment system falls two years behind as B.C. and Ottawa play waiting game

A budget-cutting proposal that would have eliminated the Puget Sound herring bait fishery was loudly opposed by the sport-fishing industry. The Department of Fish and Wildlife responded.  State eliminates plan to close herring bait fishery

Sequim Bay, the only body of salt water where diarrheal shellfish poisoning, or DSP, has been found in the United States, may be opened to shellfish harvest. Sickening shellfish toxin in Sequim Bay waning; reopening to shellfish deemed imminent

Joe Gaydos’ keynote talk at the Eleanor Stopps Environmental Leadership Award event in Port Townsend last week is reprinted in the San Juan Islander. Good stuff. Fireproof killer whales and social capital

Killer whales have been in the Nushagak River in southwest Alaska but never as far upstream as the three whales have been for the last few weeks. The NOAA spokesperson says it appears they are stressed from being in fresh water and are covered with a membrane. Killer whales near Alaska village, appear stressed

Drinking our way to hell: A federal agency report in 2009 found that average U.S. temperatures could increase 2 to 4 degrees  by 2020 compared with the 1970s' average. That's not huge, but the best grapes "grow in a narrow geographic range that exhibits a narrow climate envelope," says Noah Diffenbaugh, a climate scientist at Stanford University. That means Puget Sound.  Climate change to impact where wine grapes can grow

The Herald’s columnist Julie Muhlstein writes a nice piece about her first visit to the Scott Paper Mill in Everett, which is now the Kimberly-Clark Corp. mill which might be kept open if a buyer can be found. Remembering when Everett really was Mill Town

Photographer Machel Spence shows off her new book at several mycological events this month. ‘Shroom on: Pushing Up Earth

Old news to wheeze over: Lungfish Provides Insight to Life On Land: 'Humans Are Just Modified Fish'

Now, your weekend tug weather:
WEST ENTRANCE U. S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PDT FRI OCT 7 2011

TODAY ... W WIND 10 KT BECOMING E 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. W SWELL 7 FT AT 10 SECONDS. RAIN LIKELY.

TONIGHT ... SE WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. W SWELL 6 FT AT 10 SECONDS. AREAS OF LIGHT RAIN OR DRIZZLE.

SAT ... SE WIND 10 TO 15 KT RISING TO 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT BUILDING TO 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 5 FT AT 9 SECONDS. RAIN LIKELY IN THE AFTERNOON.

SAT NIGHT ... SW WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 6 FT.

SUN ... NW WIND 5 TO 15 KT BECOMING SE SUN NIGHT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. W SWELL 11 FT.
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"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service.

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10/6 Salish Sea News & Weather: Snow season, Asian clams, Point Heyer, sewage viruses, squid jigging, killing sea lions, Aldo Leopold, crying Indian

Thank you, Steve Jobs.

Climate scientist Cliff Mass proclaims: Western Snow Season Begins

Uh, oh. Invasive clams that could harm water quality, clog water-intake pipes, and stink up beaches as they accumulate and die off have been found in Lake Whatcom, out of which the City of Bellingham drinks. Invasive Asian clams found in Lake Whatcom

Want to know everything you ever wanted to know about NOAA’s research on Southern Resident killer whales? Download the pdf Southern Resident Killer Whales Research Update 

Leslie Brown in the Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber, reports on King County’s purchase of two shoreline properties totaling 33.5 acres and 1,500 front feet that will protect naturally eroding bluffs and one of the best and largest salt marshes in the region.  Point Heyer Natural Area garners more protection

Everett’s pulp mill may continue operations if the deal goes through with Atlas Holding LLC. Potential buyer surfaces for Everett Kimberly-Clark mill 

Science Daily reports that researchers have found that raw sewage is home to thousands of novel, undiscovered viruses, some of which could relate to human health. Biologists Find 'Surprising' Number of Unknown Viruses in Sewage
 
Locally, the Washington Department of Ecology is increasing annual fees for some types of wastewater and stormwater discharge permits paid by businesses, industries and local governments. The fee increases will help offset the state's expenses to issue and administer these permits which are the main way we prevent and control water pollution. State adjusts wastewater, stormwater permit fees

Ugly but good: Mark Yuasa in the Seattle Times reveals the lure of jigging for squid. The squid won't win any beauty contests, but grabs the attention of many food lovers on the dining table

Killing nature: A US House committee voted to pass a bill that would speed up the application process that states and Indian tribes undertake when obtaining a permit to kill sea lions in the Columbia River. Panel seeks to reduce threat of sea lions to fish   With no irony, state Fish & Wildlife agents killed a cougar that killed sheep and a llama in the Olympic Peninsula’s Eden Valley. Wildlife agents kill male cougar that attacked livestock

If you like to watch:  The Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our Time is the “first full-length, high-definition documentary film ever made about legendary environmentalist Aldo Leopold.” The film plays at Seattle’s Neptune Theater on October 18. Pamela Biery reviews the film in Crosscut, Leopold film revitalizes land ethics for a new generation

Saddest and most piercing blog of the day, thus far, is by Lisa Jones in Grist: Laugh at the crying Indian all you want—the joke’s on us

Now, your tug weather:
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PDT THU OCT 6 2011
  TODAY
 W WIND 10 KT RISING TO 10 TO 20 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES BUILDING TO 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 8 FT AT 10 SECONDS.
 TONIGHT
 W WIND 10 TO 20 KT. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT. W SWELL 6 FT AT 8 SECONDS. CHANCE OF RAIN AFTER MIDNIGHT.

--
"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

Follow on Twitter.

Salish Sea Communications: Truth Well Told

10/5 Salish Sea News & Weather: Elwha, coal export, carcinogen levels, ocean zoning, BC Salmon Safe, IPZ, Great Lakes, Duwamish Tribe, fall colors, aquatic 'shroom

PHOTO: Peninsula Daily News

Boom! They’re setting off explosives today clearing a temporary side channel around the Elwha Dam. Equally dramatic is the cut in the Glines Canyon Dam upriver and seeing water spilling over it for the first time. Explosives to be set off at Elwha Dam today; water spills through notched Glines Canyon Dam

In addition to possible legal action over a Clean Water Act violation, proponents of a coal export facility at Cherry Point now have the State Department of Archeology and Historic Preservation to deal with. The state agency asked Whatcom County to delay issuing a ruing that SSA Marine caused no damage in clearing the site until it’s clear that no Native American tribal artifacts were disturbed. Floyd McKay in Crosscut explains all. Bellingham coal port plan trips over new objections

Ashley Ahearn reports on a new state Ecology study on levels of Dioxin and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soils of Seattle neighborhoods and some rural areas. New Study Compares Carcinogen Levels Around Washington State   She also had a great time yesterday with filmmaker Eric Becker talking about his documentary Sound and Vision in an EarthFix online chat archived here.

Partisan wrangling highlighted debate over a White House plan that essentially calls for zoning the oceans, with Republicans charging that it already has created more job-killing bureaucracy and Democrats saying it could give Americans more certainty on how they can use busy public waters. Rob Hotakainen reports, House members clash over plan for zoning the oceans
 
Paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins update from Poulsbo: Liberty Bay closed to shellfish harvesting

Good news from the north:  Salmon Safe has certified 22 ranches and farms in British Columbia as having adopted practices that protect salmon and salmon habitat and will today launch a new eco-certification program. Salmon Safe eco-certification launches in B.C.; Farmers and ranchers commit to practices that protect water, fish habitat

The state’s Department of Commerce granted a special designation to Tacoma on Tuesday that city officials hope will help establish a clean water technology hub on the east side of the Thea Foss Waterway. The “Innovative Partnership Zone” designation will help expand the city’s new Center for Urban Waters into a broader research campus that would anchor an envisioned “clean water cluster” of public and private research and business groups. ‘IPZ’ tag meant to help create Foss water hub
 

Dave Davis in his Plain Dealer blog writes about how Cleveland may be setting an example for the rest of the nation. Our Man of the South says, “You know we are slipping if Ohio is moving ahead of us.”   Sewer district to spend $42M on 'green' infrastructure to curb stormwater   Better hurry, because the National Wildlife Federation said Tuesday that the five Great Lakes are clogged by algae blooms fed by agricultural run-off, while invasive mussels decimate the food chain in deeper waters, and are "veering close to ecosystem collapse."  Great Lakes set to collapse

C.R. Douglas, now reporting for Q13 FOX News, tells the story of the Duwamish Tribe’s long road to recognition by the federal government.  Duwamish tribe donated land for Seattle to be built, tribe now seeks recognition

‘Tis the season: Larry Vogel in EdmondsPatch blogs on the science behind the magic. The Magical Transformation Explained: How Our Trees Get Their Fall Colors

See it, believe it: Kevin Klein of Friday Harbor captured the photo Deer seen swimming across the channel in San Juan Islands heading to Canada

Bad hunting: Japan to hold whale hunts despite activist threats

Good hunting: The remarkable story of Robert Coffan’s discovery of the only true gilled aquatic mushroom continues with a hunt for other streams where it might be found. Amelia Templeton tells the story. Searching in Streams For Oregon’s Aquatic Mushroom

Now, your tug weather:
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 845 AM PDT WED OCT 5 2011
  TODAY
 SE WIND 10 KT EARLY...BECOMING LIGHT...THEN BECOMING W 10 KT LATE. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. SW SWELL 7 FT AT 9 SECONDS. CHANCE OF SHOWERS IN THE MORNING. SHOWERS LIKELY IN THE AFTERNOON.
 TONIGHT
 W WIND TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. W SWELL 9 FT AT 12 SECONDS. CHANCE OF SHOWERS IN THE EVENING.

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"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

Follow on Twitter.

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10/4 Salish Sea News & Weather: Duwamish cleanup, SSA Marine, fish&wildlife cuts, Chinook, sand lance, kokanee, sewage, foraging, save sharks, On the Line

Marshall Islands sanctuary

How to spend your afternoon: Chat with filmmaker Eric Becker and EarthFix host Ashley Ahearn at 2:30 PM, then drop in on the Puget Sound Partnership’s public meeting in Poulsbo from 4:30 – 7 PM to help revise the Action Agenda and bring the Sound back to health by 2020.

Watch this, Jo Bailey, says. Great way to start the day.

Dredging work on one of the worst sites in the Seattle’s Duwamish River contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, began this week. The multi-year project begins with Slip 4 dredging that will remove over 10,000 cubic yards of sediment and cost $8 million. Early cleanup of Seattle's only river moving ahead

The illegal land clearing done by SSA Marine, proponents of a coal export facility at Cherry Point, resulted in a Whatcom County fine of $4,400. "We waited patiently for the responsible agencies to take the proper steps when SSA Marine broke the law and violated water quality protections," RE Sources executive director Bob Ferris said. "They did not, so we are." RE Sources may sue SSA Marine over land clearing for Cherry Point project

Washington state’s natural resources programs receives about one percent of the state’s general fund so a 10 percent reduction to meet the proposed supplemental budget cuts deep. The state Fish & Wildlife Department budget would be reduced by $6.9 million between now and the end of the 2013 budget year and reduce salmon, shellfish and invasive species programs. Fish and Wildlife faces tough choices

Bainbridge Review reports the excitement over the first salmon sighted returning to a creek located between the Washington State Ferry maintenance yard and Waterfront Park. Chinook salmon sighted in Bainbridge Island’s Ravine Creek             

On Lopez Island, Friends of the San Juans has made an idyllic south end bay, one of only nine known Pacific sand lance spawning sites in the county, more idyllic for our all-important forage fish. Hooray. Making a home for spawning sand lance at Barlow Bay

Kokanee are land-locked version of ocean-going sockeye salmon. Kokanee in Lake Sammamish in east King County evolved from sockeye that entered the lake from the ocean and remained to form a resident population. Interesting and not in good health but not enough to warrant Endangered Species Act protection. Sammamish fish doesn't qualify for fed protection

Flush on: King County is replacing the 1935-era wooden pipes carrying Ballard sewage under Salmon Bay to its West Point Plant and laying a third pipe well beneath the bay. Major sewage pipeline project begins

The Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council of British Columbia has produced six online booklets that share tribal wisdom about how goose barnacles and eelgrass are much better for health, sustainability and your wallet than fast-food hamburgers and fries. Barnacles beat burgers for Island First Nation

More foraging: Daniel Winkler has written A Field Guide to Edible Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest, the first-ever pocket-sized guide that features 43 edible and eight poisonous mushrooms found around Puget Sound. New Field Guide Helps Foragers Identify Local Mushrooms

The Marshall Islands government has created the world's largest shark sanctuary, covering nearly two million sq km (750,000 sq miles) of ocean and will ban trade in shark products and commercial shark fishing throughout its waters. Vast shark sanctuary created in Pacific

If you like to watch: Larry Pynn in the Vancouver Sun reviews Frank Wolf’s 70-minute documentary, On the Line, which captures the beauty of northern British Columbia where the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline would deliver bitumen from Alberta’s oilsands to ocean-going tankers at Kitimat. VIFF films shine light on environmental gems  

Now, your tug weather:
WEST ENTRANCE U.S. WATERS STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- 300 AM PDT TUE OCT 4 2011
  SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 AM PDT THIS MORNING GALE WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 8 AM PDT THIS MORNING THROUGH THIS EVENING
  TODAY
 SE WIND 15 TO 25 KT...RISING TO 25 TO 35 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT...BUILDING TO 3 TO 5 FT IN THE
 AFTERNOON. W SWELL 8 TO 10 FT AT 11 SECONDS. CHANCE OF SHOWERS IN THE MORNING. CHANCE OF RAIN IN THE AFTERNOON.
 TONIGHT
 SE WIND 20 TO 30 KT...BECOMING E 10 TO 20 KT IN THE EVENING. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. W SWELL 7 FT AT 10 SECONDS.
 RAIN.

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"Salish Sea News & Weather" is compiled as a community service.

Salish Sea News: Communicate, Educate, Advocate

Follow on Twitter. 

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