Sound Bites

Until August 5, 2003, no grizzly bear had ever been confirmed to exist on Vancouver Island. But that all changed when a seven foot, 400-pound grizzly was shot and killed near Port Hardy, marking the first time a grizzly has ever been found off the mainland. The bear showed up at the native village of Tsulquate, home to about 620 people. Many people in the village are upset that the first grizzly on the island had to be killed and felt that might not have been necessary if conservation officers had come sooner. “Throughout all of recorded history, there have been grizzlies on the mainland in B.C., but no confirmed sighting has ever been reported on Vancouver Island,” said B.C.’s chief conservation officer Mark Hayden. (08/06/03), Vancouver Sun, http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/story.asp?id=01E42EFA-2C3F-4A24-B605-5C10F900B8F9. From Tidepool.org.

Oregon’s above-average national hunger ranking is a fluke, some say. But a new study suggests that the Northwest, in fact, is particularly vulnerable to hunger in its households. The study found that Oregon and Washington residents move more than residents of most states, have a high percentage of households that spend more than half of their income on rent, and face high unemployment rates. The findings mean that residents have high housing costs compared with other states, as well as fewer nearby family members and friends to rely on in times of need. So when their incomes take a hit from layoffs or other job losses, residents are likely to conserve money by cutting back or skipping meals from time to time. (08/07/03), Oregonian, http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/10602583837430.xml. From Tidepool.org.

During this freakishly warm, dry and cloudless summer in the Pacific Northwest, astonishing views of Mount Rainier have been uncommonly common. Clear sightlines have made it possible to gaze at Rainier and appreciate it less as an intermittent aesthetic pleasure and more for what the U.S. Geological Survey warns that it really is. “A monumental threat,” said William E. Scott, scientist in charge of the Cascades Volcano Observatory. (08/11/03), Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42059-2003Aug10.html. From Tidepool.org.

The Bush administration has reached a settlement with the timber industry over its challenge to the Northwest Forest Plan, agreeing to work more aggressively to meet logging goals and consider dissolving some reserves devoted to fish and wildlife. The U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Bureau of Land Management agreed to do all they can to meet the 1.1 billion board feet target of timber production set by the Northwest Forest Plan, but never met, when it went into effect in 1994. (08/10/03), Olympian, http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20030810/northwest/72578.shtml. From Tidepool.org.

Work on 13 Superfund sites in Washington state, including Tacoma’s Commencement Bay, could be slowed, stopped or receive less stringent oversight because of a lack of funding for the federal cleanup program, according to a report released in August by a government watchdog group. (08/08/03), Tacoma News Tribune, http://www.tribnet.com/news/local/story/3617548p-3649567c.html. From Tidepool.org.

Juvenile salmon heading upstream to grow and increase their chances of survival often meet a sizable obstacle—a poorly designed road culvert blocking the way. A new, one-of-a-kind culvert-testing device at the Skookumchuck hatchery will help researchers replace culverts that block salmon runs. The state Department of Transportation has found hundreds of culverts under state roads that impede—or block—salmon from spawning grounds or young salmon from rearing grounds. The issue is at the heart of a federal lawsuit more than a dozen Puget Sound American Indian tribes filed against the state of Washington in 2001. (08/13/03), Olympian, http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20030813/southsound/74451.shtml. From Tidepool.org.

By joining the efforts to restore the long-lost native Olympia oyster, Samish Nation students in the Anacortes area are planting a future based in ecology. They gathered Monday with the tribe’s research director, Russel Barsh, to drop oyster cages in the water off Weaverling Spit in Fidalgo Bay as part of an experiment to determine what kind of habitat the native oysters prefer. Olympia oysters are Puget Sound’s only native oyster. Nobody knows why the Olympia’s population disappeared from the bay, said Barsh. Possible reasons include predators, disease, climate change and competition with the larger, Japanese-imported Pacific oysters, he said. (08/13/03), Skagit Valley Herald, http://www.skagitvalleyherald.com/articles/2003/08/12/news/news01.txt. From Tidepool.org.

Someday soon, that package delivered to your door may come via a hybrid truck. While much of the attention on hybrid vehicles has focused on eco-minded consumers snapping up Prius and Insight hybrids, the commercial applications of hybrid technology has gone largely overlooked—until now. Both FedEx and UPS announced earlier this year that they’re starting to convert their huge fleets of delivery vehicles from diesel engines to cleaner technologies, testing diesel-electric hybrids and hydrogen fuel cell delivery trucks. (08/12/03), by Derek Reiber, http://www.tidepool.org/original_content.cfm?articleid=87326. From Tidepool.org.

Here’s not a vision but an ethic, an ethic from which all visions could spring. D.C. is always going to be a political center, New York a financial center, Los Angeles an entertainment center. The ethic of my Pugetopia would be as an eco-center of sustainable technology, the continual reinvention of our civilization to keep it in harmony with its environment: a place inspired by the civilization of our original aboriginal inhabitants, the Salish tribes. The primary purpose of this ecotopia would be to save the American soul. Western Washington would be the place in America where the natural world, not the artificial world, took precedence. We’d have pride in our parks, not patchwork. We’d have our own first-salmon ceremonies. (08/10/03), Pacific Northwest Magazine, http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/pacificnw/2003/0810/cover.html. From Tidepool.org.

A five-year, $1.1 million study is under way to explain why salmon runs are showing up a month early to the Fraser River, often with disastrous consequences. The study is funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and involves researchers from the University of B.C., Simon Fraser University, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Pacific Salmon Commission. The team launched a radio-telemetry project to track late-run sockeye as they make their way back to their spawning grounds. Late-run sockeye have been travelling upstream to spawn about a month early since 1996, rather than spending that time milling about off the mouth of the Fraser River. In some years, up to 90 percent have died without spawning. (08/14/03), Vancouver Sun. From Tidepool.org.

Vancouver Island and cities such as Vancouver and Seattle are vulnerable to a major earthquake that would come closer to populated areas and be more severe than previously thought, a new study says. A team from Columbia University in New York has concluded that the “rupture zone” or “lock zone” on the northern Cascadia margin—where the Juan de Fuca and North America plates come together off the west coast of Vancouver Island—is a 90-kilometre swath, up from a previous estimate of about 60 kilometres. (08/14/03),Victoria Times Colonist. From Tidepool.org.