By donating to the News you help us bring more news to you! We will use the donations to pay additional reporters, and spend more time on stories! Want to donate more than $10? Under the $10 is a dropdown box, choose multiples of 10. (i.e. Qty 3 at $10)
North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center Natural Resources
To provide a program that provides hands-on, relevant natural resources research experience while meeting the needs of and building capacity within individual students and the North Olympic Peninsula region.
openchannels.org
OpenChannels is designed to become a comprehensive source for news, guidance, and community discussion on sustainable practices in ocean planning and management.
River of Kings – Video
Part 1 of 2 part series by Carl Safina on the Nisqually River Restoration.
Salish Magazine
Salish Magazine is a free online magazine that takes inquisitive readers outdoors with visually rich storytelling about features people can see firsthand in our public forests and beaches.
Victoria Sewage Project
The official city site on the project. The latest scoop on the Canadian poop!
WA State Family Forest Fish Passage Program
The Family Forest Fish Passage Program provides funding to small forest landowners to repair or remove fish passage barriers. Download the film.
News Sites
Green Acre Radio on KBCS
Green Acre Radio on KBCS — Sustainability, local food production, restoration & environmental talk radio.
NW Indian Fisheries Commission
The Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission (NWIFC) is a support service organization for 20 treaty Indian tribes in western Washington.
Brinnon Group
Local group opposing Black Point resort
Clam Gardens
Network of researchers exploring First Nation gardening of clams in history, and it’s relationship to today.
Coastal Watershed Institute
“To promote long term, ecological, community based stewardship of marine and terrestrial ecosystems thru scientific research and local partnerships.”
League of Women Voters – Clallam County
a nonpartisan political organization, encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.
League of Women Voters – Jefferson County
The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.
Local Food Access Network
North Peninsula local food org with an emphasis on developing and supporting increased and sustainable capacity for production, distribution, and consumption locally.
North Olympic Salmon Coalition
The mission of the North Olympic Salmon Coalition is to restore, enhance, and protect habitat of North Olympic Peninsula wild salmon stocks and to promote community volunteerism, understanding, cooperation and stewardship of these resources.
Northwest Watershed Institute
NWI’s mission is to provide scientific and technical support to protect and restore fish and wildlife habitats and watershed ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest.
Olympic Environmental Council
The Olympic Environmental Council works on issues related to the environment and health that affect our North Olympic Peninsula communities.
Olympic Park Associates
If you share with us a passion for Olympic National Park, a concern for the Park’s future, and a vision that Olympic National Park should always be a wild and natural place, we invite you to join Olympic Park Associates.
Washington Environmental Council
WEC has been working for a couple of decades on environmental activism. A great group of people actually getting things done.
Whale Trail
Signs along the way to take you to great whale viewing locations
Wild Fish Conservancy
Wild Fish Conservancy seeks to improve conditions for all of the Northwest’s wild fish
Quimper Geology Society Presents Wildfires, Climate, and Erosion – Sat, May 22nd *Online*
Dr. Jennifer Pierce of the Dept. of Geology at Boise State University will present a zoom lecture on “Wildfires, Climate and Erosion in the past, present and future”. Jennifer has been working on these topics since graduate school and will integrate these three subjects with reference to forests of the Northern Rocky Mountains. More info here. Time: 4:00 PM | Location: Zoom meeting
In Clallam County, Earth Day is coming to a home, neighborhood, and screen near you.
April 22 will mark the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, and as it approaches, a coalition of community activists, neighborhoods, organizations and businesses in Clallam County are joining as #ClallamTogether to observe “Earth Week” – Monday, April 20 to Sunday, April 26 – in creative ways adapted to the unusual circumstances in which we find ourselves.
The central bulletin board for these activities will be Olympic Climate Action’s website, olyclimate.org, where updates will be continuously posted.
The urgent, evolving challenges of the coronavirus pandemic call on people everywhere to respond to one another and to our shifting circumstances with courage, resolution, ingenuity and open hearts. And though our ways of connecting with one another have shifted, Earth itself remains our constant home, and we are reminded more than ever that we are and will always be intimately connected with it.
Instead of the variety of community events originally planned for Earth Week, we offer a suite of activities people can safely do from home or outdoors on their own or with their family unit, such as:
“Challenge of 50s”: Individuals, groups or families choose an “Act of 50” that supports the healing of our Earth.
“Life Hacks”: Submit and view short videos demonstrating simple earth-stewarding actions.
“Earth-Care Art”: Submit earth-related art to our virtual gallery or participate in a virtual group banner.
Clallam Tree Alliance offers free shrubs and trees for delivery or pickup, and neighborhood plant/seed sharing is planned.
People are also encouraged to create their own activities and promote them to olyclimate@olyclimate.org, to be posted on OCA’s website.
A few events are planned, including:
**April 19: Ms. Earth Week 2020: Nominate your earth hero; the winner will receive a SisterLand Farms gift box
**April 22: Flower bouquets delivered to your earth heroes by volunteers on bicycles (in the Port Angeles area)
**April 22: Earth Evening bell-ringing, 7 pm.
**April 23: Webinar on the Border Wall and its violations of environmental laws and human rights, 7 pm
**TBA: Presentation on connections between the coronavirus and climate change.
In Jefferson County, the Local 2020 organization has postponed most of their planned Earth Week efforts, except for an Earth Day beach cleanup; to check on Jefferson County plans, see https://l2020.org/earth2020/.
The #ClallamTogether organizing committee includes:
Hilary Powers, Compassion Clallam County
Marilyn O’Neill-Eash, Interfaith Community of Clallam County
Arleen Jenson, SisterLand Farms
Elizabeth Christian, Interfaith Earthcare Coalition
Christeal Milburn, Clallam Tree Alliance
Michael Clemens, Jodi Riverstone, Julia Smith, & Ed Chadd, Olympic Climate Action
Thenext monthlyJefferson County Master Gardener Foundation meeting is Thursday, January 14, at 3:00 pm, at the Tri-Area Community Center.
“Growing Groceries for Jefferson County!” is the subject for this month’s educational lecture series. Master Gardeners Lys Burden and Nita Wester are the presenters.
Lys and Nita will give an overview of the Growing Groceries program, and also focus on some of the specific topics we are teaching here in Jefferson County, and why. We’re going into our third session of classes next month. The first two sessions (spring 2015 and fall 2015) had a sold out attendance and excellent feedback.
Please come hear what they are doing and how important this program is for our county and learn how to sign up for the next class.
The Jefferson County Master Gardener Foundation lectures take place the second Thursday of each month (except December, July, August) and are open to the public. A Foundation business meeting accompanies each lecture.
Filed under: Jefferson County, Puget Sound | Tagged: event, Puget Sound | Comments Off on Event:JC Master Gardener Meeting, Potluck, and Lecture / “Growing Groceries for Jefferson County!”
Have concerns about your bluff property? Seeing erosion, drainage or vegetation impacts? The Jefferson County Marine Resources Committee is holding a free seminar with experts on these topics, and will allow you to apply for a *free* technical site visit. Come on out and check this out! LOW flier_JeffersonFall2015
Aberdeen, WA – Hundreds of concerned Washington residents will gather at the official DEIS public hearing for two of the proposed crude oil by rail terminals in Grays Harbor, Washington. Local Tribal leaders, elected officials, business owners, faith leaders, and community members will voice concerns about the proposals, particularly on the risks from oil trains and spills from oil tankers.
Who:
Fawn Sharp, President, Quinault Indian Nation
Alan Richrod, Aberdeen City Council Member
Rev. Katherine Gardner, Hoquiam United Methodist Church
Dr. Bruce Amundson, family practice doctor and president of Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility
Larry Thevik, WA Dungeness Crab Fisherman Association
With special performances by Quinault Indian Nation Drummers and Dusty Rhodes.
When/Where:
Thursday, October 8th; Press conference and rally at 5 pm
D & R Theater, 205 South I St, Aberdeen
Hearing from 1:30 to 4:30 pm (session 1) and 6 to 9 pm (session 2)
***ATTENTION ASSIGNMENT EDITORS: GREAT VISUALS!*** Large, diverse group wearing red; signs about oil trains and oil spills; musical performance
We will be live tweeting the hearing – follow along at @StandUpToOil, #AberdeenOilHearing and #oiltrains.
The Aberdeen hearing is the second in a series of two hearings (the first was in Elma on October 1st) on the draft Environmental Impact Statement for two of the three proposed crude oil by rail terminals in Grays Harbor, Washington by the Westway and Imperium companies. There are currently five proposals for oil terminals in Washington, as well as a proposal by Shell Refinery in Anacortes to expand their operation to increase their oil by rail capacity.
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STAND UP TO OIL is a growing coalition of groups opposed to new oil terminals and an increase in oil transport through the Northwest, while working to improve safety measures for oil currently traveling through the region. Learn more at Standuptooil.org.
Kerry McHugh | Communications Director
Washington Environmental Council phone206.631.2605| mobile 206.902.7555
emailkerry@wecprotects.org| webwww.wecprotects.org
office1402 Third Avenue | Suite 1400 | Seattle, WA 98101
Venue: Olympic Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall
Venue Address: 73 Howe Road, Agnew
Admission by Donation
Iconic environmental singer Dana Lyons teams up with notorious labor hellraiser Anne Feeney to launch Teamsters and Turtles – Together at Last! Starting in Bellingham, WA July 1st and sweeping south to Oregon, with the Agnew/Port Angeles the only north-peninsula stop, the duo will dispel the myth that unions are at odds with environmentalists. They will accomplish this with song and story. How likely is this tour to bring labor activists and environmentalists into a huge movement for justice, peace, equality, and sustainability? Come to their show and find out!
Hellraiser Anne Feeney
Pittsburgh-based agitator Anne Feeney performs music that she says is designed to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” Not many women have chosen to walk the path of Woody Guthrie, but Feeney has made a career of it for the past 35 years.
“Anne Feeney is the best labor singer in North America.”
Utah Phillips
Eco Troubadour Dana Lyons
Dana Lyons is the singer/songwriter best known for his outrageous hit comedy songs “Cows With Guns,” “RV” and “Ride The Lawn.”
“Every movement has its minstrel. The unions had Woody Guthrie. The peace movement had Phil Ochs. The environmental movement has Dana Lyons”.
Captain Paul Watson, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
News just sent to me. Nothing more than just show up at 5 on Tuesday. While I’m certainly opposed to seeing it built, the ironic thing is that the people building it feel that it doesn’t matter, because they already have a pipeline built of trains to the west coast. So we sort of are damned if we do and damned if we don’t build it. Either way the oil trains will keep rolling in, in ever greater quantities, through downtown Seattle, Tacoma and points north along the shore. Shows that we need to continue to help the Seattle NGOs that are fighting in the legislature starting this week to demand greater accountability, which, given the Republican make up of the legislature, and the lack of a major explosion such as what happened in Quebec, is about all we can achieve.
I’ve seen Florian’s movies and you really owe it to yourself to come see this amazing underwater footage of the world just outside our door here in Port Townsend. Don’t miss this one, and bring your kids.
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“The Future of Oceans” Monthly Lecture Continues in December!
Join us on Sunday, December 7th, at 3pm at the Fort Worden Chapel for the third installment of our new “The Future of Oceans” lecture series:
“Beneath the Salish Sea”
Florian Graner
Sealife Productions
The Port Townsend Marine Science Center is excited to have underwater videographer Florian Granar. Granar will be showing sequences from Beneath the Salish Sea as well as footage from recent projects here and in Europe.
Florian Granar holds a Ph.D. Marine Biology with specialization in marine mammals and works full-time as a freelance marine cinematographer. Being a qualified marine biologist, he brings professionalism and extensive subject knowledge to his films.
Granar’s cinematography assignments have taken him around the planet. He has worked on many film assignments for the BBC including PACIFIC ABYSS, AMAZON ABYSS and THE BLUE PLANET; the UK documentary company Icon Films; the German television company NDR Naturfilm. He is currently completing a presentation for National Geographic Channel.
Florian grew up diving in Germany, and became a certified research diver with the Biological Institution Helgoland (B.A.H.). He has since lived (and dived) in Norway, along spectacular Sognefjord, Norway’s longest and deepest fjord; and in the US, in quaint Pacific Grove, on California’s scenic Monterey peninsula. Florian and his family now live on Whidbey Island, where he dives and films in the waters of the Salish Sea.
His production company, Sea-life Productions, films and produces wildlife documentaries. Florian is constantly pushing forward the boundaries, in terms of diving methods and camera technology, to bring unique images back to the surface. He hopes that this provides a resource for promoting the conservation of a truly global domain…the oceans.
Visit him at http://www.sealife-productions.com, and for a trailer showing his work for a German film on the North Sea, view the video below.
All remaining lectures will be held at 3pm at the Fort Worden Chapel on the first Sunday of every month (except January), with a $10 admission ($5 PTMSC members).
Thank you to the Darrow family for their generous support of this lecture series!
Ray Lowrie was presented with the 10th annual Eleanor Stopps Environmental Leadership Award on Oct. 1.
“I had no clue that anything like this would ever happen,” said Lowrie, who taught at Chimacum School from 1960 to 1992.
About 165 people attended the Stewardship Breakfast in the Fort Worden Commons, where Lowrie was presented with the award by Janine Boire, executive director of the Port Townsend Marine Science Center (PTMSC). Attendees donated $25,160 at the breakfast, and an anonymous donor provided a $25,000 challenge match for a total of $50,160 raised, said Liesl Strabagh of the PTMSC.
PORT TOWNSEND – Join the JLT Natural History Society and Western Wildlife Outreach on Thursday, October 16, for an entertaining evening of “Wolf Talk” with David Moskowitz, well-known wildlife tracker and author of Wolves in the Land of Salmon. Moskowitz will share stories, images, and video clips from the recent OR7 Expedition, which retraced the wanderings of a young male gray wolf, who traversed more than 1,200 miles through Oregon and into California.
The wolf dubbed OR7 was captured and outfitted with a GPS collar in 2011 by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, to follow his journey via satellite signals across multiple mountain ranges, a vast desert, and past numerous towns and cities along the way. OR7 made international news as he wandered to California, becoming the first wolf to be documented there in 90 years. In the spring of 2014 Moskowitz, along with a filmmaker and other stalwart participants, launched an expedition to follow the approximate path of OR7 on foot and by bicycle. The adventurous mission led the team to fresh insights on what it means to share the landscape with large carnivores in the contemporary world.
David will be joined by local carnivore experts, Lorna and Darrell Smith, of the non-profit Western Wildlife Outreach (WWO), who will discuss Washington’s recovering gray wolf population. WWO is a Port Townsend based organization dedicated to providing accurate, science-based information on bears, wolves, and cougars. The organization aims to promote wildlife-safe communities, at the same time striving to restore and maintain healthy populations of these iconic animals, whose roots in the Pacific Northwest extend to millions of years ago.
David Moskowitz is a professional wildlife tracker, photographer, and outdoor educator. He has contributed his technical expertise to a wide variety of wildlife studies, employing tracking and other non-invasive methods to study wildlife ecology and promote conservation. Moscowitz helped establish the Cascade Citizen Wildlife Monitoring Project, whose participants search for and observe rare and sensitive wildlife in the Cascades and other Northwest wildlands.
The Natural History Society is an offshoot organization of the Jefferson Land Trust. It was founded in 2012 to foster active exploration, appreciation, understanding, and conservation of the diverse natural environments of the Olympic Peninsula and beyond.
The “Wolf Talk” program will take place at 7:00 pm, Thursday, October 16, at the Cotton Building, 607 Water Street, Port Townsend. This event is free and open to the public. A $5 donation will help defray the costs and support future programs.
For additional information contact:
Noreen Parks
360 379-4007
HYPERLINK “mailto:noreen.parks@gmail.com” noreen.parks@gmail.com
October 2nd – You are invited to a potluck with the North Olympic Group of the Sierra Club to be held at the Trinity United Methodist Church, 100 North Blake Avenue in Sequim (next to Carrie Blake Park).
Social hour begins at 5:30 PM. Please bring a potluck dish to share and it would be helpful to bring your own plate, cup, and table ware. Members and friends of the Sierra Club are invited.
After the potluck, we will feature the following program:
Ron Eber, Historian for the Oregon Chapter of the Sierra Club, will present a program on the Wilderness Act. On the 50th anniversary of the 1964 Wilderness Act, Ron’s talk will explore the work of John Muir and the pioneer conservationists of Washington who laid the foundation for all the wilderness we have protected since his time. Muir’s earlier wilderness and park campaigns will also be looked at to see what lessons we have learned and can continue to use in the future.
Ron holds a degree in Geography from California State University at Northridge and a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Oregon. From 1976 – 2008, he was the Farm and Forest Lands Specialist for the Oregon Department of La
Filed under: Events | Tagged: event, sequim, Sierra Club | Comments Off on EVENT – Oct 2 – Sierra Club Meeting- Ron Eber speaks on the Wilderness Act 50 years on.
I’ll be introducing the event on Tuesday. Hope you all can make it. It should be a very interesting evening. – Al
Learn about the science of changing ocean chemistry and its effects on sea life, with examples of local efforts to combat the problem. The Northwest Straits Commission and Jefferson County Marine Resources Committee (MRC) host a community forum on ocean health, 6:30-8 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 7 at the Northwest Maritime Center, 431 Water. Doors open at 6 p.m. This event is free and open to the public, and all ages are welcome. To learn more about this event and the Jefferson County MRC, visit jeffersonmrc.org. (Port Townsend Leader)
Please join us for a free evening event featuring guest speakers Dr. Simone Alin, Supervisory Oceanographer at NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Lab; and Betsy Peabody, the Director of Puget Sound Restoration Fund. You’ll learn about changes in the marine waters of Puget Sound, and what’s being done to address them by some of the amazing people who live and work here.
Tuesday, October 7
6:30 PM-8:00 PM (Doors open at 6 PM)
Northwest Maritime Center
Maritime Meeting Room (2nd floor of yellow building)
Port Townsend, WA 98368
This event is sponsored by the Northwest Straits Commission, Jefferson County Marine Resources Committee (MRC), and Puget Sound Restoration Fund.
This Friday night Surfriders will be having their annual ISD event at Harbinger Winery from 6:30-10. Live music, great food, refreshments, and a raffle full of good scores such as a surfboard and snowboard. A family friendly event with a $20 entry, $10 for students with student ID card.
Filed under: Puget Sound | Tagged: bluff, event, Puget Sound, stewardship, workshop | Comments Off on EVENT- April 5- Living with the Coast – A workshop for Marine Shoreline Landowners in Jefferson County
This is a hot topic lately. It’s a sad state of affairs that all environmental protection seems to be predicated by what is the value of resource, rather than people simply appreciating it, but there you have it. So here’s some forums to help understand these.
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Click for the hyperlinked SUMMARY
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Click here for the hyperlinked REPORT
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THREE Public Workshops on “The Value of Our Ecosystems – Defining the
economics of ecosystem services in Clallam County”
All held at Clallam County Board of Comissioner’s Meeting Room #160, 223
East Fourth Street, Port Angeles, WA.
Thursday, December 5, 2013
2:00 – 4:00 pm
Thursday, December 5, 2013
6:00 to 8:00 pm
Friday, December 6, 2013
11:25am-12:45pm (Part of the Strait Ecosystem Recovery Network Meeting).
All three forums will be lead by staff from Earth Economics who performed the ESV analysis and are open to the public.
The December 5 afternoon session will be targeted to County staff and officials and likely be more technical in nature.
The December 5 evening session will provide an ESV introduction and overview targeted to the public, with emphasis on nearshore bluff systems.
The December 6 meeting presentation is part of the Straits Ecosystem Recovery Network meeting agenda, and will focus on the ESV pilot projects results for the Central Strait of Juan de Fuca nearshore area and next steps.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!!!
Steve Gray, Deputy Director/Planning Manager
Clallam County Dept. of Community Development
223 East Fourth Street, Suite 5
Port Angeles, WA 98362-3015
Phone: (360)417-2520; Fax: (360)417-2443
sgray@co.clallam.wa.us
With the Congress set to reduce food stamp funding on Friday November 1st, understanding how to get local food is even more important for many of those needing a decent meal. Often farms have gleanings available, or have slightly older food that they may be willing to donate if you live in the neighborhood.
(The Local Food Access Network (L-FAN) is sponsoring an event on November 12, 2013 at Nourish, our new organic Sequim restaurant. The topic is Bountiful Clallam and will featuring Clea Rome. Clea is the University of Washington Extension Agent in Clallam County that works with local farmers to help them increase sustainable production and markets. This should be an informative meeting and will be followed by a discussion of what we can do to support local food accessibility.
Nourish is open for dinner and it is Taco Night! Come early and bring your tacos upstairs to the Community Meeting Room. It is all organic and gluten free
What: “Bountiful Clallam” Local folks discuss local fare
When: Tuesday, November 12, 2013 Time: 6:00 – 8:00pm
Where: Nourish Restaurant 1345 S. Sequim Ave. (Old Cedarbrook Garden Café)
Featuring: Clea Rome
Sponsored by: Local Food Access Network
Contact for additional information or questions: Carrol Hull 360 683-5199
cahull@msn.com
Olympic Climate Action is joining with Peninsula College and the Elwha Klallam Heritage Center to offer three free programs on climate change in October.
October 10
Jon Riedel (speaker) “Vanishing Ice: What Happens to the Olympic Peninsula Water Supply as Glaciers Retreat?”
12:30pm to 1:30pm, Peninsula College Little Theater (Studium Generale series)
May 6, (Monday) 7:30, Quimper Grange: “Farmed and Dangerous, A Deadly Shrimp Cocktail”
Shrimp aquaculture and its impacts will be the topic of Alfredo Quarto’s talk at Quimper Grange on May 6th at 7:30. Quarto is Co-founder and executive director of the Mangrove Action Project and has spent 35 years working on environmental and social justice issues for Greenpeace, the Freedom Fund, and Ancient Forest Chautauqua.
Here in the Northwest many are familiar with the debate over salmon net pens, yet often unaware of devastation caused by the shrimp aquaculture industry on tropical and sub tropical ecosystems or how it is displacing fishing communities. And few know that we take health risks ourselves when eat these shrimp that are often contaminated with pesticides, antibiotics and other harmful substances.
Shrimp is now the most popular seafood in the US. In just the past 10 years our consumption of shrimp has doubled. Industrial scale shrimp farms along the coasts of Asian, African and Latin American countries produce most of the shrimp Americans eat. Alfredo Quarto and the organization he co-founded, the Mangrove Action Project (MAP) have been engaged in reversing the degradation of mangrove forest ecosystems worldwide and promote the rights of local coastal peoples, including fishers and farmers, in the sustainable management of coastal ecosystems. Although he works with international organizations and communities, he also works at the “grassroots” level at home, where he land his family live on a small organic farm in Port Angeles, Washington.
Quimper Grange is located at 1219 Corona St. in Port Townsend. Doors open at 7pm. Program starts at 7:30. Suggested donation $5-!0
The focal point for environmental news & perspective on the news. Our goal is to help educate and connect the public on the Peninsula. We are not a non-profit so donations are not tax deductible. Maybe someday with your help!
HOTLINES FOR REPORTING SPILLS
WA State Emergency Management Division: 1-800-258-5990
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Pacific States & British Columbia: 1-800-OILS-911 (1-800-645-7911)
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