Olympic Peninsula Environmental News

I’ve created a new ‘channel’ on the video site, Vimeo. http://vimeo.com/channels/salishseavideos

The goal of this site is to be the equivalent of Olyopen.net, and act as a gateway to videos on the Salish Sea. I’m putting out the call to any and all video producers, whether pro or amateur, to publish your videos onto Vimeo (it’s free), and then subscribe to this channel and publish them there.

Hope to see you on Vimeo!

Al

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Since Derelict Gear Project is about to run out of money, with dozens of submerged nets still needing to be removed, Ray Troll, the great fish artist who’s work  you have probably seen on many tee shirts etc, will be in PT to benefit the cause. Here’s the details

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If you are wondering about seeing this treasure, start here.

Protection Island Video

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A sad situation, given all the money and effort put into it, but it was plagued by a massive ego in it’s leadership, and should be a lesson for any future similar efforts. Unilateral decision making in an issue like this is not a good idea. The public has to have buy in for it to work.

10/20 Peninsula Daily News
By Tom Callis
Peninsula Daily News

PORT ANGELES — Harbor-Works formally came to an end Tuesday.

The City Council voted unanimously to dissolve the public development authority 17 months and more than a million dollars after creating it.

The decision came after board members of the Harbor-Works Development Authority thanked the city for its support and urged continuing pressure on the state Department of Ecology to ensure that environmental cleanup of Rayonier Inc.’s former pulp mill site doesn’t continue to face delays.

More at
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20101020/NEWS/310209976/its-over-harbor-works-officially-no-longer-exists

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The Sierra Club’s North Olympic Group is endorsing John Austin to retain his seat
as District 3 Commissioner of Jefferson County and has endorsed John Miller for
Director of Clallam County Department of Community Development.

As Jefferson County Commissioner, John has worked hard for our environment.
In the last four years he has supported the Critical Areas Ordinance and the
Shoreline Master Program.

John was instrumental in keeping State Parks open, saved a mature forest between
two county parks by initiating a transfer from the Department of Natural Resources
(the forest between Gibbs Lake and Beausite Lake), and is working to curb
transferring DNR public forest lands in Eastern Jefferson County into private
ownership — keeping public lands in public ownership.

John serves on the climate Advisory Council which is developing a model on
how local government and businesses can reduce their carbon footprint, and co-
Chairs the Strait Environmental Ecosystem Recovery Network which consists
of representatives from business, tribes, government, and non governmental
organizations.

John Austin is educated on the issues, has shown strength of leadership, and has
the experience to responsibly lead Jefferson County for the betterment of its health
and that of his constituents.

Questionnaires were sent to both John Miller and Sheila Miller (no relationship), but Sheila Miller declined to complete hers. An interview was conducted with John Miller and the results,combined with his environmental record while in office, make John Miller exceptionally qualified for the Sierra Club endorsement.

As Director of Clallam County Department of Community Development,
John Miller oversees comprehensive planning, permitting for development and building, managing environmental health programs, and performing the functions of the County Fire Marshal. To uphold his responsibilities, John supports watershed buffers to protect streams, salmon and flooding, which can affect private property. He
influenced watershed protection in WRIA 19 and 20. He has his staff working collaboratively with multi local factions to develop a good storm water plan. He served on the Governor’s advisory committee addressing rising sea level impacts, an issue critical to coastal communities such as Clallam County. John has worked to clear all
growth management appeals facing the County in 2007, except sewer in Carlsborg, and there is a funding plan being developed for solving that. John Miller has the insight and the breadth of experience to take Clallam County through the needed planning steps, together with the environmental issues and pending decisions faced by the County. His concern, actions and knowledge make him the candidate that will
elevate Clallam County towards meeting its 21st century needs and
responsibilities.

The Sierra Club also endorses:
U.S. Senator Patty Murray
6th Congressional District Norm Dicks
Yes on Referendum 52, Healthy Schools for Washington
No on I-1053, requiring a two-thirds majority vote of the Washington State
Legislature, or a statewide popular vote, for any tax increases

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From their web site:

Jefferson Land Trust is happy to announce that Executive Director Sarah Spaeth is the recipient of the prestigious 2010 Eleanor Stopps Environmental Leadership Award.

At the Port Townsend Marine Science Center breakfast on Sept. 30 when the award was presented, Sarah paid tribute to Eleanor Stopps, who was in the audience. Eleanor Stopps was primarily responsible for the designation of Protection Island as a National Wildlife Refuge in 1982. Sarah celebrated Stopps’s passion for preserving habitat as a model for her own work with the Land Trust.

Eric Harrington, president of the Port Townsend Marine Science Center, which administers the award, cited Sarah for her “ability to form productive partnerships with other organizations, to engage community members honestly and clearly, and to manage sometimes difficult and complex transactions efficiently and transparently” as well as for her role in writing over $4 million worth of successful land acquisition proposals and the preservation of over 8,400 acres in Jefferson County during her fifteen years at the Land Trust.

read the rest of the story at

http://www.saveland.org/News/News_Detail.aspx?processID=83

and read more about the Land Trust at:http://www.saveland.org/

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The Georgia Strait Alliance turns 20 this fall. We wish them well. They have done fabulous work to protect the Strait, which is home to 70% of British Columbia residents, who share it with Orca, many salmon species, and numerous other flora and fauna.

The pressures on the Strait and it’s watershed habitat are enormous. If you want to check out the work they are doing, if for nothing else than to see what’s important to our friends ‘north of the border’, check out their web site http://www.georgiastrait.org/?q=node and their blog http://georgiastraitalliance.blogspot.com/ 

Happy anniversary and many more!

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DNR has approved the Smith and Minor Islands Aquatic Reserves determination of  of non-significance (DNS) after receiving 318 public comments, all positive for the plan. This apparently paves the way to officially name it an Aquatics Reserve, protecting the bottom lands below it from possible commercial uses, such as tidal energy, or pipelines. Given the vast amount of other areas around for these things, it’s important to give what protection we can to these areas. It’s worth noting that a state major dredge spoils dump is nearby this area. It’s those kinds of things that can spoil the bottom around these places.

Anyway, thanks to DNR and congratulations to People For Puget Sound, who proposed this in the first place, and the Marine Resource Committees who championed it.  Hope I’ve not missed anyone else!

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9/24 Kitsap Sun-By Kitsap Sun staff -HOODSPORT —
Surface conditions in lower Hood Canal appear to be stabilizing after an extensive fish kill <http://http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2010/sep/21/hundreds-of-fish-thousands-of-shrimp-dead-in/>&#160; was reported in the area earlier in the week.
Low oxygen levels in the waters between about Hoodsport and Twanoh proved fatal for thousands of spot prawns and hundreds of fish. But by Wednesday, oxygen levels were normalizing.
More at
http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2010/sep/24/conditions-stabilizing-after-hood-canal-fish/

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9/26 Peninsula Daily News
Peninsula Daily News
PORT TOWNSEND — A public meeting will be held next month by the state Department of Natural Resources on the draft Protection Island Aquatic Reserve Management Plan.
The meeting will be at the Port Townsend Community Center, 620 Tyler St., from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 6.
More at
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20100926/news/309269986/natural-resources-schedules-meeting-to-discuss-protection-island

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9/22 Peninsula Daily News

By Paige Dickerson
Peninsula Daily News
PORT ANGELES — The Harbor-Works Development Authority will return at least $168,588 in public money once it is formally dissolved next month.
That’s what the five board members of the public development authority — which was created by the city of Port Angeles more than two years ago — decided Tuesday during what they expect to be their final meeting.
The money is the amount of money left from the $1.3 million in loans from the City of Port Angeles and the Port of Port Angeles.
A cashier’s check will be issued to the city if the City Council formally votes to dissolve the authority at its Oct. 19 meeting, City Manager Kent Myers said.
More at
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20100922/news/309229980/the-end-of-the-line-harbor-works-initial-13-million-down-to-168
—-

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In addition to running this web site, I also produce videos.  We have just finished “Voices of the Strait”, a short video documentary interviewing people who have lived out here on the Peninsula over the last 50 years. They discuss the way they grew up, the changes they’ve seen in our natural resources along the Strait of Juan de Fuca, what we have lost, and how we might restore them.

We will also be showing a short documentary video interviewing some of the SCUBA community on the changes they have seen in our natural resources over  the last twenty years. The SCUBA video was done by local Port Angeles graduate Cameron Little.

Voices of the Strait is a production of Mountainstone Productions of Port Townsend, with sponsorship by the Feiro Marine Life Center in Port Angeles. Both of these documentaries were supported by  the Puget Sound Partnerships,  a network of educators and communicators.

Please come out to see these short videos, at one of the community events listed below, and participate in the questions and answers with a panel of video participants, the video production team, and the local groups that helped sponsor the video.

Attached is a poster that will be used to advertise for these community events.This version will not print well at 8×10 as it was reduced in size for email use only.  If you wish a larger size version to post at appropriate locations within your community, email me. If you want to print it for local PR and then put your local information in, feel free to do so.

If you wish to arrange for a showing at your location, other than these dates, let me know. We expect to be releasing this to the Internet (i.e. Youtube and/or Vimeo) in early September. We have no plans to sell videos but if there is a need for an actual video, please contact me and we can discuss it.

“This documentary, though it lasts a mere 16 minutes, has the goods to drive a new conversation about restoring the body of water that sustains the North Olympic Peninsula” – Diane Urbani de la Paz – Peninsula Daily News

Please forward this email to your email distribution lists, as appropriate. Thank you!

Al Bergstein
Producer/Director
Mountainstone Productions
Port Townsend, WA

Community Events:
September 16th  – 6:30 PM  – Makah Community Hall – Neah Bay
October 20th – 7PM  Joyce Area – A potluck will be  held at 6:30  Video shows afterwards – Crescent Grange in Joyce.

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The Voices of the Strait video project is now live on the web. Enjoy!

http://www.vimeo.com/12452315

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With the latest odd story quoting Jim Boyer that he believes the U.N. may somehow be involved in the environmental protection efforts of Jefferson County, we now have a new chapter opening in the race for county commissioner from District 3. The most disturbing part of this ‘allegation’ is that this is the kind of conspiracy theory that was initiated in the late 1950s by the John Birch Society. It is still a John Birch tenet, that somehow the U.N. (“get U.S. out of the UN!” bill boards still around today), is behind some kind of world domination effort to subvert the U.S. By throwing out this comment, it raises the question that I would have never asked before this, which is, “Mr. Boyer, are you or have you been a member of the John Birch Society?” I believe that moderate Republican and swing voters would like to clearly have this laid out for them before choosing to vote. Up to now, Mr. Boyer simply seemed like a conservative Republican, painting all environmental efforts as “bad”. Now we wonder, what is going on here? What beliefs does he really represent? I can’t for the life of me, understand how the U.N. factors into shoreline protection in Jefferson County.

As Mark Twain once said:
“A man’s character may be learned from the adjectives which he habitually uses in conversation.”

From Sunday’s Peninsula Daily News: Please link through and read the whole story at their web site.

PORT TOWNSEND — Is there a link between the United Nations, Olympic National Park and possible control of Jefferson County shoreline regulations and water policy?

Republican District 3 county commissioner candidate Jim Boyer, who has called his opponent an “enviro-wacko,” suspects there is a connection through the U.N.’s Biosphere Program.

“I am interested in what is entailed and how it manifests itself into the control of our water for farmers and in the Chimacum Valley and Snow Creek Watershed and how these different entities intertwine,” Boyer, a 64-year-old Port Ludlow home-builder, said Thursday.

“I have concerns about why it seems like we have subordinated our sovereignty to an international body that makes its own rules,” he added

Read this rest of this odd story at:

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20100912/news/309129990/olympic-national-parks-un-designation-worries-jefferson

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So now that everyone has calmed down a bit on whether David Dicks drives his car home , or buys Macs instead of PCs, the real value of the Partnership, along with it’s family ties to pursestrings  in Washington, is showing up. They put out a document last year that tried to prioritize the cleanup and now the Feds have come back with a significant amount of money to do what many of us have asked for, for years. Real solid monitoring of the efforts. State government, while always wanting results, has not appropriately funded the efforts. This is a great start. It does mean something significant. And it will give jobs to scientists on the ground here in Washington. Let’s at least give a small amount of gratitude for the Partnership for helping get this done.

9/8 KPLU-FM
Liam Moriarty
SEATTLE (KPLU) – The effort to restore Puget Sound to health depends a lot on good science. A new infusion of federal money for research sheds light on that complex and wide-ranging task.
The nearly $13 million will pay for 17 projects aimed at increasing our knowledge of specific aspects of what’s ailing Puget Sound   and how to heal it.
Michael Rylko – with the Environmental Protection Agency – says the research will cover a lot of ground.
Listen at KPLU

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