Endangered-Species

PRESS RELEASE: In the pre-dawn hours of the fourth day of an indigenous-led occupation of the State Capitol grounds in Olympia, WA, one Native American woman was taken out of a “tarpee” (a contemporary teepee) and arrested by state patrol troopers, while 3 other occupants were allowed to leave. Indigenous leaders erected four of the tarpees on the State Capitol lawn early on Monday morning in anticipation of the opening of the State Legislature that same day. Their intention was to occupy the grounds to demand that treaties signed between the US government and the local Coast Salish Tribes be respected, and that the health of the Salish Sea be restored and protected. They demanded that the State deny any remaining permits to the LNG facility being illegally built by Puget Sound Energy at the Port of Tacoma on Puyallup Treaty lands; that WA State ban Atlantic salmon net pens, which are endangering local salmon populations already at high risk; and that the State do all it can to oppose the expansion of the TransMountain pipeline across the US/Canadian border, which would profoundly endanger the Salish Sea as well as the health and subsistence of First Nations in the Salish Sea. ...

From The Washington Post: A recent study traced a major coho salmon die-off to contaminants from roads and automobiles — brake dust, oil, fuel, chemical fluids — that hitch a ride on storm water and flow into watersheds. The contaminants are so deadly, they kill the salmon within 24 hours. “Our findings are . . . that contaminants in stormwater runoff from the regional transportation grid likely caused these mortality events. Further, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to reverse historical coho declines without addressing the toxic pollution dimension of freshwater habitats,” said the study, published Wednesday in the journal Ecological Applications. ...

Without Major Interventions, the Orca’s Days Are Numbered By Dahr Jamail | Truthout November 30, 2016 No one is certain of the total number of orcas (otherwise known as “killer whales”) that exist in the wild. However, estimates are now around 100,000, and populations are dwindling. In Washington State’s Puget Sound and San Juan Islands, the once-large population of orcas has declined to around 80 whales, and the Puget Sound orcas are on the US government’s endangered species list. ...

Sick to the stomach. That’s how I felt after reading this story. But surprised? No. The USFS and other government agencies commonly ignore regulations and prioritize the economy over the natural world. That’s been their way for more than 150 years. The insanity is clear. Mick Lamar, chief of the local fire crew, defended the line as ’less damaging to the forest’ than a fire would have been. “Nobody wants a vacation home on a blacked-out hillside,” he said. Does he not understand that fire is natural and essential to many forests? That vacation homes are less important than endangered species? That burned forests contain more biodiversity than logged forests? Of the cut, one biologist said that “trees larger than allowed were cut, streamside buffers ignored, and operating just ran all over the place compacting soils.” Another said, “Why don’t we STOP and THINK and PLAN?!” That wasn’t going to happen. We invite you to read this Seattle Times article and come to your own conclusions about the effectiveness of forest policy and the priorities of this culture when it comes to destroying the planet vs. protecting the economy. ...

Buffalo are still absent here in the Hebgen Basin. Patrols are conducting daily recons, searching through the buffalo’s migration corridors, but the gentle giants are keeping themselves out of Montana and, consequently, safe from the killers. Along Yellowstone’s north boundary, in the Gardiner Basin, buffalo haven’t been so lucky. Another eight buffalo have been killed by Confederated Salish & Kootenai (CSKT) hunters who are “harvesting” ecologically extinct wild bison because they have a treaty right to do so. We would suggest that the CSKT and other tribes who hold treaty rights to the Yellowstone region also have a right to healthy, viable populations of wild bison on all federally unoccupied, unclaimed lands. And we would further suggest that the Interagency Bison Management Plan, which is driving the destruction of America’s last continuously wild buffalo herds, is not only violating the lives of wild buffalo, but violating treaty rights as well. ...

Rural indigenous communities, ranchers, farmers, and environmentalists have all come together in Eastern Nevada to fight a water grab orchestrated by greedy developers in Las Vegas. Deep Green Resistance (including members of the Seattle chapter) are involved in the fight. Learn more about their efforts here: http://dgrnewsservice.org/2014/09/21/report-back-from-the-sacred-water-tour/

Not only are Puget Sound’s resident killer whales continuing to decline in numbers, but their behavior is changing, too, according to scientists. The orcas seem to be splintering from their basic social groups and spending less time together. FRIDAY HARBOR — With two new deaths this year and no new calves since 2012, the population of endangered killer whales in the Puget Sound continues to decline. The number of whales in the J, K and L pods has dropped to 78, a level not seen since 1985, according to a census by the Center for Whale Research. Adding to the concerns, the whales appear to be “splintering” from their pods, which are their basic social groups. ...