SPOKANE — There won’t be any endangered species protection for the Giant Palouse earthworm in the immediate future.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this week affirmed a lower court ruling that found there is not enough evidence to prove the worm is threatened.

The appeals found that virtually all information about the elusive worm is limited and inconclusive.

In April, living specimens of the worm were captured for the first time in two decades. Environmentalists have filed a new petition seeking endangered species protection.

– The Associated Press

The Giant Palouse Earthworm is an annelid beast that, until recently, was thought to be extinct. Recently, while digging around near Washington State University, researchers found some examples of what could be the elusive worm. Through DNA testing, they were confirmed to be of the missing species.

This brings up some interesting questions. If we really did think that these worms were extinct, and they now do exist, then wouldn’t they by definition be endangered? Probably. Yet, giving them the “endangered” tag would mean that farmers would have to do (or not do) something to protect the species. Somehow, that just doesn’t seem right to me in this case.

The court found that there is not enough evidence to prove the worm is threatened. My initial reaction is to protect them. But my next reaction is that perhaps, if they have been hiding all this time, that there could be a lot of them hiding out there in the vast and hilly fields of the Palouse.

Yes, I worry that we don’t do enough to protect endangered species. Deep down, I worry about the worms. On the other hand, common sense tells me that if the worms have survived that long without our assistance, and that our current farming methods have not killed them all yet, that they may have a penchant for hiding and for survival that we might not quite understand yet.

Let the farmers do what they will for now. The worms will get by. I doubt we will not kill these particular creatures off any more badly than we think we have already. I celebrate that they are not dead yet.

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This is certainly a major spill going on here. I wouldn’t object too much to oil exploration, if there were a way to do it safely and without considerable environmental damage. This incident has proven that, at least for now, we do not have the necessary safeguards in place to avert disaster. So, for now, I will object to any drilling of oil off of our coasts, whether they be the Pacific Coast off of Cascadia, The Arctic Coast, or anywhere else. However, I am a reasonable person. If the necessary safety measures can be put in place, then we can drill for the oil we seem to need until better sources of energy are available.

In the meantime, here’s to hoping that inkblot on the map doesn’t get any bigger.
If It Was My Home .com

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The Salish Sea comprises the inland waters around Puget Sound, the Georgia Strait, and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Even the name of this blog suggests that the environment of our region of the world is more than simply the lands and waters on one side of a map line or another.  The term “Cascadia” implies that the area around Washington and Oregon, as well as those in lower British Columbia, share many common needs.  Despite the international boundary, the whole region has a similar climate, similar ecology, and similar needs.  In the same manner, the term “Salish Sea” recognizes that an issue in Puget Sound is quite often also an issue that affects the entire region.  Thus, it makes sense to give a name to the total of the inland sea in our region.

While the existing names for these waters will continue to be used as they always have, more and more people in the region have been using the new name when referring to the whole area.  This was recognized when Washington’s Board of Geographic Names approved the name at the state level Oct. 30 ,then the Federal Board on Geographic Names approved the idea Thursday, November 12.  These votes mean Salish Sea can be now added to U.S. maps and other materials.  It has been approved in British Columbia by the province’s names board, and Canadian national approval is expected soon.

Incidentally, there is some opposition to the name.  A few people are opposed because the word Salish, while being a word used to describe the some of the coastal Indian tribes native to the area, was not the actual word used by the natives of the region to describe these waters.  The other is the mistaken belief that the name Salish Sea will replace the names Puget Sound, Georgia Strait, and Strait of Juan de Fuca.  Of course they will not be replaced.  The new name simply refers to the area as a whole.

In fact, in an article a year and a half ago, I stated my objections to using the name.  While I still maintain the new name could have been more historically accurate, the new name has come into common usage.  It also tends to unify our region and show thet we really do share the same issues.  I now support the name.

In the meantime, the public seems to be taking to the new name, which has been growing in usage since the early 1990′s.  Some people who offer marine tours of the area are using the name.  It is handy when referring to the pods of orca whales that live in the area.  They are in the Georgia Strait or in Puget Sound, depending on the time of year, now the Salish Sea whales live in their home all year.  It makes sense to use the name when dealing with, say, fisheries issues.  A Puget Sound salmon differs from a Georgia Strait salmon only in which side of an imaginary line it happens to be on at the moment.  It gives the people who work in these industries something to call the entire area when referring to its needs.

Historically, there have been issues with the boundaries of these areas anyway.  The San Juan Islands were alternately part of the British or American territory, depending upon which map you believed. The fact is that historically, geographically, and environmentally, it is all part of the same region.

The individual waterways will always retain their original names and identities.  This change only reflects the ages old reality that this is truly a single inland sea.

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To everyone, I would like to introduce another blog project that I am working on.  It will not replace this one.  I will continue to share my opinions here with all of you who read and care.  The new blog, Cascadia Daily Photo, will take one picture per day that shows some aspect of the nature or culture of the Cascadia region.  This, of course, covers what most people know as Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia.

Please feel free to go over there and take a look at the pictures already there.  I’m told that some of them are pretty good, but I’ll let you be the judge of that.   I’ll leave you with an example here:

Yes, it is Multnomah Falls, one of the special areas that makes our part of the world so special.  No, all of the sites pictured in the new blog are not so well known, so it is worth a look to see what is there every day.  There are also links there to daily picture blogs done by other people from throughout the region.  Photo: Taken at Multnomah Falls on 16 June 2007.

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I do understand that we need to take steps to protect the salmon and sturgeon in the Columbia River.  But, depending upon the study quoted, the sea lions are eating between 0.2% and 4.2% of the fish going upstream.  W can compare this to the fishing by humans on the river that take many times that number of fish, despite the elimination of much commercial fishing on the river.  We can also compare this to the statistic that Bonneville Dam itself claims as many as half the fish that are swimming upstream.

I am certainly not advocating removing the major dams from the Columbia River at this time, although that might be a worthy long term goal.  However, I believe that blaming the problems of dwindling salmon runs on the natural presence of sea lions is the wrong move.  Certainly, it is not right to kill those sea lions that eat their natural food.  This action is akin to simply deciding to kill off all the sea lions.

Our state governments are trying to get this issue past us by claiming that they are only killing a few of the “worst offending” individual sea lions.  they claim to kill only those few who are consuming the greatest number of fish.  In reality, their actions have not matched these words.  Observers have seen ODFW capturing and killing many sea lions on a continuing basis.  At least one of these was killed for eating as few as two fish.  I am certain that this is not what any of us have in mind.

Before we go out and continue this new policy of eradicating one species to allegedly save another, it might be prudent to see what the problems might be with killing these sea lions.  Certainly they are also an important part of nature.

I lived in Astoria for several years.  I know that the sea lions are numerous in the Columbia River.  I have heard their voices on quiet mornings and evenings, and know that all is well with them.  Yes, I also know that they are a nuisance at times on assorted fishing and boating docks in the area.  Generally, the people have managed to find ways to work around them without causing undue harm and, notably, without killing them. I would like to think that, after hundreds of years of humans living together with the wildlife of the Columbia River, that we can somehow get by and save the fish without killing off another species of animal.  There must be a middle ground.

I would encourage you to take an interest in this issue.  I recently found a website that shows the efforts of one group, the Sea Lion Defense Brigade, to organize efforts toward stopping the killings of these beautiful animals.  On their site, you will find lists of the affected sea lions, summaries of the issues revolving around the sea lions and the fish runs, links to other resources on the issue, and a call to do what you can to help with the problem.  Their site is worth a few minutes of your time if you care at all about these animals.

Currently, the capturing and killing efforts have moved away from Bonneville Dam and are about to be ramped up in Astoria.  I’m certain that the tourists who visit the Lower Columbia region would be horrified to find out that these animals are being killed by the state.

Yes, the ODFW now has approval from the courts to kill some of these animals.  That still does not mean that it is something that should be done.  There are better solutions.  Let’s not treat the majestic sea lions the same way we treat rats and other vermin.

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In the current proposed legislation, we are developing a framework upon which future decisions will be made.  In other words, there really is no plan for taxing us by the mile right now, but the legislature is being asked to approve a plan to allow a by-the-mile tax just as soon as local governments decide they want to do it.  They are being asked to sign a blank check and fill in the blanks later.  This is no way for a government to raise funds for any purpose.

I agree that there is some merit in a plan that taxes motorists by the amount that they use the roads.  There is also merit in a plan that would charge more for using the roadways during busy times.  Our Oregon’s governor says that he is interested in getting away from a model where the gas tax pays for much of the highway maintenance.  That is where  the error in the plan comes in.

It is so simple to keep the gas tax in place.  In fact, it might be good to allow local governments to collect fuel taxes to support local maintenance projects.  It is so simple.  You drive more, you use more fuel, thus you pay more tax.

The gas tax has an extra added benefit.  The tax actually rewards fuel conservation and promotes less use of gasoline.  Thus it is good for the environment.  A vehicle that uses more fuel pays more in taxes for the same amount of driving than a more fuel efficient vehicle.  What could be easier?

The governor thinks it will be easier to place a device in every car that will measure how far that car has been driven, as well as where and when the vehicle has been driven.  Besides the fact that this all seems just a bit too Orwellian for my tastes, some government agency is going to be all of a sudden doing a lot of bookkeeping to track these expenses.  If there really is a compelling need to tax based upon mileage that the vehicle is driven, we might find that all vehicles are already equipped with a rather unobtrusive meter to track mileage.  We call it the odometer.  We could check it when we register our vehicles.

One concern of continuing reliance on the gas tax is the fact that, as we switch to fuel efficient or alternative fuel vehicles, we are going to collect less tax revenue to pay for highway maintenance.  After all, an electric or hybrid vehicle uses less gas, but should be expected to make some contribution to fund highways.  I do not disagree.  To make this work, we will need to raise the statre gas tax.

My “no tax increase” friends will now look away and say that I just want to see taxes raised again.  Actually, this is not entirely true.  I would propose that if total tax revenue goes down because of vehicles using less fuel, that we simply raise the fuel tax enough to offset this loss in revenue.  For example, we might know that we need X number of dollars per year to fund road maintenance.  Due to fuel efficiency, we collect 20% less in taxes.  It seems quite reasonable that we would increase the tax per gallon by 20% to make up for this shortfall.  Yes, the price per gallon goes up, but the total tax that the driver pays would stay the same.

Sadly, it looks like Kulongoski and his followers will continue to look for the complicated solution when the simple solution will be cheaper.

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I get a relentless amount of e-mail from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).  While I agree with a lot of the things their organization talks about, sometimes they do something that just leaves a person asking “What’s that about?” and leaves you shaking your head.  Their latest campaign is “Save the Sea Kittens”.  Of course, you have to take a look at what they are talking about, and the answer is that this is a new anti-fishing campaign.

On the new section of their website, PETA has places a campaign that asks people to contact the US Fish and Wildlife Service and tell them to stop the torture and killing of sea kittens.  Let me just share the excerpt from their site:

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Since I am in Portland, I can accurately report on the experience here.  If you turned to any of the four oldest TV stations in town, you were treated to hours upon hours of “storm coverage” that was titled in the most profound words they could think up at the moment.  They provided wall-to-wall coverage, preempted by only a few programs that they believe to be important particularly profitable, like football games and such.  If you looked long enough, eventually you would figure out there was snow and ice present, and occasionally they would report some useful information. It is news and entertainment all rolled into one, but for the occasional event like this, that is probably an appropriate function for television.

On the other hand, let’s say the power went out, and you really did need as much information as possible about the conditions around you or over the next hill.  Well, that’s all right, most of us have a battery powered radio somewhere, and virtually every car is equipped with this useful device.  No problems!  we just turn on the radio and we will have several choices of where we get our information from!

Well, not so fast.  It seems that none of our local stations are equipped with a news department anymore.  Sure, there are the usual few “news” stations that give us people talking around the clock.  But outside of the morning drive-time, and maybe in the late afternoon, there are no longer any actual local reporters at most radio stations.  Certainly, there are not enough of them to provide a credible, timely newscast of a live event such as a major snowstorm.

The medium that we used to always depend upon for local emergencies is something very different now.   Most have, at the most, a single local reporter who is prepackaging stories to be repeated for the next 24 hours.  Many have no local news presence, and in fact, little local presence at all.  News-talk radio now means that a voice from somewhere far away is chattering about some national event.  They will keep chattering about random national events, even if we are suffering through blizzards of floods or even earthquakes.  In fact, at many stations, even if something major does happen, there is no one present who would be qualified to even open the microphone switch and tell us that something bad has happened.  Let alone research and report on the information we truly need immediately.  This is almost a crime.

To be fair, one Portland talk station did actually offer some coverage while the city was initially paralyzed by snow.  Talk station KPAM 860 switched to rebroadcasting the audio feed from ABC TV affiliate KATU Channel 2 for a couple of days.  At least there was some information out there for those without power.  Although it wasn’t very helpful for the inevitable times when you would hear that you could “call the number on your screen for assistance.”  Still, better than nothing.

My thoughts also turned to my television.  I will often simply turn on my portable TV in the kitchen to see and hear what is going on outside during these snow events.  This is handy, especially since my current business depends upon my knowing what road conditions are like all over town.  For now, this worked out fine, since I could still get a slightly fuzzy picture out of my old TV.  It also occurred to me that, even with an antenna larger than the portable TV set itself, I have still not been very successful getting a consistent picture from the TV when hooked up to the new Digital TV Converter.  So, unless I can get that issue solved, and it’s a real issue in the hills of Southwest Portland, then after February that might not be an option, either.

I understand that radio has evolved in the last decade from a business where no owner could own more than two stations in town to where one of six large corporations own most of the stations in town.  And I do understand why they are moving away from local radio service and going with syndicated programs for both talk and music services.  But if that is happening, we will need to revisit how we will communicate necessary information to the masses in a local area during a real disaster.

Yes, we do have an Emergency Alert System in place.   That will do the trick to warn us that a severe storm is on the way.  Beyond that, radio is an important medium to tell us which way we can go to get to safety after the disaster occurs.  Currently, I believe we would be hard pressed to disseminate that vital information in a timely manner.

For those who tell me they got their information from the Internet, yes, there are a lot of good and frequently updated emergency resources there.  And I have zero faith that my Internet connection, even the one on my cell phone, will be working after a disaster.

Yes, the snowstorm was not really an emergency.  Consider this, though.  If we do have that earthquake with an intensity only felt every 400 years like they say we might, who will be manning the radio station to get us vital information on what options we have.  From what I saw of our recent storm coverage, I am not comforted.

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One of the things that got me a bit riled up during that time was the number of people who were blaming the government for their lack of response.  Although this was an unusual event, there were more than a few complaints that our governments should have done much more to fix the snow on the roads much more quickly than they did.  While that would have been nice, no city or county in the Northwest had enough equipment and resources on hand to immediately get things back to normal.  Under the circumstances, I wouldn’t have expected them to.

I agree with the Seattle mayor’s assessment of the situation that our local areas did about as well as could be expected with the resources they had. Portland also concluded that they had done relatively well in their response, even though all services were not kept in place as if it were just another day.  In fact, that week was not “just another day”.  However, some commentators questioned that, if the cities could not get the roads clear of snowfall in a “timely” manner, then how prepared are they if there were an emergency such as major flooding or an earthquake.

Well, unfortunately, we did have the opportunity to visit that question this week.  On Thursday, we have had flooding on a number of rivers and streams throughout the region.  People have been evacuated from their homes, water is rising over roadways and bridges, and Interstate 5 has been closed for a 20-mile stretch in Lewis County and has effectively cut off Seattle from Portland, since every potential detour route is also covered with water and mudslides.  The snow situation was not really an emergency.  The flooding is indeed an emergency.

In this emergency, the responses of our government-run agencies and others have been commendable.  In parts of Pierce, Snohomish, Skagit, and Whatcom Counties, the Fire and Police Departments were using their automated phone systems to call out to residents to get the word out that an evacuation of their town or part of town was necessary.  Fire and Police in the affected areas were mobilized to respond to getting everyone out, as neighbors and others worked together to help others to safety.  Over the next few days, WSDOT (through some hard work and a little bit of luck from Mother Nature) managed to open I-5 in two days instead of the four or five days that they were predicting.  What we have observed is, given a true emergency to work with, we do seem to have a plan in place that works.

This doesn’t necessarily prove that we are well prepared for everything.  In fact, we may not know just how we will fare when “The Big One” hits us until we are forced to cross that path.  In the meantime, presuming that our leaders continue the good work, I think I can safely proclaim that we have a plan in place and the resources to deal with a true emergency in our region.

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This week has featured all sorts of wintery weather.  The scenario is a bit different depending upon where you live, but generally, there was enough snow on the ground by last Monday that many schools were closed.  The freezing temperatures stayed with us all week, with the weatherman telling us each day that we should stay in tomorrow since there would be bad weather coming up.

Now, we have learned in our region that we will generally have a day of snow, everybody will stay home from work and school that day, then the snow will melt, and everything will be normal the next day.  The rest of the country, at least the parts of it where snow is a fact of life for a few months every year, laughs at us for just how unprepared we are.  We see it so rarely, though, that we just hide for a day, then it’s gone.

The difference this week is that we knew ahead of time that our latest Winter episode would be drawn out for a week or more.  There’s no way we can put our lives on hold for that long.  Some of us have to work for a living.  As the week has gone on, I have become proud of my neighbors everywhere.  We are learning to cope with and adapt to what Mother Nature had thrown our way.  We are getting on with life.

Well, that was true until today.  Tonight, we are dealing with a day of snowfall of record proportions, to be followed by bouts of sleet.  Saturday night or not, this is a good time not to be out on the streets.  Now we have a legitimate reason, even by “the rest of the country” standards, to stay home.  So, as I sit at home cruising the Internet, I figure I should stop and make a few observations.

One observation is on our local television stations.  While I think television has the potential to be a great medium, I don’t watch a lot of television.  I see it as a wonderful opportunity to see pictures from the world around us, both locally and throughout the world.  The medium is not used for that purpose as often as it should be.  We have the opportunity to look into our TV screens and see what the world looks like before we even get out there.  we can use this medium to get the information we need to get on with our day.  instead, we get a circus of “reporters” who deliver some pertinent information about our snowy weather, then don’t know when to stop.

I need to know what it is like getting around the city.  The TV station goes on for hours talking about how bad it is.  Bad weather news sells!  No denying that.The trouble is that the folks down there start to run out of information to relay to us.  Stage 1 is when the TV station shows us pictures and comments on the condition of the roads and the state of the weather.  When that is done, at Stage 2, we go on to the remote locations carefully chosen because they have the worst conditions in town.  Interesting news, but not the whole story.

Finally, we get to Stage 3.  This is when the reporters have nothing to do but laugh at one another.  We get fluff stories on kids sledding down hills.  We get interviewers asking people to show us how to put on their chains.  We get reporters doing the oddest things in the name of continuing to talk about how sensational the weather has become.  Eventually, we get very little really useful information.

Tonight, where I am, the weather is just too bad to go out anywhere.  The “snow tonight” that the weather reporters have been predicting all week finally happened.  Yeah, if we lived in Minnesota or somewhere, this would all be nothing.  But for us Cascadians, it’s time for a cup of tea and sitting around the house.

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