Orca Task Force Meeting #5: What the draft recommendations look like now

Truck parked outside the Landmark Convention Center in Tacoma on October 17, Day 1 of the two-day task force meeting

With another task force meeting – this one a 2-day marathon – in the books, I thought it would be worth posting an update about how the package of draft recommendations is looking. I recognize that this process is frustrating and moving slower than many would hope for, but it really is a positive move for the Southern Residents overall to have all these interest groups at the table discussing the difficult topics and moving at a pretty rapid pace.

The basis for discussion over the last two days was an updated draft package of recommendations prepared by the steering committee based on the most supported recommendations according to the task force members and public survey results, the most effective recommendations according to the working groups, and feedback from direct conversations with each task force member in the week preceding this meeting. To make things even more confusing, all the action items have been renumbered from the survey, with many items having been merged and some deleted. While we and they were told actions could still be added or deleted from the package during the meeting, in reality the items in this package didn’t seem to change much over the course of the meeting. Instead, the discussions focused more on wording and fine-tuning the action items. While there is still more refinement by the steering committee, another round of public and task force comment, and a final task force meeting (which is scheduled to focus on further discussion of the more controversial action items), I thought it would be worth posting an update of what looks likely to be moving forward at this time. It’s unclear how much more in terms of prioritization will happen; actions will likely still be ranked to some degree, but it’s not clear if the task force will pitch everything to the governor, or will try to narrow it down to a “Top 10” or something like that.

Here is a summary of the actions as they stand now, down from ~50 to ~30. New recommendations numbers (likely the numbers that will be referred to during the upcoming public comment period survey) and wording is taken from the draft report, with old action item numbers from the last survey at the end of each bullet point.

Goal 1: Increase Chinook Abundance

1.     Significantly increase investment in restoration and acquisition of habitat in areas where Chinook stocks most benefit the SRKWs, including mandating additional funding to Chinook and forage fish habitat restoration projects, emphasizing large-scale estuary restoration programs,  and removing barriers in areas of high benefit to Chinook (such as Middle Fork Nooksack and Pilchuck dams). Formerly Habitat Recommendations 1 and 2 and Hydropower Recommendation 2.

2.     Immediately fund acquisition and restoration of nearshore habitat to increase the abundance of forage fish for salmon sustenance. Formerly Forage Fish Recommendation 1.

3.     Enforce laws that protect habitat. Formerly Habitat Recommendations 3 and 4.

4.     Have the legislature immediately amend existing statutes to provide stronger protections for Chinook and forage fish habitat. Formerly Habitat Recommendations 3 and 5.

5.     Have state agencies develop and encourage voluntary actions to protect habitat, including providing financial assistance to cooperative conservation programs. Formerly Habitat Recommendation 7.

6.     Increase hatchery production to benefit SRKW in methods consistent with wild fish conservation, available habitat, and existing recovery plans. Formerly Hatchery Recommendation 1C.

7.     Prepare a strategy to re-establish salmon above existing dams, including the Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee dams. Formerly Hydropower Recommendation 1.

8.     Increase allowable dissolved gas allowances in the Columbia Basin from 115 to 125% to match the Oregon standard, advocating for increased spill over Columbia and Snake River dams. Formerly Hydropower Recommendation 4.

9.     Support full implementation of the 2019-2028 Pacific Salmon Treaty. Formerly Harvest Recommendation 3.

10.  Reduce Chinook bycatch in all west coast commercial fisheries. Formerly Harvest Recommendation 2.

11.  Convene an independent science panel to assess if pinniped predation is a limiting factor for Chinook in Puget Sound and along the Outer Coast of Washington, then convene stakeholders to evaluate potential management actions. Formerly Predation Recommendation 1B.

12.  Support authorization to more effectively manage pinniped predation of salmon on the Columbia River. Formerly Predation Recommendation 2A.

13.  Reduce population of non-native predator fish species that prey upon or compete with Chinook. Formerly Hydropower Recommendation 3.

14.  Monitor forage fish populations to inform decision on harvest and management actions to support increased Chinook abundance. Formerly Forage Fish Recommendation 4.

15.  Fund the Puget Sound zooplankton sampling program, which will help forecast forage fish and Chinook abundances and inform management decisions. Formerly Forage Fish Recommendation 3.

A.    Convene a stakeholder panel. Formerly Hydropower Recommendation 5B.

Unnumbered due to having limited support at the beginning of the task force meeting, but based on discussion, outside conversations, and the continued public pressure, I suspect this action may make the final report. I know it’s not as bold as some of us would hope, but it’s a hell of a lot more than we were looking at during the beginning of this process, when Snake River dams weren’t even being mentioned at the meeting. Even if something bolder were on the table, it would for sure be tied up in court until mitigation solutions are found for all stakeholders, so this process is essential. I finally got the opportunity to present the 600,000+ signature petition during the public comment period on the first evening, and it made an impact on the task force members. The number of supporters was brought up several times during Day 2, including by a task force member who was seemingly against breaching the dams but stated that, given the public outcry for action, the task force must move forward with a stakeholder panel to address the issue further.

Goal 2: Decrease Disturbance of Orcas from Vessels

16.  Establish a statewide “Go-Slow” zone bubble for all small vessels within half a nautical mile of orcas. Formerly Vessel Recommendation 1.

17.  Establish a limited-entry whale-watching permit system for commercial whale-watching and commercial kayak groups. Details of implementation still unclear. Formerly Vessel Recommendation 4.

18.  Increase and improve boater education on Be Whale Wise regulations and guidelines. Potentially include a mandatory marine endorsement fee for saltwater boater registration in the state. Formerly Vessel Recommendation 5B.

19.  Increase enforcement capacity to fully enforce vessel regulations. Formerly Vessel Recommendation 2.

20.  Discourage use of echo sounders and underwater transducers within 1km of orcas. (Updated from switching echo sounders from 50kHz to 200kHz because apparently changing the settings doesn’t actually stop the pings at 50kHz.) Formerly Vessel Recommendation 3.

21.  Implement shipping noise-reduction initiatives and monitoring programs, coordinating with Canada. Formerly Vessel Recommendations 5 and 6.

22.  Accelerate the transition from Washington State Ferries to quieter vessels and reduce speeds when SRKWs are present. Formerly Vessel Recommendations 9 and 18.

23.  Reduce threat of oil spills in the region, including requiring escort tugs, updating oil spill prevention, etc. Formerly Vessel Recommendation 13.

B.    No-Go Zone of some sort – was not on the initial list of recommendations at this meeting but was brought back to the table; no consensus reached on where, when, what, how, etc. but will be discussed further at November meeting.

Goal 3: Reduce SRKW Exposure to Contaminants

24.  Accelerate implementation of the ban of PCBs in the state. Formerly Contaminant Recommendation 1.

25.  Identify, prioritize, and take action on chemicals that impact orcas and their prey. Formerly Contaminant Recommendations 2 and 3.

26.  Reduce stormwater threats and accelerate clean-up of harmful toxics. Formerly Contaminant Recommendations 4, 7, and 8.

27.  Improve effectiveness, implementation, and enforcement of NPDES permits. Formerly Contaminant Recommendations 5 and 6.

28.  Increase monitoring of toxic substances in marine waters and create and deploy adaptive management strategies. Formerly Contaminant Recommendation 9.

Additional Recommendations

29.  Provide sustainable funding for implementation.

30.  Continue research, science, and monitoring to inform adaptive management.

31.  Monitor progress of implementation and needed enhancements during Year 2.

Also, here’s a summary of the main themes during the public comments, indicating the number of speakers on each topic:

Lower Snake River dam removal – 23

Bold action in general – 12

Moratorium on whale-watching – 4

Against any restrictions on fisheries – 2

Vessel impacts – 2

Pro-dams – 2

Fishing moratorium – 2

Oil export – 2

Puget Sound habitat restoration – 1

Habitat “net increase” – 1

Unfair task force process – 1

Against proposed asphalt plant – 1

On one hand, it feels like a lot of jargon that could very well be bolder, will not all be implemented, and will be watered down in the legislature. On the other hand, we are potentially looking at a package that will increase funding for barrier removal (including dams) and ready-to-go habitat restoration projects; increase spill over dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers; take Snake River dam removal discussions to the next level with a much-needed stakeholder panel that will have to wrap up in less than a year; reduce harvest, reduce bycatch, and increase hatchery production of Chinook which will all result in more fish in the water; activate major toxin cleanup and redevelopment of stormwater hotspots; modernize an oil spill response plan; and quiet the waters around the whales by reducing speeds of shipping traffic, ferries, and small vessels. Stated that way, it almost feels like we may be on the right track after all.

In addition to calling Governor Inslee’s office (360-902-4111) and continuing to advocate for his support of near-term removal of the four Lower Snake River dams and full-funding of all salmon habitat recovery programs in the state, the next time your voice is needed is October 24-29 when another public survey and comment period will be open on these updated and further refined recommendations. Stay tuned, as we will also be helping to provide another survey guide, simplified if need be.

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August 21-23: Mixed Pod Sub-Group, And Some Sad News

From August 21st-23rd we had an odd group of about 30 whales traveling together: members of all three pods, but not all the whales from any pod! Over the course of those three days I was lucky to have several great encounters with them both by boat and from shore. Here are some highlights:

L72 Racer, L105 Fluke, and J45 Se-Yi'-Chn

L87 Onyx

Members of L-Pod along the Henry Island shoreline

Mixed group of Ks and Ls

Mixed group of Ks and Ls

Such speed! Porpoising whales

Look close for the third whale - a calf barely visible!

Three porpoising all together

L92 Crewser on the right

L103 Lapis and her son L123, who will be named at the end of this month

Baby face! Love seeing L123's shadow on his mom's back

K27 Deadhead and her son K44 Ripple in the middle

L82 Kasatka silhouetted in a golden sunset

L116 Finn

K34 Cali

Half breach by L82 under the Olympic Mountains

The Sidney-Friday Harbor run of the Washington State Ferry in the background!

K20 Spock off Stuart Island

The evening of August 23rd ended when it was almost too dark to see, sitting on the rocks at Lime Kiln and listening to the echoing blows of part of J-Pod passing bay. I tried to soak up the sound - such a peaceful, mysterious one - knowing we're just a month away from whale sightings dwindling, and wanting to keep it within me for the long winter months.

Sadly, the next day, August 24th, the Center for Whale Research announced that J14 Samish is missing and presumed dead. I hadn't seen her during our last few encounters with her family group, but the whales have been so spread out most of the time and also so mixed up it's been hard to figure out who all is there. From what I've heard, it sounds like she didn't look bad ahead of time, just disappeared in early August. Here's my last photo of her, taken in mid-July off the rocks at Lime Kiln, during a memorable passby that I now have another reason to never forget:

J14 Samish

Samish, as a 42 year-old female, leaves us too young, and leaves behind her children and grandson who will hopefully bond together and do have the ultimate leader in J2 Granny, Samish's presumed grandmother. I prepare myself to lose a couple whales every year, but whenever it's a J-Pod whale it seems especially hard to take, as I have spent so much time with them over the years. 

J37 Hy'shqa and J49 T'ilem I'nges - now without their mother and grandmother, J14 Samish

Unfortunately this wasn't the only bad news. The Center also announced that J28 Polaris was looking very underweight, and was likely within days of her death. This was an even bigger blow to hear, as she's a breeding age female with a nursing calf - the most important age/sex class if this population has any hope of survival. Her family group came in on August 25th, and I caught a distant glimpse of Polaris. Yesterday, the 26th, the J17s were foraging off the west side for hours, and I got a better look at her off Land Bank's Westside Preserve.

J28 Polaris, looking thin - click to see a larger version and notice the depressions around her eyepatches and blowholes, an area that should be robust on a healthy whale

I have to take the fact that she's still alive as a hopeful sign. She's made it this far, and she's clearly a fighter - with a son and daughter who depend on her. There's a good chance J46 Star would make it on her own, with the support of her extended family, but little J54, who is less than a year old, would likely perish if he lost his mother so young. We're all sending Polaris and her family all the positive healing energy we can to continue to fight and hopefully pull through.

With the loss of Samish the Southern Resident population stands at 82 individuals. While we've been lucky to have whales around on almost a daily basis, the pods and sub-groups continue to fracture. Gone are the days of a decade ago when we would see all of J- and K-Pods traveling together on a daily basis. Now we're seeing smaller sub-groups, and in many cases these are even spread over miles as a single matriline might be the only whales you see as they forage throughout their traditional summer feeding grounds. We've technically had a couple "superpods" this summer, with all the whales in inland waters, but in my mind it doesn't really count if their spread from the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the Fraser River, utilizing the entire inland sea. The term "superpod" conjures up an image of 80 whales all together, so many dorsal fins every direction you look. I can only hope that's a sight we'll still see this year.

So, what can we do? While the phone calls, e-mails, letters, and petitions feel like they're falling on deaf ears, we have to remember that big changes take time. There are things going on behind the scenes that will hopefully still lead to major actions - such as the breaching of the four Lower Snake River dams. A year and a half ago this issue wasn't on the radar of major politicians, or even many major environmental groups. Now, everyone has been briefed on the situation, and we just need public opinion to continue to encourage someone in a position of power to be bold enough to stand up and do the right thing. Check out this recent blog post by the international group Ocean, and sign this petition by the National Resources Defense Council urging the administrator of NOAA to take action. Also please continue to call the White House comment hotline at 202-456-1111 and ask for the President to issue an executive order to breach the four Lower Snake River dams. 

It's amazing to watch these whales who, in the midst of loss and struggling to find enough to eat, also find time to surf freighter wakes (check out this video from August 24th!) and breach like crazy as they pass their favorite places. We, too, must find ways to carry on, and absolutely to continue to find joy in spending time with these amazing wild whales. In the meantime, we must also continue to do all that we can to help them fight for their survival.

Why Now Is The Time To Breach The Snake River Dams

This morning I got the welcome news that the Southern Resident population increased by one more, with the birth of L121 to L94, spotted by NOAA researcher Brad Hanson on the outer coast research cruise that's currently underway. This is fantastic, the third calf in less than two months after we went over two years without a birth. Yet the fact remains that these endangered orcas number just 80 whales, down from 87 at the time of their endangered listing ten years ago.

There are those who would like to dispute this because it's a complicated problem to tackle, but it is clear that generating more Chinook salmon for these whales is the number one way we can increase their chances of survival. The other major risk factors - toxins and vessel effects - are compounded by a lack of food. When the whales aren't getting enough to eat, they metabolize their pollutant-filled fat stores and compromise their immune system and reproductive capacity. When there aren't enough fish, any noise from boats might make it harder for the whales to find the few fish that are there. Increase the number of salmon, and both these other problems decrease as well.

The big question is how to generate more fish. A series of workshops and several years of data analysis by NOAA and DFO determined that increasing fishing regulations wouldn't be enough of an impact. Population modeling has shown that even if we stop fishing, the amount of fish that makes available to the whales isn't significant enough to stimulate population recovery. Fishing is just one piece of an already small pie (where the pie is the number of salmon out there). We need to make a bigger pie.

K25 Scoter with a salmon in his mouth

Luckily, we have a potential action before us that could drastically increase the amount of salmon in the Pacific Northwest. Not by tens or even hundreds of thousands of fish, but by millions of fish. Remove (or breach) the four lower Snake River dams.

At first, you may wonder what role the Snake River, way over there in eastern Washington and Oregon (and Idaho and Wyoming) has to do with food for Southern Residents. It is now widely known that the primary summer food source of Southern Residents is Fraser River Chinook, but what are they eating the rest of the year? It makes sense that while they spend time on the outer coast in the winter, they're feeding on fish from the Columbia River, the largest salmon-producing river on the west coast. The Snake River is the largest tributary to the Columbia.

NOAA's 2008 Southern Resident Killer Whale recovery plan states, "Perhaps the single greatest change in food availability for resident killer whales since the late 1800s has been the decline of salmon from the Columbia River basin." Fecal and prey samples from the outer coast are hard to gather and so far are small in number, but two samples thus far have shown conclusive evidence that Southern Residents are feeding on Upper Columbia and Snake River Chinook in the winter months. Dr. Rich Osborne, long-time orca and salmon scientist, said, "Restoring Columbia River Chinook is the single most important thing we can do to ensure the future survival of the Southern Resident Community of killer whales." According to Save Our Wild Salmon, removing the four lower Snake River dams would open up over 15 million acres of prime salmon habitat.

A vessel track of the Bell Shimada.  NOAA's research team is spending three weeks following the Southern Residents to study their winter habits. Here they are zig-zagging back and forth off the mouth of the Columbia River on February 19, 2015.

During the 1990s, 13 Snake River fish stocks were listed as threatened or endangered. This led to an expensive study about how to improve the Snake River for salmon, examining different alternatives including breaching the dams. The environmental impact statement included in the report said the highest probability of restoring the endangered salmon runs was by dam breaching, but the economic analysis showed this to be an unfavorable option, and in 2002 the Walla Walla District of the Army Corps of Engineers chose to pursue other options. This decision was contentious at the time, but it's become even more so now.

Civil engineer Jim Waddell, who was featured in the documentary DamNation, has spent hundreds of hours reanalyzing the report and has confirmed what many have long suspected - that the economic analyses was seriously flawed.  The estimates weren't just off by a million dollars here or there, but the underlying assumptions that went into their figures were wrong, leading to a drastic difference in results. The 2002 Army Corps report concluded that the four lower Snake River dams generate $246 million dollars a year in net revenue. Jim's corrected analysis (including omitted data, fixing miscalculations, and brought forward to 2015), shows the dams are actually costing us $217 million dollars a year to maintain. 

These numbers are staggering and the data behind them is hundreds of not thousands of pages long, but here is one example of where the numbers were off. The Army Corps report stated that breaching the dams would result in $82 million dollars of increased revenue per year based on increased opportunities for rafting, fishing, etc. If you delve into the report to discover where this number came from, it came from an economic analysis that listed the projected economic benefit of increased recreation as ranging from $82-350 million per year. They chose the lowest possible number from that range to include in their data. Jim's updated analysis uses a more realistic figure of $158 million per year - still below the mid-point of the projection, but more realistic based on studies that show recreation on public waters is the biggest single category of recreational spending in Washington state and that salmon sport fishing may produce more economic benefit than any other type of river recreation.

Other examples of the errors in their initial economic analysis are failing to factor in adequate costs of maintaining the dams, maintaining hatcheries, and dredging the river as required for navigation and transport. If you want to read further details about the economic data I can get you plenty to read on the subject, but after the few hours I've spent reading up on it, I can tell you I'm convinced that these dams are costing us - the taxpayers - money.

The main benefits provided by these dams are transportation of freight and hydroelectric power. Over the past 20 years the volume of freight transported on the lower Snake River has declined by 69%. The current volume of freight transferred is so low that it is considered, by definition, a waterway of negligible use. 

Over the past 10 years, the four lower Snake River dams have only been producing about a third of their capacity. This has to do with the timing of stream flow relative to the needs of the power grid; the main power output from these dams occurs when we don't need the power. These dams contribute about 4% of the power needed in the Pacific Northwest, but it is feasible to replace these power needs via wind turbines (output of which is constantly growing in the northwest) along with energy conservation and efficiency upgrades.

Especially when I look at Jim's 100 year projections of the economic costs, it is clear to me that these dams will come down. It's just a matter of when. These dams were built over 60 years ago and are at or nearing their anticipated lifespans. It will take a lot of money to maintain them, and doing so just doesn't make sense when our needs for them for transport and electricity are diminishing and the benefits of removing them are so high. Here is why now is the time to breach these dams:

• The dams are costing tax payers money every year, and will continue to do at an increasing rate over the next 100 years
• The dams are at or near their life spans. There are 24 turbines that will need to be replaced in the next 10-15 years, with the first three in the process of being replaced now. Let's let these obsolete structures go now rather than investing more money into their repair.
• Removing these dams is the single most significant action we can take to help the endangered Southern Residents recover. The orcas can't wait dozens of years for this dam removal to happen - they need more fish now.
• With all the uncertainties climate change poses for our future, it is clear that if we want wild salmon to survive we need to protect and preserve our salmon strongholds. We need large, healthy populations of fish capable of adapting to changing circumstances. Removing these dams would seriously bolster Columbia River salmon runs and make this river basin a true salmon stronghold.
• All the questions about whether or not dam removal would be successful have been answered by the Elwha River. The river is returning to health (and the fish are returning to the river) faster than anyone could have anticipated. Dam removal has indisputable results for restoring an ecosystem

I haven't wanted to bog this post down with citations and links, but I hope I have convinced you of the importance of removing these dams, and that the sooner we do it the better. Again, if you want to look directly at the sources I'm happy to point you in the right direction. The next question, of course, is what we can do to make this happen. Oregon and Washington have long been states that idolize hydropower as part of their heritage and their future. While it may have been true for us at one point, the times have changed, and only myths are maintaining that idea. We have to change the political will in our region towards dam removal in general, and for these dams in particular. Politicians and other policy makers have heard for decades about the negative effects dams have on salmon, but there are two new pieces to the story here that have been receiving more and more media attention: the economic reanalysis that shows these dams are costing us money, and the fact that removing these dams could be critical to the recovery of our endangered orcas. We need to spread this message far and wide, both to politicians and to the general public. Whether this means sharing posts like this one through social media or talking to your family and friends is up to you. Here are some other concrete actions you can take:

• If you are local, attend one of the upcoming town hall meetings with Representative Rick Larsen. He hasn't taken a stance on the removal of these dams yet, but we want plenty of people present to tell him how important it is to us. He is holding a meeting on San Juan Island on Tuesday, March 10th from 3:30-5:00 at the Friday Harbor House, plus a meeting March 12 in Bellingham, and March 14 in Everett, Langley, and Mount Vernon.
• If you are regional (Oregon and Washington), write to your politicians about this issue. Hand written letters are taken the most seriously, followed by typed letters printed out and mailed in. E-mails and phone calls are good, too. We need to raise awareness about this issue to everyone from the governors and senators to our local representatives.
• Regardless of where you are, sign and share this petition. The group I'm working with, the Southern Resident Killer Whale Chinook Salmon Initiative (or SRKW CSI), is behind the petition and we've already gathered over 10,000 signatures. I have it on the authority of some of the lobbyists that went to Washington DC a few weeks ago that there are people in power keeping an eye on how much traction this petition and others like are getting.

More Sparrows and Petition Update

Our houseboat porch is turning into a pretty popular place to spend the night, especially with all the rain we've been getting! We now have two male house sparrows that make nightly visits. One night they shared a little hole, but usually they choose separate ones. We try to keep the lights off as to not disturb them, but when I had to turn them on briefly tonight I took two quick pictures of them roosting.

Also, you may have noticed that the Preserve the Mar Vista Resort petition has been removed from my blog. I heard last week that the property was going to be shown to a prospective buyer, and the signature rate had dropped to less than one per day, so I decided it was time to submit the petition. In all, the petition got 485 signatures! Thanks so much to all who signed and sent it along to their friends.

The Petition Site created a nice pdf document for me, which included the letter, signatures, and all the comments left by all the signers. I sent it to San Juan County Land Bank, San Juan Preservation Trust, and Coldwell Banker, the agency with the Mar Vista listing. I have also heard back from all three.

The director of San Juan County Land Bank informed me that money is, of course, the biggest issue, but that they are speaking with potential donors about the property in addition to pursuing state and federal grant money. The director of conservation at San Juan Preservation Trust also said they are exploring all possible conservation options, and would love to talk to me further about any of my thoughts and ideas.

The realtor said it is most likely that the property will be purchased as a private estate, which means no large scale commercial development will occur, but of course it will be closed to the public. He also expressed that he believes any money generated to purchase Mar Vista for conservation purposes would be much better spent purchasing other, cheaper development easements, because this way we could preserve more of the rural character of the whole island rather than a single waterfront property. He has a valid point, but I think Mar Vista is a unique property that could provide some pretty special opportunities as public land. For instance, a shore-based whale watching and research site on a part of the island where there isn't one.

That's all I know for now, but I'll continue to post updates as I learn more about anything related to thsi property.....

Northern Grasshopper

This past summer, this beautiful grasshopper held still long enough for me to take some cool macro shots. She (I learned you can tell male and female grasshoppers apart by the shape of the base of their abdomen) was perched on a bench, basking in the sun, something grasshoppers apparently like to do. By scouring through internet grasshopper field guides, I determined which of the hundreds of North American grasshopper species she is: she's a member of Melanoplus borealis, a species whose scientific name translates directly into their common name, Northern Grasshopper.

The Northern Grasshopper inhabits much of the northern United States, dipping down a bit in the central US, as well as occurring across a large portion of Canada. The bright red hind tibiae (lower portion of hind legs) are one of the characteristic field marks. I like this labeled sketch of grasshopper anatomy. I do a lot of bird identification, but it's always interesting and challenging to try and identify a species of a genus or family I'm unfamiliar with, whether it be a tree, insect, flower, or mammal. Some of my favorite labs in my college biology courses dealt with taxonomy and using or developing identification keys to narrow down species IDs. The true biologist and naturalist in me emerges, since thinking about species variation and taxonomy raises questions not only about evolution and species diversification and the processes that cause speciation to occur, but also about how we see and classify the world around us.

This grasshopper is just another one of the many inhabitants of the Mar Vista grasslands. The petition to preserve Mar Vista is only 19 signatures shy of our goal of 500, so please sign if you haven't already and encourage your friends to sign today so progress on protecting this special property can be made!

Update on Mar Vista Petition

Thanks to help from all of you, the petition I started to help preserve the Mar Vista Resort property has reached 420 signatures over the last month! My original goal was 200, and we surpassed that quickly since so many of you started e-mailing the petition around to others. In addition, several organizations have also written letters of support to the San Juan County Land Bank and San Juan Preservation Trust. My goal is to reach 500 signers, but unfortunately over the last few days the numbers of signers has started to drop off. This means I need YOUR help to reach my goal!

Do you know anyone who loves the San Juan Islands but hasn't signed the petition yet? If so, please send the link on to them and encourage them to sign. Just click here to access the petition. We're almost there!

Help Protect the Mar Vista Resort Property

Dear friends, fellow naturalists, and San Juan Islanders:

As you may know, the Mar Vista Resort property adjacent to False Bay has recently been put on the market due to the death of the estate owner. This property is commercially licensed, making it a hot commodity as a potential site for resort development.

This ~60 acre property is unique in many respects. It is still relatively undeveloped, making it a habitat that supports a wide variety of marine and terrestrial wildlife including otters, deer, eagles, foxes, harbor seals, and more. The prairie fields support one of the few remaining sites of a threatened species of wildflower. Additionally, it provides stunning views of Haro Strait, the Olympic Mountains, and west side sunsets, and could potentially provide a public access point to the westside shoreline in the "gap" area between Land Bank's Westside Scenic Preserve and American Camp. It provides excellent shore-based whale-watching, and would make a great additional site for land-based research.

I ask you to please join me in encouraging a conservation-minded future for the Mar Vista property. If acquired by San Juan County Land Bank, this land could be well-managed and open to low-impact public access. Regardless of who buys the property, Land Bank can encourage it to be managed in an environmentally respectful manner. The voice of the public community can be powerful in influencing the sale and development of land, as we learned so recently with Turtleback Mountain. Land Bank needs our show of support in this matter.

You can help by signing this petition to San Juan County Land Bank that I have created, which encourages an environmentally-friendly future for the land. You can also help by leaving your own comments on the petition site; forwarding this petition to your friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers; and by promoting it on your own website or blog. Additionally, you can write a letter to the San Juan County Land Bank or to the San Juan Journal.

As I outlined this petition, I sat at the point of Mar Vista overlooking the water. A Steller sea lion swam by. A harbor seal poked its head up in a nearby kelp bed. A deer browsed in the brush a few yards away. Murres, gulls, cormorants, herons, and harlequin ducks flew by. All this reemphasized for me how beautiful this place is, and why I am so inspired to help protect it. This was the first place I saw orcas from shore, and where I truly fell in love with the islands nine years ago.

Margaret Mead said a small group of committed individuals is all it takes to change the world. I hope you will join me in being one of those individuals that helps change San Juan Island for the better. Please sign this petition by clicking on the petition box in the top right corner of this blog.