Our World in Images

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Snowy Owls and Trumpeter Swans are Snow Birds to the Pacific Northwest

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Juvenile female Snowy Owl, Sandy Point WA

 

November/December, 2017

At the Edge of the Salish Sea

These two snowy white birds have recently returned to our area after summering and breeding in Alaska (Trumpeter Swan) and the arctic tundra (Snowy Owl). One does not have to be an avid birder to celebrate their annual arrival as both are real showboats with their white feathers and their relatively large size. The snowy Owl is the largest by weight of the NA owls  and has a 50” wingspan while the Trumpeter Swan is our largest native waterfowl, stretching up to six feet and weighing up to 26 lbs.

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Fall Colors and Mountain Goats in the Mt. Baker Wilderness Area

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North Cascades Mountain Goat (Oreamnos america) grazing on huckleberries and grasses on a warm October afternoon. What a beautiful specimen, well muscled with thick lustrous white fur and appearing very well fed.

Mount Baker Wilderness Area,

North Cascades Range,

NW Washington State

October 5, 2017

 

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August Wildflowers on the Mountain

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Yellow and Pink Monkey Flower, Mount Baker – Snoqualmie National forest

 

Wild Flowers are usually aflame in mid August around the Mt. Baker – Snoqualmie National Forest, and so they were to the extent to which we could reach them. After a snowy winter and a near record snow pack, the snow had not yet melted from one of my favorite mountain trails.

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Editors' Choice, Our World in Images

The Great American Eclipse from 49 Degrees North

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IMG_1767 (2)The sun 19 minutes into the eclipse, Note the sun spots (blips) at the center of the big bite.

 

Although we, in Bellingham WA, were not within the total eclipse range, we were close enough to get some feel for this exciting celestial event. Being just 20 miles from the Canadian border and about 300 miles north of the band of totality we were able to experience 90% of the eclipse.

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The Birth of a Harbor Seal Pup

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Mamma harbor Seal and minutes-old pup

In our part of the Salish Sea, late June is the beginning of harbor seal birthing (pupping) season that runs through August. On July 2nd, I was fortunate to observe one of these births on the shore of Bellingham Bay. On an early Sunday morning walk, I saw this harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) swimming erratically in tight circles and occasionally coming up to the rocks on shore, then back to the water.  I was concerned that it was ill and disoriented. I could not have been more wrong. Mamma seal knew exactly what she was doing.

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A Hike Through our 100 Aker Wood*

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Hoag’s Pond, – a place of reflection adjacent to the 100 acre Woods.

*With apologies to A. A. Milne and Christopher Robin.

 

June, 2017, Bellingham WA, Pacific Northwest

 

This is a short story with a bunch of photos about our 100 Acre Wood that, like Milne’s is loaded with critters scurrying about and singing.

This wood is an urban forest in Bellingham, WA that was saved by a 2010 bank crash from becoming a housing development. The wood is now a rusticity community park but almost wasn’t. As with most areas in close proximity to an urban center, it was a primal forest until about 150 years ago when it was logged for its ancient Douglas fir and Western Red Cedar. The undergrowth of salal, ferns, numerous flowering plants and various berry vines covered huge deposits of  50 million year old Chuckanut Sandstone. After logging, portions of this area became a gravel pit that has since closed and is recovering from those ugly scars to its landscape. It now boasts a curtain of huge Douglas Fir and Western Red Cedar, Black Cottonwood, Alder, Big Leaf and Vine Maple and more.

The wood is laced with hiking and biking trails and is home to numerous critters including chipmunks, squirrels, deer, frogs, turtles, possum, raccoon, and birds of all kinds. My kids rode their bikes there through middle school and beyond and today they walk their dogs and their Dad there.

Ironically, none of this would be here today if it were not for the 2010 housing and banking crash. In a way this urban forest owes its existence to the Bush administration’s reckless policy on the banking industry.

Developers first proposed to build 1,464 homes in the area. That deal fell through to every one’s relief. Later another developer showed up wanting to build only 739 “units.” This was 2008. By the time financing was secured and plans drawn, (despite huge community organizing against it) it was 2010. The financing bank, Horizon was among the first banks in the US  to go under with the housing and banking crisis. The bank failed and the development failed, giving the community and the city time to pass a levy to purchase the property at a fire-sale price. And thus the 100 acre wood was secured for the community and for posterity.

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Our World in Images

Eelgrass, Part 2 – Status, Threats, and Restoration.

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Map of the Salish Sea & Surrounding Basin, Western Washington University, 2009.
The southern part of the Salish Sea is Puget Sound while the northern part is The Strait of Georgia in British Columbia. There are no clear dividing lines except for political borders.

In Part 1, I made the case that eelgrass (Zostera marina) and other sea grasses are critical to local estuaries and near shore areas as well as to the health of the planet in terms of all of the myriad of ecological functions they serve. I also noted that they are among the world’s most threatened ecosystems. In part 2, I review the current status of eelgrasses, the numerous threats to their viability, and many conservation and restoration efforts currently underway both locally and worldwide. Most emphasis is on eelgrasses in Puget Sound and the Pacific northwest but most of what applies here is applicable elsewhere.

Seagrass coverage is being lost globally at a rate of 1.5 percent per year. That amounts to about 2 football fields of seagrass lost each hour. It’s estimated that 29 percent of seagrass meadows have died off in the past century.

 

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Eelgrass Meadows, the Tidelands’ Global Nursery

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Eelgrass Meadow along eastern shore of Bellingham Bay

This diary is about the wonders of eelgrass, one of the major components of near shore habitat that nurtures a myriad of sea critters. Additionally it provides many other functions in support of our sea life, our recreation, and it even contributes to reducing the CO2 problems in our oceans and atmosphere. There are other sea grasses and kelps that contribute as well, but I think that eelgrass is a star.

Eelgrass is a common name for a species of seagrasses.  I will focus on the salt water variety of Zostera marina and describe its vital ecological functions, its current status, and efforts to sustain it. This form of eelgrass is the most widely distributed aquatic flowering perennial in the northern hemisphere, growing largely in the cooler waters of the northern Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

World distribution of Zostera marina

I will in part highlight eelgrass in Puget Sound, the southernmost part of the Salish Sea which is the second largest estuary in the US (by volume). However, most of what applies to our local intertidal waters also applies to eelgrass beds and other seagrasses elsewhere in the Salish Sea, along the shores of Oregon and California, the western Atlantic Seaboard and near shore habitats globally.200px-World_map_ocean_genus-Zostera.jpg

This is the first of a two part post. In this first part, I describe the many gifts it gives us. In Part 2, I describe its current status, take a look at its threats and the efforts underway to preserve this valuable resource.

   

World distribution of Zostera marina

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The Torturous Tenacity of Trees: Nurse logs, stumps, and rocks

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2014-01-08 beavers 007

Gnarled roots entwined from Cedar and fir trees seeking sustenance where they can

 

This is a photo diary on some unconventional looking trees I’ve observed in my various local wanderings. Some appear to be growing and prospering under rather difficult and stark conditions. Their shapes are often graceful and even artsy. Others are contorted, gross, gangly, and even eerie, but all are interesting.

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Restoration of Wild Habitat at Maple Creek Reach trying to Rescue Salmon and Orcas

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nooksackriver

Nooksack River valley with the river running right to left in the mid-ground. Taken from Slide Mountain above Maple Creek Reach looking north toward British Columbia.

 

Fall 2016

Maple Creek Reach

Nooksack Valley, WA

This fall I participated in a celebration day to welcome back the salmon of Maple Creek Reach that brought over 100 people to its meadows and river beds. This event was sponsored by the Whatcom Land Trust to honor its supporters for the huge efforts given to preserving this scenic, once wild and pristine property and streams. Located in Whatcom County in the far northwest of the Lower 48, this event was co-sponsored by Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association, the Lummi and Nooksack Tribes, and supported by numerous local businesses. The Trust restores and cares for over 20,000 acres of County land.

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