Current Stories
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NW salmon plan is in sight
Boise Idaho Statesman
11/24/2009
"With a little bit of work," the government might be able to get approval for the plan to operate the federal hydroelectric system that provides most of the power for the Pacific Northwest, provides barge transportation of goods, and influences flows of water throughout a watershed that is larger than France.
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Study finds 17,650 creatures living in 'eternal watery darkness'
Oregonian
11/24/2009
Census of Marine Life scientists have inventoried thousands of deep sea species that have never known sunlight -- creatures that somehow manage a living in a frigid black world down to 3 miles below the ocean waves.
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Working plan looks closer for NW salmon protection
Oregonian
11/24/2009
Many hoped more than 10 years of lawsuits over protecting Northwest salmon and running Columbia Basin dams would finally come to a close in a Portland courtroom Monday.
They didn’t, but the end could be in sight.
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Fatal attraction in acidifying oceans
BBC News
11/22/2009
Ocean acidification could cause fish to become "fatally attracted" to their predators, according to scientists. A team studying the effects of acidification - caused by dissolved carbon dioxide - on ocean reefs found that it leaves fish unable to smell danger.
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Oregon wolves again star in video -- with pups
Oregonian
11/20/2009
They walk in single file -- black- and gray-coated wolves gliding through a snowy open forest in eastern Oregon. The remarkable video, captured last week by the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, is further evidence that wolves are re-establishing themselves here.
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MT logging projects challenged over bears
Seattle Times
11/18/2009
An environmental group is seeking to stop three logging projects on several thousand acres in northwest Montana, arguing that the timber sales would harm the area's fledgling grizzly bear population.
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Study: Farm animals devouring the world's fish
Vancouver Sun
11/17/2009
Consumer campaigns that promote sustainable seafood fail to address the fact the world's fish resources are being gobbled up by chickens, pigs, fish, and other farm animals, a study involving the University of BC concludes.
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Jellyfish swarm northward in warming world
Seattle Times
11/16/2009
Scientists believe climate change and the warming of the ocean has allowed some of the almost 2,000 jellyfish species to expand their ranges, appear earlier in the year and increase overall numbers, upending fishing practices and terrorizing beachgoers around the globe.
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Polar bears vs. oil in Alaska
Anchorage Daily News
11/16/2009
Like his predecessor, Sarah Palin, Alaksa's new governor is suing the federal government to overturn the listing of the polar bear - the iconic symbol of the Arctic - as a threatened species, which he believes could threaten Alaska's lifeblood: petroleum development.
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Water package lacks clout to reverse Delta's decline
Sacramento Bee
11/15/2009
The momentous reform of California's water system signed into law last week is largely toothless where it matters most: Action to reverse the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta's environmental decline.
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Baby orca buoys hopes
Kitsap Sun
11/13/2009
A new killer whale calf has been born in J Pod, one of the three pods that frequent the Salish Sea, which includes Puget Sound and the waters off British Columbia.
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Numbers of threatened snowy plovers up
Oregonian
11/12/2009
The small shorebird, listed as threatened on state and federal endangered species acts, appears to be responding to recovery efforts, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
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Newborn killer whale buoys hopes
CBC BC
11/13/2009
A second newborn killer whale has been spotted in the waters off Washington state's San Juan Islands and near Victoria.
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New orca whale calf spotted off BC coast
Vancouver Sun
11/12/2009
A new orca baby was spotted off the Victoria coast on Wednesday. The birth is the fifth this year for the three endangered resident killer-whale pods and brings the total number to 87.
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Brown pelicans are endangered no longer
Seattle Times
11/11/2009
Much like its death-defying dives for fish, the brown pelican has resurfaced after plummeting to the brink of extinction. Interior Department officials on Wednesday announced that they were taking the bird off the endangered species list.
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This may be where eagles dare ... but not quite yet
Vancouver Sun
11/12/2009
Lafarge built it. The eagles have come. Now will they nest in it? The multinational concrete giant has installed an artificial nest atop a 20-metre-high wooden pole for a pair of bald eagles whose habitat is the industrial Vancouver waterfront on Burrard Inlet.
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Seabirds nursed to health by volunteers
Everett Herald
11/12/2009
The crew at PAWS in Lynnwood, Wash., has been scrubbing, feeding and caring for the seabirds, which were hit by a deadly algal bloom in the Pacific Ocean in late October. Wednesday the birds were released to the waters of Puget Sound.
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Study: Mercury levels high in lake fish
Oregonian
11/10/2009
A study by the US Environmental Protection Agency found high levels of the neurotoxin mercury in game fish in 49 percent of lakes and reservoirs nationwide. In Oregon, Portland General Electric's Boardman coal plant and an Ash Grove Cement kiln in Baker County have been the focus of mercury reduction efforts.
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Panel backs no-fishing zones off CA coast
Los Angeles Times
11/11/2009
A state panel approved landmark fishing restrictions for Southern California, creating a patchwork of havens for marine life while leaving some waters open for anglers. Catches of rockfish, cod, lobster, sea urchin, squid sea bass, yellowtail and swordfish have been in steep decline, and fisheries scientists have argued some species could disappear entirely without no-fishing zones where breeding stocks can recover.
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Oceans give warning signs
Tacoma News Tribune
11/08/2009
Off the coast of Washington state, mysterious algae mixed with sea foam have killed more than 8,000 seabirds. Garbage swirls in ocean vortexes, coastal dead zones appear and every eight months enough oil to fill the Exxon Valdez runs off the nation's streets into the sea. As the grim news mounts, a storm is brewing in Washington, D.C., over who should oversee ocean policies.
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Views: Wind farms' grim harvest
Oregonian
11/08/2009
Although wind development is far less destructive than many types of energy production, such as mountaintop-removal coal mining, wind power's threats to wildlife are not inconsequential. Regions with sustained high winds frequently overlap prime bird habitat, including the sagebrush and grasslands that sustain declining populations of sage grouse and prairie chickens.
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BC drivers kill 5,500 wild animals
Vancouver Sun
11/08/2009
Motorists killed more than 5,500 wild animals on BC provincial highways last year, including deer, moose, elk bears, coyotes and a variety of smaller animals. The annual roadkill carnage compares with about 30,000 deer legally hunted in B.C.
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Spirit bears 'invisible' to salmon
BBC News
11/06/2009
On a few islands in western Canada, white 'spirit bears' walk the woods. Now scientists have discovered why these striking animals, a race of black bear, survive. White bears are less visible to fish than their black counterparts, making them 30% more efficient at capturing salmon in the islands' rivers.
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Views: A CA water deal at long last
San Francisco Chronicle
11/06/2009
For decades, California's water wars have flared unabated - cities versus farms, north against south - while half measures left the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta drained and decimated. A solution involving all sides was only a dream. Until now.
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Deadly foam gone, more than 10,000 seabirds die
Oregonian
11/04/2009
The deadly foam that clobbered seabirds in the Pacific Northwest has subsided and several hundred birds rescued from the slime are being released. But the death toll worries conservationists.
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