Finally - Google shows the Oceans

Check out this article for some amazing new ocean imagery from Google.

Google Earth Fills Its Watery Gaps

Connie C

What is killing the whales, and what can be done about it?

Read this thought provoking article on the impact on our resident orcas of the combination of reduced food sources and increased pursuit by whale watching boats.

"The Southern Resident Orca Population Crashes In 2008: Starvation", The Island Guardian, Dec 16, 2008.

The author, Mark Anderson, is Chairman of the Orce Relief Citizen's Allicance, and was a co-founder of the Whale Museum in Friday Harbor.

Connie C

Articles on Draft Action Agenda

Here are some recent articles on the Puget Sound Partnerships Action Agenda - a roadmap for protecting, restoring andcleaning up Puget Sound.

Seattle-PI:

• article - Draft plan to help rescue Puget Sound unveiled - Nov 6
• blog - Dateline Earth - Nov 6
• editorial - Puget Sound: Troubled waters - Oct 29

Seattle Times:

• - article - Partership releases blueprint for restoring Puget Sound - Nov 6

Puget Sound Partnership

• DRAFT Action Agenda for Puget Sound - Nov 6
  

Connie C

Adak Revisited - a volcanic trip !

It was the ultimate field trip! You may recall that my husband and I spent a month last winter on Adak, an island midway out Alaska's Aleutian chain. We returned in August for a 6-week visit, with hopes that better weather would provide increased opportunity to explore the beaches and view wildlife. By coincidence, another Island County Beach Watcher and intertidal enthusiast, Brian Giles also arrived several weeks into our visit as part of his job surveying groundwater for contaminants.

Because the Aleutians are part of the seismically active "Ring of Fire", I was not overly concerned to feel a number of mild jolting earthquakes the first couple of days we were there. Adak was, it seemed having a cluster of small quakes. The earthquakes turned out to be prelude to a volcanic eruption. Three days after we got there, Mt. Kasatochi, just 50 miles to the east of Adak, exploded and sent a plume of ash 30,000 feet into the atmosphere. I was on the beach, with a ringside viewpoint and heard a distinct but distant "bang" and glanced up, wondering about its origin, but quickly returning my attention to examining and photographing the multitude of barnacle molts on the sand. Shortly thereafter I turned and headed for home, thus becoming the only person on Adak who missed seeing the massive ash plume as it billowed into the sky.

An Adak based fishing boat had been only 7 miles from Mt. Kasatochi when it blew. The fisherman on board spent 3 desperate hours driving his boat out of a total visual blackout while his boat was pelted with volcanic rocks, then mud, and finally coated with a thick layer of ash. Using his boat's radar for guidance, he steered his way out of the plume and was then able to head back to Adak. Two U.S. Fish and Wildlife personnel had actually been on the base of Mt. Kasatchi for several days prior to the eruption doing a wildlife survey and became concerned and then increasingly frantic as frequent small earthquakes became continuous and then even boulders began bouncing about. The helicopter that had dropped them off had developed a mechanical problem and could not fly back for them. Another Adak fisherman heard of their plight and courageously raced his boat over to pick them up, plucking them off the beach just 20 minutes before the volcano blew its top.

The volcano continued to simmer with Adak residents noting a frequent smell of sulfur in the air and discovering lots of pumice stones washed up on the beach.

Occasional small earth tremors continued but not so frequently as prior to the eruption. The Alaska Volcano Observatory website (http://www.avo.alaska.edu/ ) has photos, updates, and more information about the Kasatochi eruption and other Alaska volcanoes.

Adak has fascinating wildlife. Introduced species such as rats and arctic foxes have caused considerable impact on bird populations. Because it is too windy for trees to grow there, birds nest on the ground making both the birds and their eggs very vulnerable to predators. In spite of that, it's a great place for bird watching. Over the course of our stay, I saw snow buntings, rock ptarmigan, horned puffins, pigeon guillemots, rock sandpipers, and black oystercatchers. Brian Giles reports that he spotted a peregrine falcon.

Crimson anemone

A couple of days with calm water, good low tides, and no precipitation allowed me to climb down a seawall to explore for intertidal life. The most obvious animal life on the seawall was a multitude of small Metridium anemones adhered to the rocks. Another much larger and very beautiful anemone that I believe to be the crimson anemone (Cribrinopsis fernaldi) shared the habitat. Our familiar black katy (Katharina tunicata) and lined (Tonicella sp.) chitons dotted the rocks in abundance. Several unusual crabs also made the seawall their home. The most flamboyant was a juvenile Puget Sound king crab (Lopholithodes mandtii). The bright red carapace of this cranky little fellow was only about 1-1/2 inches across but he made it plain that he would like nothing better than to pinch the end off my finger. Turning a rock over revealed another unusual lithode crab whose common names "fuzzy crab" and "red-brown bristly crab" pretty much describe it. We have seen Hapalogastor mertensii on high energy West Whidbey beaches a couple of times and its distinctive features made it easy to recognize. One very unusual feature of this crab is its soft belly. A third crab was completely new to me and I sent photos of it to Jan Holmes to help with the identification. One of its claws was considerably larger than the other and had a grainy looking texture and it too had a soft belly. We believe it was Oedignathus inermis, the granular clawed crab.

Graceful kep crab

Hapalogastor

Juvenile Puget Sound King Crab

Brian Giles work schedule allowed for very few days off but at the first opportunity, my husband and I took him to Loren Station beach on the north end of Adak. This site provides a gorgeous view of the Bering Sea. A high steep bluff towers above the beach but thankfully a rope trails over the edge to serve as a safety line to hang onto for descending and then climbing back up the steep incline. The beach has an area of bedrock, a stretch of sand, and also an area of large boulders so it is a varied habitat. Checking it out, Brian found a small crab whose orange tipped black claws helped nail down its identity as Pugettia gracilis, the graceful kelp crab. One very unique feature of this beach is a large blowhole. It consists of an outcropping of bedrock with a circular hole about 8 feet in diameter of indeterminate depth. A window like opening has worn through one side of the blowhole so that when the tide rises above that level, waves crash through the opening creating a geyser-like spray out the top. Because the tide level was low, it was possible to get a good look into the blowhole and surprisingly, it was full of life.

Brian Giles checks out blowhole

Anemones and urchins in blowhole

The walls were coated by red encrusting algae and numerous green sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) and anemones clung to the walls. Although the coloration of the anemones was somewhat unusual, they are believed to be Urticina crassicornis, the Christmas anemone.

The salmon run was going full blast during our 6 week stay with countless numbers of pink salmon charging up Adak's streams to spawn. Red and silver salmon were also beginning their runs. Dozens of harbor seals were seen hauled out on the beach and a minke whale was observed in Kulak Bay. Adak is a naturalist's delight!

Pink salmon

Pumice rock

Mary Jo Adams '99

Raft of Junk

Marcus Eriksen spoke to the BW 2008 class this spring on plastics,and recently completed a 2600 miles voyage from Long Beach, CA to Hawaii on a raft built from plastic debris (15000 plastic bottles)

For more information, see this KOMO report or "The Junk" links on the Algalita Marine Research Foundation website

Connie C

Beach Watchers Cookbook

The Beach Watchers Cookbook is now online at

• http://beachwatcherscookbook.blogspot.com

It currently reflects the printed copy given to Kristen at the picnic, but there are several pending recipes that will appear in a few weeks. Thanks to all the Beach Watchers who contributed !

Connie C

The Battle of Whidbey Island - Loving Puget Sound means fighting locally to save it

What: Speaker Series - William Dietrich
When: Thursday, July 17th - 6:30 pm
Where: Old Chapel, Trinity Lutheran Church, 18341 State Route 525, Freeland, WA

Speakers tackle a topic dear to islanders' hearts – Caring for Puget Sound

Pulitzer Prize winning environmental journalist William Dietrich will visit Whidbey this month to kick off the 2008 Island County Beach Watchers speakers series, monthly talks geared to helping Whidbey residents understand, and work to preserve, the health of Puget Sound. Dietrich will present The Battle of Whidbey Island - Loving Puget Sound means fighting locally to save it Thursday, July 17th at 6:30 PM, in the Old Chapel of Trinity Lutheran Church 18341 State Route 525 in Freeland.

A reporter for the Seattle Times, Dietrich won the Pulitzer for his coverage of the Exxon Valdez disaster. He is also a best-selling novelist, author of the historical adventures Napoleon's Pyramids and The Rosetta Key.

In coming months speakers will include wildlife scientists and Island County personnel who work daily to help residents live responsibly in our delicate marine environment. Key topics are changes in water related County regulations that affect homeowners. Striving to entertain as well as inform, the series will feature such talks as: The care and feeding of septic tanks under the new septic rules; Why wetlands are not badlands; and Tempests and Teacups - Protecting our water supply by managing runoff at home.

For more information about the series and Beach Watchers visit www.beachwatchers.wsu.edu or call the Beach Watchers office at 360-678-6714.

Connie C