The Nature Conservancy bought 146 acres, including tidelands, at Lily Point to give to Whatcom County as part of the new Lily Point Marine Reserve.

The Bellingham Herald:

Protecting Lily Point will protect wildlife and the web of marine ecology of Puget Sound, according to Whatcom Land Trust and The Nature Conservancy. That includes sea stars and seaweed, Pacific herring, chinook salmon and orcas, as well as birds such as bald eagles, great blue heron and marbled murrelet.

Lily Point's shallow tide flats support more than 5 million migratory shorebirds and waterfowl annually, according to The Nature Conservancy.

It also has a rich cultural heritage.

Native Coast Salish people, including the Lummis, gathered hundreds of years ago at Lily Point to catch salmon and to pay homage to the fish that sustained them. They were followed in the late 1800s by non-native fisheries, most notably the Alaska Packers Association cannery from 1884 to 1917.

Posted at 4:04 PM

Upper Skagit elder Vi Hilbert, who was instrumental in preserving the Lushootseed native language, passed away last week at the age of 90.

A wake is scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday at the Upper Skagit Tribe's gym and a funeral service is planned for 10 a.m. Saturday, also at the gym.

The Skagit Valley Herald has an online guestbook where people can leave messages in her memory.

From the Seattle Times:

A woman who lived in many worlds, Mrs. Hilbert managed to be comfortable in all of them, whether it was helping to open a major Pacific Coast Salish art exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum in Seattle, or raising house posts in a private ceremony at Suquamish. She did both just before she died.

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Posted at 4:39 PM

University of Washington environmental anthropology student Alex Mark blogged about his research with the Tulalip Tribes natural resources department on the effects of mass marking on hatchery fish.

Extensive handling, such as is required to "mass-mark" hatchery juvenile salmon, has been shown to increase the transmission of infectious disease agents in salmon. In fact it is well documented in the literature that handling juvenile salmon causes stress and abrasions to the fish that in turn increases the chances for them to contract infectious diseases.

Recently the salmon returns have been negatively affected by bacterial diseases like BKD (Bacterial Kidney disease) and vibriosis. Tulalip Tribes Natural Resource department conducted the study to measure the potential of mass-marking to spread bacterial kidney disease and exacerbate vibriosis in Tulalip Chinook salmon during and after the marking procedure.

Posted at 11:53 AM