Decibel levels of sonar pings recorded off the west side of San Juan Island April 7-8 may have been the same level as sonar pings implicated in the deaths of several beaked whales in the Bahamas in October 2003. That’s according to Dr. Val Veirs, president of The Whale Museum board and professor emeritus of physics at Colorado College. Hydrophones operated by The Whale Museum and Beam Reach Marine Science and Sustainability School started recording sonar pings and what sounded like garbled human speech beginning at 7 p.m. on April 7. The pings and sounds continued into the early morning.
More than $130,000 is included in the state’s proposed capital budget for development of up to 15 trails in the 112-acre Cattle Point Natural Resource Conservation Area on San Juan Island. The money is intended for preservation work as well. Specifically, the money is budgeted for “natural areas facilities preservation and access.” The proposed capital budget also includes nearly $1 million to repair the wastewater system in Moran State Park on Orcas Island.
Time will tell whether an environmental impact statement on proposed solid waste transfer station sites is up to snuff. The County Council agreed on Tuesday to move forward with selecting a site for a new solid-waste transfer station on San Juan Island and to let the pending challenge of that impact statement play out at some point down the road.
It’s been said that if you want to stop growth in your neighborhood, open a hog farm. But could the threat of a hog farm influence the county’s decision on where to site a new solid waste transfer station? E.J. Thorndike has made known his opposition to the possible location of a waste transfer station on Daniel Lane.
Orca advocate Jeanne Hyde reports on her blog, whale-of-a-porpoise.blogspot.com, that loud pings believed to be from a ship’s sonar were recorded over an eight-hour period in Haro Strait Tuesday and today.
The San Juan Island School Board plans to hire an interim school superintendent for the 2009-10 school year. The decision was made Monday at a special school board meeting in the district office. A job description will be posted on the San Juan Island School District Web site. The deadline for applications and resumes is May 8.
Members of Cub Scouts Pack 90, Den 6, recently visited The Journal as part of a field trip.
While there, Journal marketing artist Rebecca Cook explained the process of designing an advertisement. The Scouts then visited the newsroom, where reporter Scott Rasmussen explained the news-gatherinf process.
They may be the leading contenders, but Beaverton Valley and Sutton Road are not the only options for a new solid-waste transfer station on San Juan Island. And at least one islander believes that Daniel Lane, a 22-acre site consisting of three appropriately-zoned and privately-owned parcels on Cattle Point Road, may be better suited than the other two sites under consideration.
A Friday Harbor High School student has been named a top prize winner in a national essay contest that drew more than 31,000 entries.
As a participant in the Pacific region, Catherine Bevens of Friday Harbor High School was awarded third place and $1,250 in the Being an American Essay Contest sponsored by the Bill of Rights Institute, a non-profit educational organization based in northern Virginia near Washington, D.C.
Neighbors say the discovery of a colony of mutant crabs living at the Sutton Road solid waste transfer station is proof that the site is contaminated. Scientists from the state Department of Ecology believe the population is descended from crabs that migrated from the harbor up a stream to a wetlands outside the transfer station site, where they adjusted to living in fresh water. Over time, however, they mutated because of exposure to nitrates and other pollutants that reportedly leach from the transfer station into the wetlands, experts say.
Voice-recognition software has been developed that enables researchers at The Whale Museum to translate Southern resident orca dialect into English. For the first time, researchers employed the technology to conduct an interview with a killer whale — and get answers to age-old questions. J-26 will now take your questions.
The San Juan Island Chamber of Commerce has announced it will spend some of its federal stimulus money to start a program to help islanders feel better about the economy. Chamber Director Debbie Pigman said the program will employ Disney characters as morale boosters.
Throwing the door open on a new career, Woody — the congenial, though sometimes conflicted, cowboy of “Toy Story” movie fame — last week announced he will run for San Juan County sheriff in 2010. “I’ve got proven problem-solving skills and a knack for getting things done,” said Woody, who goes by the single name by which he’s commonly known.