The Daily Bucket: Restoring Salmon Habitat on a Green St. Patrick's Day
The salmon of the Northwest are the stuff of legends.Pioneers talked of rivers so thick that they were tempted to cross on the backs of the fish. When Meriwether Lewis led his band of explorers through...
View ArticleThe Daily Bucket: Ocean and Beach Plastic Pollution Locally and Globally
We are all acutely aware that our oceans and lakes are becoming contaminated by discarded plastics among other toxins and debris. This problem is world-wide and like all politics, the solution must...
View ArticleThe Daily Bucket: A Creek Preservation Project on Earth Day 2018 & When is a...
Canyon Creek, Whatcom Co., WA State April 22, 2018 (Earth Day) There were so many Earth Day activities to attend that I had some difficulty choosing which to spend my day with. I chose to go with the...
View ArticleThe Daily Bucket: A “Bio-Blitz” Inventory of an ecosystem at a Nature Reserve
This nature reserve includes some very old logged areas (now with big second growth) but also some old growth forest (> 450 year old trees). Aside from its beauty and diversity, it is remarkable for...
View ArticleThe Daily Bucket: A Tree for all Seasons and its Phenology from Solstice to...
I have a favorite tree. It is a Scarlet Oak (Quercus coccinea). The scarlet designation comes from its bright fall red foliage that will be apparent when we get to October.The Scarlet Oak is native to...
View ArticleThe Daily Bucket: The Nooksack River - a Treasure to Preserve
I’ve written of conservation efforts to preserve our local PNW waters and the salmonids that spawn and live in these streams. In these posts I have periodically mentioned the Nooksack but I have not...
View ArticleThe Daily Bucket: Nooksack River Part 2 - The History and Current State of...
In part I of this series I described the Nooksack River from its headwaters in the North Cascade Mountains through its course to the Salish Sea. I made the case that this river, along with others...
View ArticleThe Daily Bucket - Arbor Day & Parks Reclamation project
By Mayoral Proclamation, October 28th, 2018 became Arbor Day in Bellingham WA. Although Arbor Day is a worldwide event, each country, state, and city can designate which day to celebrate it depending...
View ArticleThe Daily Bucket: Saving the Nooksack III – Will Restoration Activity Be...
In parts 1 and 2, of this series I described the Nooksack River and how it’s three forks joined from the glaciers and water sheds surrounding the Mount Baker National Forest and wilderness area. The...
View ArticleThe Daily Bucket: Nature Scenes of Orcas Island – One of the Jewels of the...
Orcas Island, San Juan IslandsSalish Sea, Washington StateMs. K. and I were treated to a couple of days in January at Deer Harbor Resort on Orcas Island by my brother who belongs to a timeshare condo...
View ArticleThe Daily Bucket: Nurturing Nature - A Family Stewardship of a Forest Plot
Northwest Washington StateBellingham, WAGiven humanity’s penchant for exploiting the environment, Mother Nature needs a hand to protect it from further human encroachment and give its wounds a chance...
View ArticleThe Daily Bucket: Shore and Water Birds of Boundary Bay.
Semiahmoo Spit — Boundary BayNW Washington State
View ArticleThe Daily Bucket: Training the Next Generation of Green Warriors - Earth Day...
A rainy Earth Day 2019 found me and my trusty salmon creek restoration partner, granddaughter Ava, assisting a class of 2nd graders to plant willows along some wetlands from an overflowing Kendal...
View ArticleThe Daily Bucket: A Flicker Family Feeds and Fledges
The Northern Flicker (NOFL), (Colaptes auratus)) is the most prevalent woodpecker in my part of the country. Although they are found throughout North America, those in the east are Yellow-shafted...
View ArticleThe Daily Bucket: A Skookum Hike to Skookum Creek.
I took a hike the other day to visit one of the new properties in the North Cascade Mountains purchased for preservation by the Whatcom Land Trust. After driving several miles along an old logging...
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The Daily Bucket: Homeschooling Glaucous-Winged Chicks.
Bellingham WAPacific NorthwestJuly — Sept. 2019In early July, a pair of Glaucous-Winged Gulls (Larus glaucescens, GWG) appeared on my neighbor’s roof having built a rather skimpy nest tucked up...
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The Daily Bucket: Cavorting Among Ancient Trees in an Old Growth Forest
Cascade MountainsPacific NorthwestWhatcom County, WAThere is a 700 acre stand of old growth forest sequestered in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains about 25 miles east of Bellingham WA, and about...
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The Daily Bucket: October Colors and Seals on Orcas Island
October 2019Orcas Island,Salish SeaAn October family gathering at Deer Harbor on Orcas Island was met with three days of rain and about a half an hour of glorious sun on Saturday. For the most part,...
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The Daily Bucket: Polypore Fungi take on Honey Bee viruses and Colony...
Autumn, 2019Pacific NorthwestI’ve become interested in fungi over the past few years and am both enamored and overwhelmed by them. They are so amazing. The other domains of life almost can’t live...
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The Daily Bucket: MLK Jr.'s Community Service Day with Salmon Stream Restoration
Whatcom Falls ParkBellingham WAPacific NorthwestTo mark the Dr. MLK Jr. Day of Service, my granddaughter Ava and I participated with 468 other local Bellingham residents as a work party at Whatcom...
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