What You Need to Know and Do: July 11, 2024

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Urgent Notices and Actions

More Action Items

  • The Marine Mammal Commission will hold a working group meeting from 1to 5 PM Eastern Time on July 25. The Commission plans to discuss, formulate recommendations, and make decisions on three topics:
    • Its FY 2025 research grants program.
    • The 1994 amendments to the MMPA and actions to implement them.
    • The impacts of climate change on marine mammals.

To participate, register here: https://www.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_Roke2ffuQ2ykUl4xLgSUVg.

For more details, visit the Commission’s website.

  • Please comment on WDFW’s proposed rule to protect endangered Cascade red foxes on or before August 9. The proposed rule, if adopted, would prohibit fox trapping within the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie, Okanogan, Wenatchee, and Gifford Pinchot national forests.
    • A copy of the rule making proposal is available on WDFW’s website. The public can submit comments via web form, by email, by phone (855-925-2801, project code 7087), or by mailing written comments to Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife ATTN: Wildlife Program, PO Box 43200, Olympia, WA 98504.
    • The Fish and Wildlife Commission will accept public comments on the proposed rule change at a public hearing to be scheduled during the August 10-12 Commission meeting. Information on how to register to provide comments during the meeting will be made available on the Commission meeting webpage. A decision is tentatively scheduled for the September meeting.
  • The draft Periodic Status Review for the Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit is now available on WDFW’s website. The public can submit written comments on the document via email or by mailing the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife ATTN: Taylor Cotten, P.O. Box 43141, Olympia, WA 98504. The comment period is open until August 27, 2024.  WDFW’s proposal is to keep the species on Washington’s endangered species list.
  • Please submit comments on the old-growth forest plan. The plan is a proposed amendment to management plans for national forests, but it does not call for an outright ban on cutting old-growth trees.
    • The proposal is available in the Federal Register. Online comments may be submitted via a web form. Letters must be submitted to: Director, Ecosystem Management Coordination, 201 14th Street SW, Mailstop 1108 Washington, D.C. 20250—1124.
    • For more information, please see this article in The Seattle Times.
  • Please support the Wild Fish Conservancy’s petition to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to list Gulf of Alaska Chinook salmon under the federal Endangered Species Act. The comment period has been extended to September 6, 2024. The general public can submit any data and information relevant to the review:
  • Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal. Go to http://www.regulations.gov and enter NOAA-NMFS-2024-0042 in the Search box. Click on the “Comment” icon, complete the required fields, and enter or attach your comments. Mail: Submit written comments to Anne Marie Eich, Assistant Regional Administrator, Protected Resources Division, Alaska Region NMFS, Attn. Susan Meyer. Mail comments to P.O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 99802.
  • The David Suzuki Foundation is organizing a letter-writing campaign opposing the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. Tanker traffic is expected to increase sevenfold in the Salish Sea because of the expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline, imperiling Southern Resident killer whales.

Upcoming Events

WDFW Commission Meetings

  • The Commission will meet online on July 19 to vote on the proposed cougar rule and proposed wolf downlisting, according to the Department’s Year-at-a-Glance.

Other Events

  • The Coalition for Sensible Safeguards is hosting a virtual briefing with House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler and Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, Antitrust Ranking Member Lou Correa on “Chevron Deference and the Stop Corporate Capture Act.” The meeting will take place from 11-12:30 p.m. PST on Thursday, July 11. RSVP here.
  • NARN also invites animal advocates to demonstrate at the Seattle Aquarium Captivity is Cruelty Demo, where the group will “educate the public about the following: SEA aquarium’s practice of imprisoning multiple wild-caught Octopuses every year; SEA’s currently under construction, potentially unsafe tank for Sharks, Rays, and other tropical Fish, likely captured in the wild from the South Pacific; how hundreds of animals have been left to suffer and die in a warehouse in South Seattle.” The demonstration will take place 12 p.m.-2 p.m. on Saturday, July 13. NARN also is circulating a petition to stop wild-capture of octopuses and other marine animals.
  • WDFW is hosting an online public meeting from 6-8 p.m. on Wednesday, July 17 to share the first draft framework of the resident native trout harvest management policy and hear feedback from the public. Register here.