Sensor fish are helping researchers figure out what it’s like for juvenile salmon to pass through dams. After the newest version of the mechanical devices runs a test through a dam, it lights up so that researchers can find it in the water.
It’s hard to know exactly what happens to young salmon as they swim out to sea – what sort of wild, sometimes fatal ride they experience when they plunge through a dam’s turbine.
A few robotic fish are helping researchers find answers.
They may lack fins, gills, and scales, but these fish are equipped with sensors that can detect pressure changes, water temperature, and the direction they’re facing.
Major pressure changes can make fish experience something akin to the bends in divers. Fish can also get whipped around by turbine blades.
Back then, researcher Tom Carlson said it’s important to downsize the mechanical fish so that they can test what it’s like at dams smaller than those on the mainstem Columbia River.
“Everybody tries to imagine what it might be like to be a fish. I don’t think any of us do it very well,” said Carlson, who is now retired. “The experience of the fish may be quite different … They may not have the same sensation of water flow that we might imagine as humans when we’re swimming.”
This newest generation is even smaller than the models used two years ago, when testing found the sensors still worked well after facing up to 600 times the force of gravity – definitely something that’s hard to imagine.
The newest sensor fish are the same size as the juvenile salmon they’ll be sometimes be “swimming” alongside: about 3.5 inches long and 1 inch in diameter. (Researchers are developing other models to mimic more types of fish.)
“The earlier sensor fish design helped us understand how intense pressure changes can harm fish as they pass through dam turbines,” said scientist Daniel Deng, now in charge of the sensor fish project.
“And the newly improved sensor fish will allow us to more accurately measure the forces that fish feel as they pass by turbines and other structures in both conventional dams and other hydro power facilities. As we’re increasingly turning to renewable energy, these measurements can help further reduce the environmental impact of hydropower,” Deng said.
The new devices will be tested at three small hydro projects in the U.S., two conventional hydroelectric dams in the U.S., irrigation structures in Australia and a dam on the Mekong River in Southeast Asia. They can be used with several types of turbines and pumped storage plants.
Andrew Fryberg, a 15-year-old Marysville student who was critically injured after another student opened fire inside a high school cafeteria two weeks ago, died Friday from his injuries, Harborview Medical Center officials said.
“Unfortunately, Andrew Fryberg, 15, passed away this evening, November 7, at Harborview Medical Center,” Harborview officials said in a released statement.
Harborview shared the following statement by the Fryberg family:
“We express our thanks for the amazing support from the community, as well as from everyone around the world that have been praying for us all through this tragic event.
We also want to say a special thank you to all the amazing staff that have cared for our son and brother here in the pediatric intensive care unit at Harborview.
Our family is overwhelmed with the love and care that has been provided to our loved one during this time and you all will forever hold a special place in our hearts.
But we also ask that you respect our privacy at this time of our deep loss.”
Fryberg’s passing brings the death toll in the Marysville-Pilchuck High School shooting to five. Gia Soriano, 14, and Shaylee Chuckulnaskit, 14, died after suffering critical head injuries in the shooting. Zoe Galasso, 14, died at the school after she was shot in the head.
The shooter, Jaylen Fryberg, died at the scene of a self-inflicted wound.
Nate Hatch, 14, who was shot in the jaw, was released from Harborview Medical Center Thursday after undergoing a series of surgeries for his injuries. After Harborview announced Andrew Fryberg’s death, Hatch tweeted “I love you brother” along with a screen shot of a lengthy message:
“R.I.P. Andrew Martin lee fryberg I hope you like it up there and we well some day reunite. You were my other half you were my brother we were suppose to conquer this life together I can’t even begin to imagine life with out you I love you so much and I well live every day thinking about you. You’ll be watching over me and you’ll always be in my heart nothing seems to make sense at this time the worst things always happen to the best people but now you’re somewhere where no one can hurt you. You have impacted so many peoples lives and you well be forever missed I well never forget you I love you rest in paradise”
TULALIP, Wash – Nate Hatch, one of the Marysville Pilchuck High School shooting victims, was released from Harborview Medical Center today and returned home to the Tulalip Indian Reservation to a large crowd of family and friends cheering him on. Amidst signs and banners in support of Nate, people were smiling, waving and hugging.
Nate had been shot in the jaw and has been hospitalized since the October 24th shooting. Andrew Fryberg remains in critical condition at Harborview. Jaylen Fryberg opened fire on five classmates before killing himself. Three of those victims, Gia Soriano, Zoe Galasso and Shaylee Chuckulnaskit were fatally wounded.
Tulalip Tribal members and Tulalip community members line the street waiting to welcome Nate Hatch home, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014, on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Hatch was shot in the jaw during the Oct. 24, 2014 Marysville-Pilchuck High school shooting by fellow classmate and friend Jaylen Fryberg. (Tulalip News Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil)
Tulalip Tribal members and Tulalip community members line the street waiting to welcome Nate Hatch home, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014, on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Hatch was shot in the jaw during the Oct. 24, 2014 Marysville-Pilchuck High school shooting by fellow classmate and friend Jaylen Fryberg. (Tulalip News Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil)
Tulalip Tribal members and Tulalip community members line the street waiting to welcome Nate Hatch home, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014, on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Hatch was shot in the jaw during the Oct. 24, 2014 Marysville-Pilchuck High school shooting by fellow classmate and friend Jaylen Fryberg. (Tulalip News Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil)
Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News
Tulalip Tribal members and Tulalip community members line the street waiting to welcome Nate Hatch home, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014, on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Hatch was shot in the jaw during the Oct. 24, 2014 Marysville-Pilchuck High school shooting by fellow classmate and friend Jaylen Fryberg. (Tulalip News Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil)
Tulalip Tribal members and Tulalip community members line the street waiting to welcome Nate Hatch home, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014, on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Hatch was shot in the jaw during the Oct. 24, 2014 Marysville-Pilchuck High school shooting by fellow classmate and friend Jaylen Fryberg. (Tulalip News Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil)
Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News
Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News
Tulalip Tribal members and Tulalip community members line the street waiting to welcome Nate Hatch home, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014, on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Hatch was shot in the jaw during the Oct. 24, 2014 Marysville-Pilchuck High school shooting by fellow classmate and friend Jaylen Fryberg. (Tulalip News Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil)
Tulalip Tribal members and Tulalip community members line the street waiting to welcome Nate Hatch home, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014, on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Hatch was shot in the jaw during the Oct. 24, 2014 Marysville-Pilchuck High school shooting by fellow classmate and friend Jaylen Fryberg. (Tulalip News Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil)
Tulalip Tribal members and Tulalip community members line the street waiting to welcome Nate Hatch home, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2014, on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Hatch was shot in the jaw during the Oct. 24, 2014 Marysville-Pilchuck High school shooting by fellow classmate and friend Jaylen Fryberg. (Tulalip News Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil)
Smoke stacks during a night scene in Tacoma, Wash. Election-night shifts in the Oregon state Senate moved it closer to a carbon tax. Washington might have distanced itself further. | credit: Flickr/Tom Collins
Environmentalists spent more than $1.5 million in Oregon and Washington in bids to secure Democratic majorities in state legislatures — majorities they wanted for approving clean-fuel standards and a tax on carbon emissions.
The plan worked in Oregon. It didn’t in Washington.
Environmentalists backed Tami Green against Sen. Steve O’Ban in the south Puget Sound area. Green lost.
They backed Matt Isenhower challenging Sen. Andy Hill in his East Side King County district. Isenhower lost.
They backed Seth Fleetwood trying to unseat Sen. Doug Ericksen in Whatcom County. Fleetwood lost.
That puts Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee in a challenging position for advancing his plans to institute a price on carbon and a low-carbon fuel standard. Environmental groups expected the Democratic challengers to vote for those policies.
At an energy conference Wednesday in Seattle, the governor spoke to reporters with a bit less enthusiasm than normal. He stressed the need for bipartisanship.
“All parties are going to have to accept what they consider imperfect solutions,” Inslee said. “It is the nature of bipartisanship. So I’m going to urge people to come to Olympia with that mindset and if they have that mindset I believe we will succeed.”
In Oregon, Democrats increased their majority in the Senate to at least 17 of the chamber’s 30 seats. They secured one seat and took another one from a Republican. Sen. Alan Bates, D-Medford, won reelection and Sara Gelser, D-Corvallis, defeated Republican incumbent Betsy Close. Another Republican-held seat could flip to the Democrats. It’s held by Sen. Bruce Starr, R-Hillsboro, whose narrow lead against Democratic challenger Chuck Riley remained too close to call Wednesday.
Those results have conservation groups thinking the Oregon Senate is poised to reconsider environmental legislation on issues like clean fuels and disclosure of chemicals in children’s products.
Both of those failed previously after Democrat Betsy Johnson voted with Republicans.
“We don’t even know what we could have brought to the floor because it was just DOA: Dead on Arrival,” said Doug Moore, Executive Director of the Oregon League of Conservation Voters.
But now, Moore thinks they will have the votes in the Senate to offset that.
“Our ultimate objective here is to price carbon in Oregon. And maybe having 18 seats in the Senate gives us that opportunity,” Moore said.
JL Wilson, a lobbyist for groups opposed to the carbon tax, said he plans to appeal to democrats whose districts depend on industries that oppose the economic burdens of putting a price on carbon emissions.
“I would have a hard time believing you would have 16 senators just lined up to support these policy options,” Wilson said. “Is it more of a challenge than it was prior to last night? Yeah, of course it is. But it’s by no means a fait accompli.”
Caldie Rogers, CEO of the Greater Marysville Tulalip Chamber of Commerce, is retiring after 22 years of service. A farewell party to celebrate her accomplishments is scheduled for 5 to 7 p.m. on Nov. 12 at the Holiday Inn Express Snohomish Room located at 8606 36th Ave. NE, Marysville. There is no charge to attend but please RSVP to Mary Jane at 360-359-7700 or MaryJane@marysvilletulalipchamber.com.
The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe is tagging large woody debris to follow it as it moves through the newly restored Elwha River system.
“We’re tracking over 2,000 logs and tree stumps with silver tree tags, from the upstream end of Lake Mills to the river mouth,” said Vivian Leung, a doctoral student of geomorphology at University of Washington.
She’s been working with the tribe since 2012 to study how large wood debris (LWD) has affected the river during and after the removal of the river’s two-fish blocking dams.
“Not only did the dams completely block the supply of sediment downstream, but they also altered the transportation of large wood,” said Mike McHenry, the tribe’s habitat manager. “Both elements are critical for habitat forming processes not only in the river but in the nearshore. The fate of wood is relevant to the recovery of the river and its aquatic resources, especially salmon.”
Silver tags are attached to log and stumps throughout the Elwha River so scientists can track their movements as the river changes during restoration.
As the dams came down, the lake Aldwell and Mills reservoirs were drained, leaving behind thousands of logs and tree stumps that had been buried under sediment and water for the past century. The natural action of the river is transporting the logs and stumps throughout the new riverbed, changing the dynamics of the river and creating better salmon habitat.
Leung is interested in how logjams form and affect channel patterns, how wood is transported through rivers and how the pools they create provide places for salmon to rest, feed and spawn.
“Surprisingly, there’s still a lot of research to be done to understand how large wood debris interacts with river systems,” she said. “So far we have found that logjams and salmon habitat are forming significantly faster in Aldwell than we expected.”
The large logs and rootwads also are aiding revegetation efforts of the lakebeds. The tribe hired a heavy-lift helicopter recently to relocate 500 unmarked logs around Mills. The logs were moved from the former reservoir pool elevation to terraces along the river’s floodplain.
These logs are expected to help stabilize steep slopes and provide sheltered areas for young plants to survive during planned revegetation efforts in the coming years, McHenry said. During 2014-2015, 100,000 woody plants will be planted into the former Mills reservoir surface.
A long-term study by the Nisqually Tribe is providing a better understanding of shrimp in South Sound.
“What shrimp populations are in the area is not well documented,” said Margaret Homerding, shellfish biologist for the Nisqually Tribe. “The state conducted surveys a decade ago, but did not catch any spot prawns.”
The tribe is dropping three shrimp pots every few months in various locations from the Nisqually Reach to lower Carr Inlet. Each pot location is tracked on GPS and any catch is recorded.
“We started surveying when we saw our crabbers pulling up spot prawns from their deeper pots,” Homerding said. “We are looking for all species of shrimp, but we’re focusing our efforts on spot prawns, which are the commercially valuable species.” So far, spot prawns and dock shrimp have been the most abundant species in the tribal surveys.
“The end result of the study should be a decision on whether there is a commercially viable fishery for the tribe on shrimp,” Homerding said. The research will help guide the tribe in creating an accurate harvest regime for co-managing shrimp with the state in South Sound.
Currently, the tribe splits a combined 3,000 pound quota for all shrimp species with non-tribal harvester, including 1,000 pounds for spot prawns. “There isn’t any commercial harvest by the tribe right now,” Homerding said. “Even with the few shrimp caught incidentally in crab fisheries, the tribe doesn’t come anywhere close to actually accessing those pounds.”
Part of the surveys include tracking the sizes at which shrimp change from male to female. Because shrimp change sex during their life cycle, the relative sizes of male and female shrimp can tell biologists a lot about the health of the local population. “If a population of shrimp is shrinking, we will see individuals changing sex earlier,” Homerding said.
Shellfish managers can consider the data the tribe is collecting now as a baseline for a healthy stock with little harvest pressure. “But, if we see smaller females in later years, we can assume they’re feeling the pressure to switch earlier, and we should reduce our fishing pressure,” she said.
The tribe is also tracking when shrimp are spawning. Usually, shrimp fisheries close when female shrimp are carrying eggs, protecting them from harvest. “There’s no reason to fish for shrimp when the next generation is at its most vulnerable,” Homerding said.
“Basic information that we’re collecting now will help guide harvest in the future,” said David Troutt, natural resources director for the tribe. “The Nisqually Tribe is committed to smart management that benefits both tribal and non-tribal communities.”
OLYMPIA, Wash. — Ballots for the election in Washington must be postmarked by Election Day or placed in a drop box by 8 p.m.
With some ballots still in the mail on election night, results in a close race may not be known for days.
The secretary of state’s office said 29 percent of the ballots had been returned as of Monday afternoon. That’s about 1.1 million ballots of the 3.9 ballots that were mailed.
Counties will certify results by Nov. 24. And Secretary of State Kim Wyman and Gov. Jay Inslee will certify the election on Dec. 2.
Growing populations of wild horses in the inland Northwest are creating headaches for federal land managers. Wild and feral horse herds overrun tribal lands in our region too.
A National Academy of Sciences review of federal wild horse management recommended greater use of birth control injections to control overpopulation. Horse lovers want to see that happen on tribal lands too.
University of Missouri biology professor Lori Eggert, who took part in the National Academy report, said “extensive and consistent” contraception can stabilize a horse population on a range.
“It is not over the short term going to take these horses down population wise,” Eggert said. “It will simply slow the growth. There may have to continue to be some gathers and removals from the range until these populations come down.”
Injecting wild mares with birth control on a regular schedule seemed impractical to the tribal range managers I heard from. Jason Smith of Warm Springs said his tribe does have a castration program. He said it castrates 100-150 wild stallions per year to help with population control.
The question of how to proceed in some ways boils down to different world views. People from animal advocacy groups describe wild horses as intelligent, magnificent creatures, symbols of the West and the embodiment of freedom on the open range. On the reservation, rodeo champion Smith said the horse is a “really respected animal,” but fits another category.
“Warm Springs has always considered the horse as their livestock,” he explained. “It is just like cattle is, livestock. We love our horses. They are our tool. They are our work force.”
Smith said he’s looking forward to the next wild horse inventory on the Warm Springs reservation next spring. He’s hoping to see a major decline in numbers from the 5,700 to 6,000 horses counted by an aerial survey in 2011.
Economics of tribal wild horse management
People with an interest in wild horse management also are keeping an eye on Congress. Members of Congress must soon decide whether to keep a de facto ban on domestic horse slaughter for human consumption. The 2014 federal budget signed by President Obama barred the U.S. Agriculture Department from spending money on necessary inspections of commercial horse slaughterhouses.
The last domestic horse processing facilities closed in 2007 after an earlier Congress withheld funding to provide inspections. That is why horses destined for slaughter are exported to Canada or Mexico.
Last year, the Warm Springs tribe and Yakama Nation joined a lawsuit in federal court in defense of the planned opening of a private slaughterhouse in New Mexico. In written testimony, Yakama Nation biologist James Stephenson described how high transportation costs have undermined the economics of tribal wild horse management.
“Before cessation of horse slaughter in the United States, members of the Yakama Nation could sell horses at a price of approximately $150 to $400 per animal. Now, if you can find a buyer, such horses are often sold for prices of $5 to $20 per head,” Stephenson wrote.
Wild horse advocacy groups are marshaling their arguments to prevent any resumption of domestic horse slaughter. In addition, sympathetic senators and representatives have proposed to go further and ban the transport and export of American horses to foreign slaughterhouses.
However, those measures have not advanced in a gridlocked Congress.
Meanwhile, a Prineville, Oregon-based nonprofit proposes to open a completely different type of facility from a slaughterhouse to take horses removed from tribal lands. Central Oregon Wild Horse Coalition founder Gayle Hunt envisions a “horse gentling” program where prison inmates could break wild horses and train more of them to be suitable for adoption or sale as riding horses.
“Problem offenders within the community are actually rehabilitated at the same time they are rehabilitating the wild horses of Warm Springs,” Hunt said while describing her vision.
She credits the idea to a Nevada Department of Corrections program that uses inmates to saddle-train wild horses gathered by the Bureau of Land Management from public lands in Nevada and Oregon.
Genna Martin / The Herald Pumpkins with the names of the victims and shooter of the Marysville Pilchuck High School shooting carved into them sit along the south fence of the school, which has become a growing memorial. The shooter, Jaylen Freyberg, and victims Zoe Galasso and Gia Soriano have died. Andrew Freyberg and Shaylee Chuckulnaskit are in critical condition and Nate Hatch is in satisfactory condition.
MARYSVILLE — Eventually, there will be some answers.
Hundreds of pages of investigative records will become public. They will reveal what detectives believe happened in the days and weeks leading up to the burst of violence Friday in a high school cafeteria.
Finding answers could take a year. It could take two.
As emotions and judgments pick up speed following Friday’s deadly shooting at Marysville Pilchuck High School, the clock slows down for investigators.
Each witness. Each bullet fragment. Each text message.
The Snohomish County Multiple Agency Response Team, or SMART, the county-wide cadre of homicide investigators, is in charge of finding the truth.
The team was requested because of the scope and complexity of the investigation. Two Marysville detectives are part of that team.
Detectives owe it to the victims and their families to release only accurate information and to do the investigation the right way, Snohomish County sheriff’s spokeswoman Shari Ireton said Wednesday. A large volume of information — unverified and frequently coming from anonymous sources — already is in circulation.
“We only want to release facts that have been verified through the investigative process,” Ireton said. “A tweet is not fact.”
Detectives have reasons for not revealing details before the investigation is complete.
“We have to protect the integrity of the case,” sheriff’s detective Brad Walvatne, a member of SMART, said Wednesday. “We don’t want to poison a witness’ memory. We want to know what they specifically know.”
Investigators are responsible for “weeding through the rumors to get to the actual facts,” he said.
That takes time.
Previous SMART investigations have shown a meticulous level of detail, pulling together witness interviews, footprint analysis, medication prescriptions, dental records, three-dimensional digital maps, ballistics, crime-scene log-in sheets and more.
Forensic test results alone can take months to come back from labs. Victims and witnesses may need to be interviewed more than once. The interviews will have to be transcribed and proofed. Detectives will have to detail how they were able to find evidence on a cellphone or computer.
“We’re not going to rush. We want to be thorough. We want to be fair and impartial,” Walvatne said.
That doesn’t change if a suspect is dead, he said.
“We could still find out why this happened if we can’t speak to the person who did it,” Walvatne said.
The homicide detective has been with the sheriff’s office for 15 years. He has been part of SMART since 2009. He’s been involved in complex investigations, such as the murder of a Monroe corrections officer which required interviewing dozens of inmates and corrections officers. The team also investigated the killing of six people in Skagit County, including a sheriff’s deputy.
Walvatne declined to discuss investigative details of the Marysville school shooting. Instead, he explained that in a complex case multiple detectives are put in charge of various aspects, such as crime scene processing and coordinating witness interviews.
The team has detectives who specialize in three-dimensional mapping, trajectory analysis, computer forensics and witness interviews. They share the workload and brief each other on what they uncover.
“There is nothing more important going on. The detectives need to be given the time and space to do it thoroughly and professionally, which is what they are doing now,” Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney Mark Roe said.
Typically, the team is called in to run investigations into officer-involved shootings or in-custody deaths. Roe reviews the team’s cases.
Roe was part of a meeting Tuesday that involved dozens of investigators. They all are working on their own piece of the case.
“This is time-consuming, painstaking, detailed work,” Roe said. “They need to take the time to get the facts.”
Instant access to information and 24-hour news cycles have created an expectation for detectives to finish their case and make everything public right away, and that’s not possible, said John Turner, a retired police chief who served in Marysville in the late 1980s and early 2000s.
“There’s a reason police don’t disseminate all of the information,” said Turner, who also led departments in Snohomish and Mountlake Terrace. “There are valid, justifiable reasons for not doing it. Facts that are known to the police (but) are not known to the public help the police investigate, whether it’s interviewing, interrogation, polygraphs, all of that.”
In addition, this investigation adds a layer of cultural complexity, Turner said. The shooter and some of the victims are Tulalip tribal members.
Turner was a police chief in Snohomish in 2011 when a troubled 15-year-old student stabbed two Snohomish High School classmates. Both victims survived.
That investigation took months, and was complicated in part because police had to gather psychological reports and account for witness stories that changed over time.
In Seattle, police have had to investigate several mass shootings over the years, including one at Seattle Pacific University in June, said Sgt. Sean Whitcomb, department spokesman. The SPU shooting is still an active investigation.
In general, violence in public settings generates more fear and concern, he said. People need answers they can rely upon.
“So there’s this added responsibility for us to really make sure that we take our time and ensure every possible lead is followed up, every last scrap of evidence is collected and gathered, and every last witness is tracked down and interviewed,” he said.
Roe on Wednesday said he hopes people use the time waiting for answers to supporting victims of Friday’s violence.
“This is the time to focus on what we should — the kids, the school, the community,” he said.
As of Wednesday, victims Andrew Fryberg, 15, and Shaylee Chuckulnaskit, 14, were in critical condition with gunshot wounds to the head. Nate Hatch, 14, who was shot in the jaw, was in satisfactory condition. Both boys are at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Shaylee is at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett.
Zoe Raine Galasso and Gia Soriano, both 14, were killed. A family funeral for Zoe is set for this weekend.
She is survived by her parents, Michael and Michelle, and brother, Rayden. Zoe was a loving girl, who “spread her happiness and delight in new experiences everywhere,” her obituary said.
A traditional two-day funeral for shooter Jaylen Fryberg, 15, will conclude with his burial today.
