Protected Species
The SEATTLE POST reported that there are 17 species currently under protection from the Federal Endangered Species Act in the Puget Sound area. There are:
Endangered:
- Sei whale
- Finback whale
- Gray wolf
- Brown pelican
- Marsh sandwort (plant)
Threatened:
- Marbled murrelet
- Canada lynx
- Steller sea lion
- Bald eagle
- Chum salmon (Hood Canal)
- Chinook salmon
- Orcas (southern resident)
- Grizzly bear
- Bull trout
- Spotted owl
- Golden paintbrush (plant)
- Water howellia (plant)
- Kincaid's lupine (plant)
Unprotected species that are "critically imperiled:
Sea otter: Weasel relative that was nearly hunted to extinction for its pelts. One of the few non-primates known to use tools.
Pallid bat: Large, pale bat with doglike face. Feeds at night on large insects. Emits a skunklike odor when disturbed.
Oregon spotted frog: Green-, brown- or magenta-colored, with black blotches on its head and back. Now absent from 90 percent of former range.
American peregrine falcon: Removed from federal endangered list in 1999, but still endangered in Northwest. Cliffs were preferred nesting sites, but today many nest on high-rises.
Yellow-billed cuckoo: Adults are a foot long, with an exceptionally long tail marked with three large black spots. Only breeds in riparian forests and wetlands.
Green sturgeon: Olive-green fish grows to 7 feet (2.1 m) in length, 350 pounds and 70 years in age. First appeared more than 200 million years ago.
Walleye pollock: Member of the cod family. Annual catch in Alaskan waters is nearly 2 million metric tons. Important prey for marine mammals.
Sea cucumber: Relative of starfish and sea lilies; popular in Asian cuisine. Fourteen species found in Northwest waters.
Pacific giant earthworm: Grows to 3 feet (0.91 m) in length. Emits peculiar, flowerlike aroma. Oregon giant earthworms live in moist soils of riparian forests.
Marsh shrew: Insect-seating aquatic shrew with fringe of hairs on toes to aid swimming. Can run on top of the water for several seconds.
Read more about this topic: Environmental Issues In Puget Sound
Famous quotes containing the words protected and/or species:
“Wasn’t marriage, like life, unstimulating and unprofitable and somewhat empty when too well ordered and protected and guarded. Wasn’t it finer, more splendid, more nourishing, when it was, like life itself, a mixture of the sordid and the magnificent; of mud and stars; of earth and flowers; of love and hate and laughter and tears and ugliness and beauty and hurt?”
—Edna Ferber (1887–1968)
“Nature seemed to have adorned herself for our departure with a profusion of fringes and curls, mingled with the bright tints of flowers, reflected in the water. But we missed the white water-lily, which is the queen of river flowers, its reign being over for this season.... Many of this species inhabit our Concord water.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)