The
INSIDE
Debut of vessel removal
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4th of July events
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7pm
Operation Drywater
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VOLUME 37, NUMBER 26 • JULY 1, 2014
The battle to protect resident orcas By Scott Rasmussen
Friends of the Library Book Sale! FRIDAY, July 4, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Lopez Island Community Center
RED BAG SALE! BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! FILL A FREE “RED BAG” FOR $20! Huge selection of used books, videos, and audiobooks! All proceeds benefit the Lopez Island Library
Journal Editor
An in-depth biographical account of San Juan Island’s most celebrated marine biologist, that it’s not. Maybe someday such a book will be on the shelves. In the meantime, if you’re looking for a gripping, true-life tale about the battles Ken Balcomb has waged to protect the southern resident killer whales, and other marine mammals as well, from the ver y same government that is supposed to be reeling the endangered population back from the precipice of extinction, well then, my friend, your ship has come in. Seven years in the making, “War of the Whales,” a 420-page expose of the U.S. military’s often secre-
Lopez Center
tive use of sonar in marine waters around the globe, and account of those, like Balcomb, who, through keen supposition and painstaking science, first connected the dots and then launched a courtroom campaign against the U.S. Navy and its perilous program, is due out July 1. Researched and authored by renowned science writer Joshua Horwitz, co-founder of Washington D.C.-based Living Planet Books, and published by Simon & Shuster, “War of the Whales” blends together the spirit of both a suspense thriller of a Grisham novel (except that it’s NOT fiction) and the political intrigue of an “All The President’s Men.” In fact, here’s what Bob Woodward, co-author of All The President’s Men, has
Outdoors, Weather Permitting
Thursday, July 3rd, 7:30 pm
Tickets Required- $15 suggested donation Available at Lopez Winery Tasting Room, Blossom Natural Foods, & Paper-Scissors-on-the-Rock Dress Warmly, bring a blanket & a chair. www.islandstageleft.org
18th Annual Lopez Island Artists’ STUDIO TOUR Labor Day Weekend
August 30th & 31st 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Tickets: Lopez Bookshop, PSR, Blossom, LCCA, online $15/adult • $6/youth • Family of 4 living in same house $35
to say about it: “A gripping, brilliantly told tale of the secret and deadly struggle between American national security and the kings of the oceans.” And, there’s this from renowned oceans’ advocate Jean-Michel Cousteau: “It’s the true stor y of the under water collision between life in the ocean and an acoustic storm of military sonar -- and of citizen activists holding accountable the world’s most power ful Navy. For anyone who wants to save marine life from drowning in manmade noise, this is a mustread book.” The book begins with what appeared at the time to be a mysterious mass stranding of beaked whales
Tour PREVEIW GALLERY at Lopez Center Aug. 13 thru Aug. 30th
24 studios • 36 artists • Self-guided tour
LOPEZ ARTS ON LABOR DAY WEEKEND www.lopezstudiotour.org Studio Tour OPENING RECEPTION at the Preview Gallery Friday, Aug. 29, 5-7 p.m. Come meet the artists
STARRY NIGHT OF LOPEZ ARTS: an Art-rageous Party at the Center Saturday, Aug. 30th 6 - 9 p.m. Celebrating the Island’s arts Tickets on line and local outlets
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in the Bahamas. Balcomb, longtime director of the San Juan Island’s Center for Whale Research, was witness to that stranding at the center’s research facility in the Bahamas, in 2000. Meanwhile, the book’s other chief protagonist, attorney Joel Reynolds of the National Resources Defense Council, has begun uncovering bits and pieces of the Navy’s mostly concealed sonar operation and is preparing a legal challenge to expose and contest it. In 2003, Balcomb was witness to another mass stranding, of sorts, this time involving members of the southern residents orcas, listed as endangered under federal law in 2005, when the USS Shoup traveled the water ways off the westside of San Juan Island with its active-sonar deployed. For Balcomb, who has studied, tracked and kept a yearly census of the southern residents for nearly four decades, being depicted as a larger-thanlife character is somewhat “embarrassing.” Nevertheless, he believes the book could be thought of as required reading simply from its informative treatment about the use of active sonar and damage it’s wrought and, even for him, because of the depth and breadth with which Horowitz documents the role that the military plays, and is aware of, in endangering life in the sea. “Josh really dug in there,” Balcomb said. “He’s one persistent son-of-a-gun.” – Editor’s note: The Center for Whale Research will receive a $5 donation for every order of “War of the Whales” made via the center’s website, www. whaleresearch.com, prior to its official July 1 release date.
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