Trees provide a variety of environmental benefits like cleaner air and water, cooling shade, and reduced noise pollution. Just looking at trees has been shown to reduce stress. There is also a correlation between community trees and social connections. In other words, trees bring people together. Last weekend, trees brought community members together here at the Port!

Tis the season for red and green…salmon? Chum salmon return to the watershed to spawn just in time for the holidays. They arrive wearing the equivalent of a human’s Christmas sweater (red calico stripes on a green body) to signal their readiness to party! Er, propagate...

When I first started working at the Port, there was a series of *alleged* otter sightings in the Sitcum Waterway. Coworkers would come to my desk, excitedly pulling me to the window to see. Every time I went to go look– nothing. No otters. Not even a bubble. I started to suspect that these “otter sightings” were an elaborate conspiracy...

I was sitting in my office cubicle a few weeks ago when someone grabbed me to come look at a “weird” fish in the Sitcum Waterway. A small crowd had started to form by the time I made it outside and as I approached, I heard lots of bewildered chatter.

Beavers are dam smart! They provide many ecological benefits such as wetland habitat creation, drought prevention and carbon storage. However, sometimes they build dams in areas that make them unpopular neighbors.

What do you call dad jokes about Canada Geese? Dad yolks.
Which side of a goose has the most feathers? The outside.
What happened to the geese when they fell down the stairs? They all got goose bumps.

Raising a kid is hard, especially if you are a southern resident Orca boy-mom. A recent study showed raising a male-whale is so energy intensive that orca moms are less likely to have another baby after having a son. Having a daughter, however, did not reduce the chance of having another baby.

Cupid’s arrow may be inspired by the mating rituals of… land snails?

Seriously. Land snails.

Animals don’t make New Year’s resolutions. Instead, they have evolved specific strategies to ensure their survival year-round. Because it’s the New Year, and because I love a good pun, let’s call these survival strategies re-ZOO-lutions.

2022 was the year of the northern migration of the species Portus biologicus (Port Biologist). Two variations of this species, Jenn and Kristin, have been found at the Port of Tacoma. Jenn can be identified by her red plumage while Kristin has brown plumage with a brightly colored cap that appears in the winter.