Rain’s no pain for amphibians

Frogs, salamanders and other amphibians have enjoyed Washington’s wet winter, judging by the way the critters have been breeding.

Northern red-legged frogs and long-toed salamanders especially have been have been laying more eggs than usual on the West Side since the middle of January, apparently after chowing down on an abundance of snails, slugs and other delicacies washing into their lakes and ponds, said Marc P. Hayes, a state fish and wildlife research scientist.

Seattle had two dry days in January and Olympia logged a record 35 consecutive rain days.

Frogs are not the only beneficiaries. Dragonflies across the state should benefit, as well as ducks and other waterfowl.

Dragonflies lay their eggs in shallow ponds and lakes, many of which have shriveled or dried up entirely before the larvae could mature in recent years, especially east of the Cascade Range. Ducks, likewise, have suffered from the loss of marshy breeding habitat.

Wild mushroom enthusiasts face a more mixed outlook.

Too much rain inhibits the growth of forest fungi, but abundant rain in January and a heavy snowpack generally means a bumper crop of boletes, matsutakes and morels.

So far the Cascade snowpack is about 150 percent of normal.

Associated Press

Unnatural Disasters

Exxon profits rally fishermen

Despite record oil company profits, Exxon Mobile Corp. has not paid Alaska commercial fishermen for damages they suffered from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Lawyers for 30,000 plantiffs affected by the spill argued their case this month before the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco in an attempt to collect the $4.5 billion in punitive damages that had been awarded to them, but never paid.

Exxon Mobil, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, reported 2005 profits of $36 billlion, the largest amount reported by any U.S. company. The profits were up 42 percent from 2004.

Rich Landers