Four residents of the North Olympic Peninsula, two from Port Townsend and two from Port Angeles, plan to walk from Seattle to Tacoma this weekend as part of the Walk to Protect &Restore Our Salish Sea that begins today and runs through Sunday.
Peninsula residents doing the entire walk are Cherri Mann and Jo Blair of Port Townsend, and Ingrid Carmean and Ed Chadd of Port Angeles, Chadd, spokesman for Olympic Climate Action based in Port Angeles, said in a press release.
Others from the Olympic Peninsula will be participating in parts of the walk.
The march was organized by Paul Wagner, a storyteller and flutist of the first nations Sanich people, according to KNKX, a public radio station serving Seattle and Tacoma.
Wagner told the radio station he wants to see the Salish Sea become a sanctuary for all marine life. Marchers hope to stop the Salish Sea from becoming a throughway for fossil fuel exports.
Salish Sea is the name of the marine ecosystem that connects the U.S. and Canada, and includes Puget Sound.
Specific targets of the walk are opposition to fossil fuel expansion in the Salish Sea and support of the Southern Resident orcas, Chadd said.
The marchers want to see the return of Tokitae (a.k.a. Lolita) to her native waters, Chadd said.
The walk will start at 2 p.m. today at Myrtle Edwards Park in Seattle and end Sunday with a rally at the site of the proposed Puget Sound Energy liquid natural gas plant in Tacoma.
Mann, Blair and Chadd are part of the North Olympic Orca Pod, a local group dedicated to representing the Southern Resident Orca population through costume appearances and public education.
Members represent individual orcas to educate people about the endangered Southern Resident orcas, which are found off Port Townsend, in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and off the coast of British Columbia.
For more information about the walk, see Walk to Protect &Restore Our Salish Sea Facebook page.
For more about Olympic Climate Action, see https://olyclimate.org/.
