Dozens of youth climate activists and their supporters rallied outside the federal courthouse in Seattle on Monday. Their demonstration was one of more than 70 such gatherings planned around the country, in support of the 21 young plaintiffs in a landmark case against the U.S. government.

Gov. Jay Inslee’s Orca Recovery Task Force now has 35 items on its revised draft of recommendations to help Puget Sound’s endangered killer whales. Members have been meeting since May and are getting ready to finalize their report. But they’re still accepting comments until midnight Monday, and they want people to get involved.

One of the big decisions Washington voters face this election lies in Initiative 1631, which asks voters to impose a fee on carbon emissions. That’s the air pollution that comes from fossil fuels used in industry and transportation.

Olympia’s Capitol Lake was designed to be an ornamental reflecting pool to compliment the dome of the legislature. But the lake is in trouble. A $4-million dollar study of options to fix it is underway. Public comments on what should be included in the study will be heard Monday at a meeting in Olympia . Capitol Lake was created when the Deschutes River was dammed in 1951 and has been filling up with sediment ever since. It now holds about 60 percent less water. It’s violating water quality

Inside the Mount Baker Theatre in Bellingham, the crowd had questions: Will there be jobs? What will the housing look like? Can I still get down to the beach? What about traffic in the area? The redevelopment of Bellingham’s waterfront brings a lot of unknowns. What is clear, though, is that change is happening at the foot of the city’s downtown, where heavy industry once sat for more than a century.

Communities in the Salish Sea basin are working to clean up pollution and better understand how to foster a sustainable environment. It requires data collection and lab work. But it also requires a connection to the cultures of the many nations that touch the Salish Sea.

This week in Whatcom County, officials are staging an emergency response drill to test and increase their preparednesss in the event that Mount Baker blows its top. That might seem unlikely, but Baker is considered an active volcano. In fact, it has the second most thermally active crater in the Cascade range.

Gov. Jay Inslee has received a letter from the region’s leading killer whale scientists , calling for the removal of four dams on the Lower Snake river.

State and federal agencies are working to build their capacity for the use of prescribed fire to manage forests. That process began Sunday in Cle Elum as participants in a training exchange gathered for exercises that will continue over the next two weeks. They include intentionally set fires on up to 930 acres in central and eastern Washington.

Monday is the deadline for comments on proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act. Conservation advocates gathered Wednesday at Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo to voice their concerns. They say the federal law is under attack and that the proposed changes would gut it.