Oregon

Please join us on Mondays once a month to for this members-only opportunity to learn from marine and aquatic educators and scientists. Speakers will share experiences, educational tips and stories from the field. Registration is required; after registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Please contact wmoses@highline.edu if you have any questions or problems with the meeting link. If you would like to present, please contact Giovannina Souers at giovanninah2o@gmail.com

Register Here for FEB 7

Not a member? Membership expired? Make sure to join or renew now so you don’t miss out on these fabulous events!

Upcoming Speakers

February 7, 2022 • 6:30 pm–7:30 pm PT

The Oregon King Tides Project—Jesse Jones, volunteer coordinator for CoastWatch

Sea level is predicted to rise over the next century. Several areas of the Oregon coast are already vulnerable to high water levels because of their low elevations and proximity to the shoreline. Rising sea levels means increased erosion and more frequent and expanded flooding in the future. An infrequent event today could become normal in the future.

Understanding and documenting the extent and impacts of especially high tide events is one way to highlight the need to prepare for the effects of future climate conditions. The King Tides Project generates information that coastal communities can use to reduce vulnerabilities to rising sea levels.

Jesse Jones is the volunteer coordinator for CoastWatch, a mile by mile beach adoption program in Oregon that links volunteers with citizen science opportunities in their coastal neighborhoods. She lives in Astoria and works with volunteers from Fort Stevens to the Winchuck River. CoastWatch is program of Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition.

Speaker Archive

January 2022

Flukes, Fins, & Blows: Whale ID 101—Aaron Purdy, Outreach & Education Lead, Southern Vancouver Island Cetacean Research Initiative (Ocean Wise)

Join Aaron Purdy to learn all about the whales in our waters! Aaron will discuss tips and tricks for identifying BC’s common cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises), the threats they face, and how Ocean Wise helps to mitigate these threats through research and conservation efforts. He will also describe how you can become a citizen scientist by acting as an observer for the BC Cetacean Sightings Network while out on your next coastal adventure. After this talk, you will have all the tools you need to jump in and do your part to protect BC’s cetaceans!

Aaron joined Ocean Wise in 2019 as the Outreach and Education Lead for the Southern Vancouver Island Cetacean Research Initiative. He works to promote the BC Cetacean Sightings Network, educate BC residents about whale conservation, and coordinate community-led research in the Southern Vancouver Island area. Since completing his BSc in Zoology from the University of Calgary, Aaron has worked both as a researcher and educator in the non-profit sector. He graduated from the University of British Columbia in 2019 with a MSc in Zoology where he studied the diving physiology of Steller sea lions.

Cover image photo credit: Ocean Wise.

December 2021

Pumping with Passion: The Importance of Heart-Based Connection—Savannah Smith and Ebony Welborn of Sea Potential

In December of 2020, Savannah Smith and Ebony Welborn founded Sea Potential. Through youth engagement and strengthening workplace culture within maritime industry businesses, they have been carrying out Sea Potential’s mission to cultivate a full cycle of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) representation in maritime. Through their work and lived experiences, they have learned the importance of fostering heart-based connections to marine environments. Join us as they share why heart-based connections are a key component of career path interest and community stewardship, as well as share tips for how to facilitate experiences that connect the hearts of others in culturally relevant ways.

November 2021

The Elwha Nearshore 10 Years After Dam Removal:  Whats New and Different, and What Looks the Same—Ian Miller, Washington Sea Grant: Coastal Hazard Specialist, Olympic Peninsula

Join Dr. Ian Miller as he provides an update and summary of results from two on-going investigations into the changes in the Elwha Delta ten years and removal of the dams. Seasonal topography and bathymetry surveys conducted in partnership with USGS and Washington Department of Ecology provide insights about how the delta of the Elwha River is continuing to evolve in response to the dam removal. Annual SCUBA-based surveys of algae, invertebrates and benthic fishes, are used to assess if and how the sub-tidal marine community has changed (or not) through and after dam removal.

A skilled science communicator and media spokesperson as well as a trained scientist, Dr. Ian Miller is Washington Sea Grant’s coastal hazards specialist, working out of Peninsula College in Port Angeles. Ian works with coastal communities and public agencies on the Olympic Peninsula to strengthen their ability to plan for and manage coastal hazards, including tsunamis, chronic erosion, coastal flooding and other hazards associated with climate change.

Resources

• Elwha Nearshore Further Reading

October 2021

Oh the stories the beach can tell!—Join Alan Rammer, retired shellfish biologist for WA Department of Fisheries, to learn about beach ecology, geology and history. Alan has always had a keen eye for the most obscure items and the stories they tell. He has explored almost every Washington beach from the mouth of the Columbia River to Tatoosh Island as well as many of the Salish Sea beaches, and will share some of his most fascinating stories that have biological, geological and human history origins. Don’t miss this talk on Monday, October 4th!

Alan grew up exploring the beaches along Monterey, California’s famous Cannery Row then came to WA for college and graduated in 1974 from the U.W with a double major in shellfish biology and invertebrate zoology. Alan worked for the Washington Department of Fisheries in numerous capacities and retired after 36 years in 2009.  He was named national marine educator of the year in 2012 and has not lost his passion for the Marine environment in his retirement.

June 2021

Frozen Sunlight Series: Connecting Ecological Research with Indigenous Knowledge—Janet Clarke, Education Director at the Sitka Sound Science Center.

The Frozen Sunlight series includes easy to ship educational kits for secondary and adult learners. The topics focus on energy transfer in ocean ecosystems by weaving together current ecological research with Alaska Native cultural wisdom.  The first Frozen Sunlight kit titled “Algae Connects Us” includes a beautiful film featuring the perspectives of Sitka Tribe of Alaska cultural liaison, Chuck Miller and University of California, Santa Cruz PhD candidate and marine ecologist, Lauren Bell.  Information about identifying and collecting seaweed is provided and the materials included in the package allow students to collect and press algae for use in collections or art.

Algae Connects Us!—Sitka Sound Science Center video

The Frozen Sunlight series is funded by the Biomedical Learning and Student Training (BLaST) program at University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

Due to technical difficulties, this video recording is unavailable. We apologize for the inconvenience.

May 2021

Seabed Mining: “The Dawn of an Industry” and the need for a precautionary approach—Lee First, Co-Founder of Twin Harbors Waterkeeper, and Liz Schotman, Washington Regional Manager Surfrider Foundation. Washington State’s waters contain known mineral deposits, and there is increasing pressure to begin mining the ocean floor in some areas of the world.  Given the present reality of rising ocean temperatures and acidification, nearshore marine waters and coastal communities along the Pacific do not need another threat. Oregon banned ocean mining in their state waters in 1991.  Attend this presentation to learn why Washington should close their state waters to seabed mining. This step is a necessary precaution for coastal towns and cities where fishing and tourism depend on these valuable but vulnerable waters for their livelihoods.

April 2021

Astonishing Annelids—The COVID-19 pandemic challenged marine educators at all academic levels to provide their students with an engaging on-line educational experience. Dr. Louise Page, Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at the University of Victoria (who was recently recognized by a UVic Teaching Excellence Award), didn’t miss a beat in preparing videos to substitute for the hands-on laboratory section of her Invertebrate Biology course. The decades of Louise’s passion for research and teaching about invertebrates permeate this work. Join us as she presents excerpts from her annelid lab, which showcase the astonishing diversity of morphology, behaviour and lifestyle among annelids.

March 2021

Investigating Crayfish + Freshwater Ecosystems Online—Learn to engage students in fascinating crayfish studies and water quality monitoring in this presentation with partners from The River Mile Network. Janice Elvidge from the National Park Service will team up with Rick Reynolds from Engaging Every Student and Jim Ekins from the University of Idaho Extension Service IDAH2O Master Water Stewards program to step you through student activities including scientific investigations in your local watershed to benefit people and wildlife. Learn methods to monitor native and invasive crayfish, as well as a variety of factors that impact water quality, while meeting the Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core State Standards. Learn about ways to participate with The River Mile’s Crayfish Study project helping biologists and wildlife managers, and how different tools can be used to collect, analyze, and share data and student observations.

Resources from The River Mile Network

• Crayfish Study
• Complete Crayfish Curriculum
• Free Virtual Training
• Crayfish Study Resources
• Sign up for The River Mile Community Virtual Gathering, March 24, 2021 3:30-4:30 pm

Resources from IDAH2O

• IDAH2O Hydrologic Information System interface and interactive map of all sites
• IDAH2O classroom portion—asynchronous, self-paced

Other Resources

• The Pacific Northwest as an emerging beachhead of crayfish invasions: Julian D. Olden | School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences | University of Washington, Seattle

February 2021

Virtual Field Trips:Exploring and Sharing Our Local Ecology—Rosemary Anderson High School science teacher and NAME President, Kay Shoemaker, gave a presentation on how to conduct field trips in these oh-so-atypical times so that you can still engage your students in the wonders and magic of the natural world, even while we’re all sitting in front of computer screens for ten hours a day.

Resources

• Wevideo
• Edpuzzle
• Newsela
• Kahoot!
• Magiscope

January 2021

Kayaking the Salish Sea During a Pandemic—WA-NAME Co-Directors Giovannina Souers (Environmental Education Program Supervisor City of Seattle) and Woody Moses (Highline College Biology Instructor) spent six weeks paddling over three hundred miles through the Salish Sea from West Seattle to the San Juans and back to Hood Canal. Learn what it took to do the trip, the challenges and surprises they faced and how they embraced adventure and uncertainty in the midst of the Covid-19 Pandemic.

December 2020

Monitoring Axial SeaMount: Research techniques for 1500 meters Beneath the Surface—Fawn Custer, CoastWatch Citizen Science Trainer will lead a fun holiday activity to start out the night followed by Bill Hanshumaker, former National Marine Educators Association Rep and OSU Researcher Emeritus talking about monitoring an axial seamount and research techniques for 1500 meters beneath the surface.