3 Crabs Walking Tour
We invite members, volunteers and donors to join us for a tour or our 3 Crabs Restoration Project!
October 11th, 11-1pm
Work in progress aerial photo by Matt Heins
Our Project Manager,
Kevin Long, has been busy this summer managing construction and
large-scale ecosystem recovery
at t
he 3 Crabs Restoration Project.
The project is located at the mouth of Meadowbrook Creek in the Dungeness River Delta and will r
estore
critical estuarine habitat for chinook, chum, pink, steelhead and bull trout. In total,
ecological function of over 80 acres of coastal
wetlands will be improved. Project components include restoration of a ½ mile of stream channel, removal of shoreline armoring, creation of estuarine habitat in the area of the former 3 Crabs restaurant, relocation of the roadway to increase tidal connection, and creation and restoration of tidal lagoons.
Join Kevin for a Walking Tour:
October 11, 11-1pm;
You're Lookin' Swell, Dawley
Sequim Bay restoration on the Dawley Property is complete!
Before and after pictures from the Dawley shoreline
In August, we had the chance to put an official DONE stamp on our Sequim Bay shoreline restoration project. A big thank you to the Salmon Recovery Funding Board and the
United States
Fish and Wildlife Service.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service owns the Dawley Property which had a beach cabin, bulkhead, creosote pilings, a dock, and 200 tires on the shoreline. Project Manager Kim Clark oversaw the project this summer, which involved removing the structures and armoring from the nearshore.
With tires and concrete removed from the beach, potential forage fish spawning habitat has been restored. Forage fish, such as sand lance surf smelt and herring, are a main prey items for salmon. Restoring the natural erosion processes of this beach will additionally allow sediment transport to the mouths of Jimmy-come-lately and Dean creeks, building their estuaries and restoring resiliency.
26th Annual Meeting
and Celebration, a Success!
Fish and Pie at Finnriver Orchard and Cider Garden
Salmon Coalition chums gathered for a spirited Annual Meeting on September 7th at the Finnriver Orchard & Cider Garden. The program included project updates from Stewardship Coordinator Sarah Doyle, recognition of our fabulous Washington Conservation Corps Crew (three cheers for the WCC!), debut of our new education video promoting our 7th Grade
Real Learning, Real Work curriculum, and a financial update from Executive Director Rebecca Benjamin. Overviews of our projects, and information about our current funding shortfalls, can be found in
previous newsletters.
The Salmon Coalition Board of Directors honored Rebecca for her 10 years of fearless leadership, and Board President Jean Erreca also shared his thoughts on why he chooses this organization to invest in the local environment and community. Thank you to all who braved the early rain showers; and for those who couldn't make it, catch up with Salmon Coalition staff at the 3 Crabs Member Tour in October!
Why I Give
By Jean Erreca
|
|
planting trees and having fun doing it
photo by Rebecca Benjamin |
|
I give to North Olympic Salmon Coalition for the same reason I give to several other organizations, because I identify and believe in their mission and it's a good feeling knowing I can help. I love living on the Olympic Peninsula with wild fish in our streams and clean shoreline beaches. Wild fish thrive as a result of healthy rivers and marine environments and NOSC is directly involved in restoring both. Our forests, rivers and streams depend on fish returning to spawn, die and leave their nutrients for the entire ecosystem and the Salmon Coalition's work is extremely important to keep that cycle alive.
Very important, too, is the education of the next generation of restoration professionals and volunteers. The NOSC "Real Learning, Real Work" program teaches 6th and 7th graders from local schools about the environment and enables them to help, hands on, in the field. It's pretty wonderful to see kids get excited about learning, planning, planting trees and having fun doing it. I recall how I was influenced at about the same age and it stuck with me for the rest of my life. It's rewarding to know this experience will be one they'll remember for a long time.
I love this organization and plan to continue volunteering for a long time and I hope you will
join me.
Jean Erreca
Farewells
With the close of summer, we say farewell to
Project Manager, Kim Clark and our WCC Team
Kim shows off her heavy equipment at the Dawley Property during our Sequim Bay Shoreline Restoration Project
Port Angeles Project Manager Kim Clark is moving on to find new adventures in work/family/life balance. She has taken a work from home, part-time position with University of WA, allowing her to finish up an MA degree and spend more time with her busy three-year old. She was with us at the Salmon Coalition for just over a year, but in that time she has left a lasting impact. Some of her achievements included relocating our nursery to its fabulous new location in the FInnriver Orchard, writing several grants to secure funding for Hoko River projects, and managing construction of the Dawley Shoreline Restoration Project.
Kim was an incredible asset to our team, and we're all very sad to be losing her as a coworker. Best of luck to you Kim, see you out on the trails!
WCC Individual Placement Emily Bishop finishes up her year with us
Emily, our independent, hard-working IP
photo by Charles Espey
It is always hard to see another outstanding IP transition away from their 12-months with us. Emily was no exception.
Emily jumped at the opportunity to assist the Salmon Coalition in our monitoring of restoration sites and to develop our monitoring plans for these projects. Her excitement for the science behind the restoration work we do was transferred to the 6th, 7th and 8th grade students that she taught.
We are especially proud of her management of our native plant nursery. She spent an afternoon building a potting bench for our volunteers to use during out potting parties. The finished product, a beautiful wooden potting table with lower shelves to store pots, is very impressive. This bench is a lasting symbol of her time here. It will benefit our volunteers for years to come. Emily has excited us all for other projects that could be developed to make this nursery the pride and joy of our organization. She really made that space come alive.
From all of us here at the Salmon Coalition: Thank you for all that you have built and accomplished this year! We know you will go on to do great things in the field of biology and feel confident you have inspired other young women to take the same career path. We wish you the best in your new position conducting salmon spawner surveys for the Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe!
Thanks for all your hard work!
Best of luck to Angel, Anna, Gabby, Stephen, and Sammy in their next endeavors
A GIANT thank you to this year's Washington Conservation Corps Crew! These young folks accomplished
an incredible amount of salmon restoration in the past year.
Through days that were long and cold, and days that were long and wet, these champion chums exemplify what it means to serve your community. Thank you for all that you accomplished, we could not do what we do without your service. See the awesome video chronicling their year of service on Facebook. We promise it is worth the click.
Volunteer Spotlight
That rare moment when Tod is not behind a camera.
photo by Charles Espey
1. How did you first hear about NOSC and what encouraged you to volunteer?
Having recently retired from teaching, I was looking to involve myself in a local nonprofit working in salmon and habitat restoration. I took the Watershed Stewards class through WSU last fall and had the opportunity to meet Reed Aubin and view chum spawning at the Illahee Preserve. That did it!
2. You made the spectacular new education video, what was that process like?
Being a former writing teacher, working in video is akin to composing a paper for publication: a preliminary outline leads to a rough draft, which then goes through a series of revisions, culminating with publication. This project was unique because it involved three cameras, a wide variety of weather and lighting conditions and crafty editing to even out the differences in cameras. Chrissy McLean and I met often to design the final piece, and tweak it for content and flow. Of course, the most fun for me was visiting local streams in search of spawning salmon and pockets of fry with my GoPro camera in an underwater housing attached to a twelve foot telescoping pole.
3. You have a background in education, what strengths do you see in the NOSC education program?
The best of teaching and learning occurs when we teach for a deeper level of understanding in an enriched context. Then the memories persist, and can be applied beyond the original experience. We all know this. It's what we best remember from our years in school. And it is why the education program at NOSC is important and powerful, and a model that deserves to be shared nationally. Students act as if they were environmental stewards, having to weigh multiple variables in a complex interactive system, then make choices. It's not simple, and typically leads to more questions that answers.
4. What do you think are some of the biggest challenges facing environmental educators?
From my perspective and experience, the biggest challenge facing environmental educators here in the Pacific Northwest (and everywhere) is the profound influence of screen time in a child's life. Period. While I have worked with many families who intentionally unplug to spend time in nature, it has been shown that despite the location, whether suburban Seattle or Neah Bay, children are spending increasing time attached to devices, their attention narrowed, occasionally addicted. It is foremost the role of the environmental educator to create opportunities to walk in the natural world long enough to experience scale (and our own nothingness) and a deep sense of wonder.
5. Where's your favorite place to go to experience wild salmon?
I don't have a favorite place. What is most remarkable to me is the variation of species and timing just amongst our local streams. That said, seeing battleship-sized Chinook roaring up the Elwha has been one of life's great experiences. I spent many days filming on the Grey Wolf last fall, deeply moved by the number of shipwrecked and decaying pink carcasses, contributing their bodies to the life of the river. Very moving. I've thought to spend every fall exploring another northern river to witness the great salmon returns in British Colombia and Alaska. What better way to spend my retirement years, in waders and an underwater camera, slogging along in the shallows of a wild river.
6. Anything else you'd like to share?
The work that NOSC is doing and has been doing for years deserves wide recognition. It is the definition of good work: work that is excellent in a technical sense; work that is personally engaging and leads to a feeling of "flow;" and work that is morally and ethically good, toward making this world a better place. We all need to be reminded of this.
|
