Earth Day!
Finnriver Cidery
April 22nd
Time: 12 - 4 pm
Celebration of Science
Port Angeles Pier
April 28th
Time: 10 - 4 PM
Olympic Fly Fishing Meeting
619 E. 4th St., Port Angeles
May 7th
Time: 6 - 8 PM
Trivia Night
Wind Rose Cellar
May 10th
Time: 6 - 8 PM
Marrowstone Fundraiser
Marrowstone Vineyards
May 22nd
Time: 5-8 PM
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Education Season Wraps Up
Real Learning Real Work
On Monday, April 23rd, Chimacum 7th grade students wrapped up their last day in our Real Learning Real Work education program! Over the past school year 200 students in Jefferson and Clallam County have worked alongside real restoration professionals at restoration sites, learning the techniques they use everyday.
Students performed a variety of tasks from developing plot maps, taking soil samples, identifying common trees and shrubs, answering questions about why plants are vital for salmon habitat, to tree plantings and invasive removal!
Chimacum 6th Grade Potting Day
On Tuesday, April 24th, Chimacum 6th grade students joined NOSC at their Native Plant Nursery to learn about the salmon habitat needs, climate change, and potting native shrubs and trees for the nursery. The Salmon Coalition is about more than just salmon recovery,it's about ecosystem recovery!
NOSC is ALWAYS looking for v
olunteers to help in the field.
Contact Kory at [email protected] if you would like to volunteer at events like this!
Funding provided by the Jefferson County Community Foundation (JCCF) and local community members like you.
Upcoming Event!
Wine Tasting & Pasta Dinner
Join us on May 22nd, from 5 - 8 PM at Marrowstone Vineyards in support of habitat restoration and outdoor education!
The event will feature a tour of Marrowstone Vineyards, updates on our restoration and education work, a chance to meet the owners, and the opportunity to learn about and sample wine made with grapes from a Salmon Safe Farm.
Welcome to Our New Washington Conservation Corps (WCC) Member!
Meet Kory, the New Education & Outreach Associate
Kory grew up in Minnesota flipping over rocks for bugs, building forts, and digging holes in the soil. He spent much of his childhood in the green places of the Midwest before migrating west for college at Montana State University (MSU). While at MSU Kory skied a hundred days a year, worked in a soil lab, fell in love with conservation and educating the next generation of environmental stewards. He also
worked as a campaign organizer for American Rivers, taught soil classes, and was Vice-President of a student organization looking to unify students behind local sustainability. In spring of 2017, he earned a
B.S. in Land Rehabilitation and Soil Science. Kory then
embarked on a journey down the west coast of the U.S. via bicycle. After his 2,000 mile bike tour, he decided to take root in the Olympic Peninsula and further his passion for environmental education. In his spare time you can find Kory up at Hurricane Ridge, or searching for surfable waves out in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Spotlight: Robert Van Etten
Sept. 2, 1924 - Oct. 17, 2017
The late Robert Van Etten was an avid birder and watcher of wildlife. Bob took notes nearly every week for 31 years on what he saw flying and swimming around Kilisut Harbor from his backdoor balcony.
Bob had formal training in wildlife surveys as both a citizen and an employee of Department of Fish and Wildlife. He participated in his first bird count in 1942 for Cornell University. He
surveyed the waterfront in Michigan,
and worked as
a professional bird estimator where he counted ducks from a hot air balloon in New Jersey. People who met Bob said his passion for wildlife was contagious.
From 1983 through 2014, Bob recorded data on the wildlife and weather outside his door. Most
of the data in Bob's collection was observed from 310 Smith Road, Nordland, WA 98358, a property with an expansive 180 degree view of Kilisut Harbor.
NOSC
Stewardship Coordinator, Sarah Doyle, had the pleasure of meeting with Mr. Van Etten while writing a grant to fund the Kilisut Harbor Restoration Project. Bob provided her with invaluable information on bird species in Kilisut Harbor and a chance to meet some of the bald eagles that he greeted from his back deck. "His passion for birds was apparent and is a source of inspiration for the conservation work that we do," said Sarah.
To aid in the preservation of Bob's 30+ year data, NOSC put out the word to find a volunteer transcriber. Dana Olsen took up the call, and spent 234 hours entering data into Excel spreadsheets. This data will be shared with other organizations and used for research and reference to aid local management.
Interview with Dana Olsen
NOSC Volunteer and Bird Data Transcriber
A scanned excerpt from Bob's journal from 1983.
Hi, Dana! Thank you for taking the time to interview with us. How did you first get interested in transcribing Bob's bird data?
I got interested in transcribing the bird data as soon as I saw NOSC was looking for a transcriber. I had previously worked on transcribing handwritten labels from helicorder records (seismographs make these on the drum) from as early as 1912 to the 1940s. I love working with raw data. Not only can I make my own conclusions first hand, but I get a sense of who the writer was on how the notes were written.
Did you think of it as a worthwhile project - transcribing this 30 years of written data into digital format? Why?
I thought it was an incredible project. I really saw how much change has happened to the environment in the last few decades - not only with the numbers of birds, but the weather as well, and how this affected the environment. (For example, the number of red tides and their occurrences seemed to increase). One entry I still remember was of seeing a deer swim across Kilisut Harbor at the end of December when there had been snowfall!
Had you ever met Bob before?
No, I never got the chance to meet him. While transcribing his notes on gardening and what he saw, I would think "Wow - I want to get to know this guy". He loves to garden and watch wildlife. Tranquil - that's the word that comes to mind for him. And he was clearly so devoted. His first record was in 1983 or 1984, and continued until 2014. He always made an effort to write a record every couple of weeks to a month for 30 years. There weren't many gaps, and at most they were only for a few weeks. He always wrote the reason for the absence. He did this every year, nearly every day, in week to month intervals. That regularity makes you know how passionate he was about the bird record. Just transcribing and reading his notes made me want to know more about birds.
Even though I never got to meet him in person, his passion for birds was still infectious.
It made me want to do my own research on the birds that live in the area! It was contagious. Even though I was just reading and typing up the raw data, I could tell he was so devoted. From one scientist to another, you could just tell how passionate he was for being that dedicated. And he wasn't taking records for a job or anything- it was just his own records. His own enjoyment. Passion. I mean, I already liked working with data, but being able to see first hand the evidence of his passion in his work... that made it worth every day.
How did you feel about this project after you had been working on it for a long while? Did it become monotonous? Or, perhaps, more important?
It became so important to me. I enjoyed every moment of it. (My cat Nowi even helped me many a day when I worked on it at home). I knew from the beginning that it was priceless with it being 30 years back-to-back of detailed records, not only of the birds but of other wildlife, the weather, how the plant life and his garden were doing.
As I got closer to the present from 1983, I began to see a trend of bird variety and numbers decreasing in the area, a decrease in seal and otter sightings, and an increase in red tide occurrences. The summers also seemed to be getting steadily hotter and dryer. We can truly see how much climate change in the last few decades has affected the local environment. I hope others see this importance, as well.
Thank you, Dana, for your contribution to preserving Bob's data! It is rare to find such a detailed account of the environment in the same location over such a long period. Your service has been invaluable, to us and the community.
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Base funding for the RFEG program comes from a grant from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program, a portion of state commercial and recreational fishing license fees, and excess egg and carcass sales administered by the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife
If you have questions or comments about anything in our newsletter, please don't hesitate to contact us.
360.379.8051
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