December 31
st
- Fishes & Wishes
Finnriver Cidery, 5:00 - 9:00 pm
Live music, Salmon dinner, Bonfire + art
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January 1
st
- BINGO night kick off
Hilltop Tavern, 7:00 - 9:30 pm
Play games, Win prizes, Support NOSC
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January 11
th
- Planting at Discovery Bay
This 10+ year project included a creek re-meander, engineered log jams, and estuarine restoration.
Be part of the story. Plant trees.
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January 22 & 23 - Planting at Pyhst River w/ Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe
10 acre field reforestation on the rivers edge
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The 2018-2019 Annual Report is here! Our theme for this past year?
We are growing.
Check out
this letter
from Executive Director Rebecca Benjamin, to learn more about new partnerships and our leadership locally and at the state level.
At the Salmon Coalition, we know that to promote robust wild salmon stocks we need to prioritize education, restoration, and celebration. Help us celebrate our shared accomplishments this past year by reading our
Annual Report
. We share updates on riparian recovery, fish passage projects, and our stewardship programs.
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Schedule a time to shop and take your new gear home! 360-379-8051 or
info@nosc.org
Consider adding a
membership
with a merch item to double your impact!
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500 piece puzzle with Discovery Bay restoration project backdrop. Art by Larry Eifert.
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Stay warm this season with salmon gear!
Size & color variety
Sweatshirts,
t-shirts, hats!
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Statewide Salmon Recovery: The RFEG's
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The Salmon Coalition is one of 14 Regional Fisheries Enhancement Group. You may have heard us reference this before, but what does it mean?
Each RFEG works within a geographic region based on watershed boundaries and is a separate, nonprofit organization led by their own board of directors and supported by their members.
The RFEGs create partnerships with local, state and federal agencies, tribes, local businesses, community members, and landowners.
In November, we all met in Forks to share stories and learn from each other. Work sessions ranged from hydraulic modeling to outdoor education activities.
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In the World of WCC: AmeriCorps Updates
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WCC crew at Tamanowas Rock in Chimacum
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The Washington Conservation Corps (WCC) mission is to conserve and enhance the natural resources of Washington while providing meaningful service opportunities to young adults and military veterans.
This is the tenth year the Salmon Coalition has sponsored a WCC Crew. We work with partners across the Olympic Peninsula to provide different opportunities for the crew to get boots on the ground.
The crew has been working closely with the Jamestown Tribe on the Tamanowas Rock trail. Here's an update from Owen, Crew Supervisor, "We improved the trail so tribal elders and others could access the area. We re-established several switch backs and built crib walls to support the trail surface on the steep slopes. We utilized the materials on site like cedar, rock and dirt."
Check out
this awesome video,
made by crew member Torin Blaker, to see what the crew has been up to. You can follow more of Torin's work on instagram, @torin.jpg
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Please join us in welcoming
Nate Roberts
to the Salmon Coalition! Nate joins us as the new Program Assistant and will be based in our Port Angeles office.
Some of you already know Nate from his internship with us earlier this year. We're excited to welcome him back full time to support our Clallam County volunteer programs and restoration projects.
Get to know more about Nate below!
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Growing up in Gig Harbor, I was fortunate to have several acres of forest at my disposal behind my childhood home, and it was in these woods that I developed a keen interest in the natural world. Collecting salamanders, slogging through creeks in search of crayfish, and encountering the seemingly endless varieties of strange and interesting fungi are just a few of the experiences that I look back on with fondness. Around the age of 13, I picked up my first fly rod and instantly became obsessed with all things related to fly fishing. Luckily for me, there was an old homestead with a farm pond teeming with native cutthroat trout just a mile or two down the road and anyone looking for me knew that was where I’d most likely be found.
Although I’m still an avid fisherman, at some point in the last 10 years, my desire to catch fish transitioned to a desire to aid in their recovery. Just a few years after receiving my initial degree in Elementary education, I went back to school for a degree in Fisheries and Wildlife Sciences, where I specialized in wetland/riparian restoration. I believe it’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
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How did you first hear about NOSC?
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The final component of my degree was an internship with an organization involved in riparian restoration and salmon recovery. At the time, I was living in Southern California, but my goal was to get back to my home state of Washington. While back in Gig Harbor on vacation, I had a conversation with a neighbor who also happened to be a fisheries biologist. He suggested I look into the RFEGs (Regional Fisheries Enhancement Groups), and mentioned one group, the North Olympic Salmon Coalition, that he knew was involved in some exciting restoration projects on the Olympic Peninsula. I took his advice, did some investigating and immediately knew that NOSC was exactly the type of organization I’d like to be associated with. Shortly after contacting them to inquire about the possibility of an internship, they responded positively, and the rest is history.
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You interned with NOSC January-April 2019. What did you do in this role and what was your experience like?
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My internship was an incredible experience. Part of what made it so enjoyable was being involved in several different aspects of what NOSC does. One of my primary duties was assisting on the Hoko Fish Passage Prioritization Project, which essentially involved hiking up remote, often unnamed tributaries of the Hoko and assessing whether culverts presented barriers to fish passage. If a culvert was determined to barrier, it was placed on a prioritized list for removal based on how much habitat would be accessible to fish once remedied.
I also assisted in several volunteer-based plantings on local salmon streams. These were very rewarding, as they gave me the opportunity to meet and interact with community members from all walks of life, but each with the common goal of healthy salmon runs and the habitat needed for survival.
Perhaps the most rewarding role I had was assisting in implementing salmon-based curriculum to local 7th grade students. Getting kids outside planting trees and educating them about the importance of healthy riparian habitat is something that will pay dividends down the road. I get a kick of thinking about these kids returning to the areas they’ve planted 20 or 30 years into the future and seeing salmon spawning in habitat they personally had a hand in restoring.
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What are you looking forward to about your job?
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I’m truly excited to be part of the NOSC team once again! I’m looking forward to helping NOSC grow their footprint to areas of the Peninsula with habitat in need of restoration. I’m also looking forward to meeting many more community members who value salmon and the role they play in healthy ecosystems. Perhaps what I’m looking forward to the most is seeing restoration from the initial planning phase to completion, and witnessing salmon return to habitat that was once inaccessible.
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Is there anything else you would like to share?
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Beyond salmon and fly fishing, I have several other interests. These include: skiing, backpacking, botany and plant propagation, lapidary (cutting and polishing stones), and philosophizing with my cat Blue.
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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
.
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Give Us Your Feedback
Questions or Comments? Let us know what you think!
outreach@nosc.org
360.379.8051
www.nosc.org
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