The Northwest Straits Commission, which since 1998 has run the nationally-recognized conservation initiative, the Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative has opened it’s 2019 conference. The conference brings together scientists and community volunteers in seven counties in northwest Washington. Due to space limitations it was a limited audience but they will be publishing Powerpoints & Audio taping of many of these sessions.
During this conference, the participants get to share their expertise and projects, restoring and educating county citizens and politicians in their local locales.
The conference attendees will participate in field trips, roundtable worksessions, 
The Northwest Straits Initiative’s unique and innovative approach combines sound science and ecosystem perspective together with citizen energy and entrepreneurship to improve efforts to save Puget Sound.
This was the agenda.
| Friday, November 15 | ||
| 9:30 AM – 10:30 AM | Field trip: Howarth Park (optional) Hosted by the Snohomish MRC, led by Bob Hillman |
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| 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM | Northwest Straits 101 (optional)
Dr. Lucas Hart, Director, Northwest Straits Commission Don Hunger, Executive Director, Northwest Straits Foundation |
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| 12:30 PM – 1:00 PM | Welcome and opening remarks
Alan Clark, Chair, Northwest Straits Commission Anne Murphy, President, Northwest Straits Foundation Sarah Brown, Chair, Snohomish MRC |
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| 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM | Tying it all together: the impact of our collective actions
Dr. Tessa Francis, Puget Sound Institute Dr. Ron Thom, Northwest Straits Commission Dr. Tom Mumford, Marine Agronomics Moderator: Dana Oster, Northwest Straits Commission staff |
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| 2:30 PM – 3:00 PM | Room check-in and break | |
| 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM | Musings on habitat loss and restoration in Puget Sound
Dr. Tish Conway-Cranos, WA Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Moderator: Lisa Kaufman, Northwest Straits Foundation staff |
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| 4:00 PM – 4:15 PM | Lessons learned from painting Fishes of the Salish Sea
Ray Troll, Artist |
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| 4:15 PM – 4:30 PM | Remarks from Senator Liz Lovelett Introduced by Tom Cowan, Northwest Straits Commission |
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| 4:30 PM | ||
| 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM | Reception and networking
Podcast: OCTOPOD – Open Communications for The Ocean Raye Evrard and Allie Brown
Book signing: Cruisin’ the Fossil Coastline |
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| 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM | Dinner and Keynote Speaker
Welcome – Chairman Shawn Yanity, Stillaguamish Tribe of Indians Environmental Leadership Award Deep Time and the Salish Sea |
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| Saturday, November 16
Location: Courtyard by Marriott Ballroom |
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| 8:45 AM – 9:00 AM | Tying it all together – summary results
Dr. Tessa Francis, Puget Sound Institute |
| 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM | Building community connections
Cheryl Lowe, Jefferson MRC staff Rebecca Benjamin, North Olympic Salmon Coalition Dr. Julia Parrish, UW Coastal Observation & Seabird Survey Team Moderator: Sasha Horst, Northwest Straits Commission staff |
| 10:30 AM – 10:40 AM | Remarks from Representative Debra Lekanoff Introduced by Tom Cowan, Northwest Straits Commission |
| 10:40AM – 10:50 AM | Break |
| 10:50 AM – 11:50 AM | Climate change and the blue carbon revolution
Dr. John Rybczyk, Western Washington University |
| 11:50 AM – 12:00 PM | Remarks from US Representative Suzan DelBene
Introduced by Christina Koons, San Juan MRC and Northwest Straits Commission |
| 12:00 PM – 1:15 PM | Lunch – buffet |
| 1:15 PM – 2:15 PM | Transboundary cooperation in killer whale conservation
Dr. Rob Williams, Oceans Initiative Moderator: Ginny Broadhurst, Salish Sea Institute |
| Day 2: continued on next page | |
| 2:15 PM – 2:45 PM | MRC Awards
Presented by: Nan McKay, Northwest Straits Commission/Foundation Anne Murphy, President, Northwest Straits Foundation |
| 2:45 PM – 3:00 PM | Closing announcements |
Filed under: environmental education, Environmental Science, Puget Sound | Tagged: environment, learning, NW Straits Foundation, NW Straits Intiative, Puget Sound, science |
