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North Olympic Peninsula Skills Center Natural Resources
To provide a program that provides hands-on, relevant natural resources research experience while meeting the needs of and building capacity within individual students and the North Olympic Peninsula region.
openchannels.org
OpenChannels is designed to become a comprehensive source for news, guidance, and community discussion on sustainable practices in ocean planning and management.
River of Kings – Video
Part 1 of 2 part series by Carl Safina on the Nisqually River Restoration.
Salish Magazine
Salish Magazine is a free online magazine that takes inquisitive readers outdoors with visually rich storytelling about features people can see firsthand in our public forests and beaches.
Victoria Sewage Project
The official city site on the project. The latest scoop on the Canadian poop!
WA State Family Forest Fish Passage Program
The Family Forest Fish Passage Program provides funding to small forest landowners to repair or remove fish passage barriers. Download the film.
News Sites
Green Acre Radio on KBCS
Green Acre Radio on KBCS — Sustainability, local food production, restoration & environmental talk radio.
NW Indian Fisheries Commission
The Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission (NWIFC) is a support service organization for 20 treaty Indian tribes in western Washington.
Brinnon Group
Local group opposing Black Point resort
Clam Gardens
Network of researchers exploring First Nation gardening of clams in history, and it’s relationship to today.
Coastal Watershed Institute
“To promote long term, ecological, community based stewardship of marine and terrestrial ecosystems thru scientific research and local partnerships.”
League of Women Voters – Clallam County
a nonpartisan political organization, encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.
League of Women Voters – Jefferson County
The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government, and influences public policy through education and advocacy.
Local Food Access Network
North Peninsula local food org with an emphasis on developing and supporting increased and sustainable capacity for production, distribution, and consumption locally.
North Olympic Salmon Coalition
The mission of the North Olympic Salmon Coalition is to restore, enhance, and protect habitat of North Olympic Peninsula wild salmon stocks and to promote community volunteerism, understanding, cooperation and stewardship of these resources.
Northwest Watershed Institute
NWI’s mission is to provide scientific and technical support to protect and restore fish and wildlife habitats and watershed ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest.
Olympic Environmental Council
The Olympic Environmental Council works on issues related to the environment and health that affect our North Olympic Peninsula communities.
Olympic Park Associates
If you share with us a passion for Olympic National Park, a concern for the Park’s future, and a vision that Olympic National Park should always be a wild and natural place, we invite you to join Olympic Park Associates.
Washington Environmental Council
WEC has been working for a couple of decades on environmental activism. A great group of people actually getting things done.
Whale Trail
Signs along the way to take you to great whale viewing locations
Wild Fish Conservancy
Wild Fish Conservancy seeks to improve conditions for all of the Northwest’s wild fish
Location: Meet at Interpretive Trail at Fort Flagers State Park
Did you know Douglas-fir makes a tasty tea, and cottonwood can ease your aching back? Come take a walk at Fort Flagler with local herbalist J.T. and discover how people and plants help each other thrive.
Presenter: Northwest herbalist J.T. delights in connecting people with plants and watching them fall in love. She gathers herbs from mountain to city to sea and has taught hundreds of students how to identify edible and medicinal plants. J.T. likes to mix it up, incorporating her European and Chinese heritage in her herbal approaches. She teaches in both urban environments (e.g., classes at Dandelion Botanical in Seattle, plant walks with Young Women Empowered) and out in the country (workshops at the Northwest Herbal Faire near the Cascade mountains, on the San Juan islands with Earthwalk Northwest’s ethnobotany program…). Wherever you find her, a class with J.T. offers practical, joyful knowledge for all your outdoor adventures.
Friends of Fort Flagler is a non-profit organization dedicated to the restoring, preserving, and protecting the natural and historic resources of Fort Flagler State Park. Please support our state park by becoming a member, volunteering or donating to our organization. To learn more, visit https://friendsoffortflagler.org/.
Join us to learn about these cute and curious creatures that live throughout the Puget Sound. We’ll be taking a beach walk on East Beach past the Wansboro Battery and discussing the river otter’s life cycle, behavior and where you might find them. If we’re lucky, we may even see one! Bring comfortable shoes, warm clothes and a rain jacket.
Join us to learn about our Southern Resident Orcas, now they are doing, and recent research. Join Friends of Fort Flagler for an in-person presentation at the Fort Flagler hospital and learn about the Southern Resident Orcas at the Hospital.
Brad is an ecologist with the Northwest Fisheries Science Center and is currently studying foraging and habitat use of Southern Resident killer whales and health assessment of harbor and Dall’s porpoises. Previously, Brad worked as a Wildlife Biologist at the National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle, WA. Brad received a Ph.D. from the University of Washington where he worked on the development of improved tag attachment systems for small cetaceans. He also holds an M.S. in Fisheries from the University of Washington and a B.A. in Zoology also from the University of Washington.
Friends of Fort Flagler is a non-profit organization dedicated to the restoring, preserving, and protecting the natural and historic resources of Fort Flagler State Park. Please support our state park by becoming a member, volunteering, or donating to our organization. To learn more, visit https://friendsoffortflagler.org/.
Registration is now open for the Coastal Training Program classes scheduled for September 2022 – December 2022.
All classes are eligible for Certification Maintenance (CM) credits through the American Planning Association and the Academy of Board Certified Environmental Professionals. Members of the Society of Wetland Scientists may also apply class hours toward re-certification.
Waitlist? Sign up for the waitlist if the class you want is full. This lets us know if we need to add an additional class or offer it again in the near future. Did you click the “Confirm” Button? Click the “confirm” button after you fill out the registration form. Otherwise, your registration will not go through. You will immediately receive a confirmation email with your invoice. Sincerely,
Meet Olympic Peninsula Environmental Champions Protecting Forests Join Us in a Conversation on July 21, 7PM via Zoom, RSVP Required
Guest Speakers: Connie Gallant, President, and Patricia Jones, Executive Director, Olympic Forest Coalition (OFCO), and Tim McNulty, Vice President, Olympic Park AdvocatesOlympic Park Advocates is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit citizens conservation organization working to protect the beauty, integrity and biological diversity of Olympic National Park and the Olympic ecosystem. OPA was founded in 1948 to defend the Park against attacks on its spectacular old-growth rain forest valleys. Seven decades later, it continues to work doggedly for increased protection for the Olympics.
The Olympic Forest Coalition (OFCO) promotes the protection, conservation and restoration of natural forest ecosystems and their processes on the Olympic Peninsula. This mission includes monitoring and caring for the rivers, streams and nearshore habitats of the Peninsula to ensure healthy populations of salmon and other wildlife, including threatened and declining species such as the Marbled Murrelet. OFCO has been a major proponent of the Wild Olympics Campaign to increase protected wilderness on the Peninsula.
Spring is in the air, and the Jefferson County Master Gardener Foundation is pleased to announce its annual plant sale will take place on Saturday, May 7.
It’s the first time the sale will be in person since 2019. During the height of COVID, the Foundation pivoted to an online sale format in 2020 and 2021. For this year’s sale on May 7, gardeners will be be able to reconnect in person with fellow plant enthusiasts while shopping the thousands of small trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, ground covers, vegetables, fruits and succulents at the sale.
The event will take place from 9 a.m.–2 p.m. on Saturday, May 7, at the Chimacum High School, 91 West Valley Road, Chimacum.
Shoppers may preview the plant and tree varieties on sale online: jcmgf.square.site/ All plants have been propagated by experienced Master Gardeners on a volunteer basis. Plants may vary in size from the photos shown on the site.
While this story is behind a paywall, worth noting that the Port Townsend Marine Science Center is finally opening their downtown location. Go check it out!
The Port Townsend Marine Science Center will open its doors to the public Friday to show off the completion of the first phase of the nonprofit organization’s move from Fort Worden State Park to downtown. About 50 people attended a crisp outdoor ceremony Wednesday that highlighted the center’s 40-year anniversary and its pledge for conservation and marine stewardship. Brian McLean reports.
OFCO’s president Connie Gallant and Executive Director Patricia Jones will discuss the historic “All the People” case (Conservation Northwest, Washington Environmental Council, Olympic Forest Coalition, et. al. v. Franz), now before the Washington Supreme Court. The case challenges DNR’s narrow interpretation of Washington’s Constitution and federal law in managing trust forest lands. Central to this is whether DNR’s sole fiduciary responsibility is to generate revenue from timber sales or whether it has other obligations to Washington citizens not now being met (e.g., mitigating the adverse effects of climate change).
Washington Environmental Council is partnering with the Port Townsend Marine Science Center to bring this exhibit to the north Olympic Peninsula community. The We Are Puget Sound traveling photo exhibit will be on display at the Marine Science Center’s Flagship store in downtown Port Townsend from December 18, 2021 through February 2022.
The photo series explores people, places, and wildlife through extraordinary images, describes human connections in the past and present, and showcases community members engaged in remarkable efforts that benefit Puget Sound and all of us.
The in-person photo exhibit will inspire and engage people on the Olympic Peninsula to join together and preserve this vital ecosystem and the livelihoods they support by focusing on one action each month from the campaign’s 10 Things You Can Do for Puget Sound.
The exhibit highlights 18 striking images from the book We Are Puget Sound: Discovering and Recovering the Salish Sea (Braided River, 2019). It also features work from 13 regional photographers showcasing individuals who are working to find meaningful solutions to protect the Puget Sound’s waters, wildlife, and the human health and economic prosperity this region supports.
January 8th through February 12. Six Saturdays. 10AM to 12PM
Press Release Contact: Suzanne Eggleston Date: December 7, 2021 Event: Tickets on Sale for 2022 Yard & Garden Virtual Lecture Series Tickets go on sale on December 7 for the Jefferson County Master Gardener Foundation’s 2022 Yard & Garden Virtual Lecture Series. The series will be conducted in a live webinar format, and will run on six consecutive Saturdays from January 8–February 12, 2022.
The series will feature: • Linda Gilkeson, best-selling author of Backyard Bounty: The Complete Guide to Year-Round Organic Gardening in the Pacific Northwest, entomologist, private consultant, and instructor. Linda’s lecture on January 8 will be “Planning Your 12-Month Garden.” • Bess Bronstein, educator, ISA-certified arborist, and horticultural consultant with 35 years of experience in arboriculture, landscape management and garden design. Bess’ lecture on January 15 will be “How to Successfully Prune Any Shrub.” • Eric Lee-Mäder, co-director of the Pollinator Program at the Xerces Society for invertebrate conservation, and author of several books about bees, including Attracting Native Pollinators and Farming with Beneficial Insects. Eric’s lecture on January 22 will be “Bring Back the Pollinators: Sowing Biodiversity for Bees and Beneficial Insects.” • Christina Pfeiffer, author of Pacific Northwest Month-By-Month Gardening: What to Do Each Month to Have a Beautiful Garden All Year, and horticulturist with an emphasis on sustainable and efficient techniques. Christina’s lecture on January 29 will be “What on Earth? Taking Care of Garden Soils.” • David Seabrook, a Jefferson County fire district commissioner, volunteer for the Department of Emergency Management and the Food Systems Unit, Master Gardener, and climate change activist. David’s lecture on February 5 will be “Growing Community Food System Resilience for Uncertain Times.” • James Cassidy, Oregon State University Soil Science instructor for more than 15 years, and faculty advisor for the wildly popular OSU Organic Growers Club. James’ lecture on February 12 will be “Mulches and Crop Rotations.” Each lecture will run from 10 a.m.– noon. Lectures will last approximately 90 minutes, and each event will allow time for the audience to ask questions. The price for the entire six-lecture series is $60. Single-event tickets are available for $12. Tickets may be purchased from yardandgarden.brownpapertickets.com/ Ticket sales help support Jefferson County Master Gardener Program programs. For more information, visit jcmgf.org
The event is cosponsored by Washington State University’s Jefferson County Extension Service.
Join guest speakers Jessica Plumb (award winning filmmaker, “Return of the River”) and Rachel Cardone (international water issues researcher at Stanford) who attended COP26. They observed firsthand all the nations of the world convening in Glasgow, Scotland to agree on policies and plans to ensure for a sustainable future for this planet. Come hear the outcomes and plan what we can do to join in the good work.
Open to Climate on Tap only in the open air Pavilion with socially-distanced tables. Vaccinations and ID required. Food and beverages available including hot cider! Overhead heaters make it cozy! Co-sponsored by Local 20/20 Climate Action, Jefferson County Public Health, and FinnRiver Cidery. This is not a lecture series, but a discussion format with a focus on action taking. For further information email Laura Tucker or call 360-379-4491. Time: 7-8:30pm | Location: FinnRiver Cidery
We’d like to remind you to register by 1:59 p.m. Pacific Time tomorrow, Thursday, May 6, for the third of this year’s virtual Puget Sound Days on the Hill sessions, which will be held on Friday, May 7, from 1:00–2:00 p.m. Pacific Time, hosted by the Puget Sound Partnership and the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission.
At this session, we’ll discuss Puget Sound restoration and protection, salmon recovery efforts, climate change adaptation and mitigation, and infrastructure, among other topics, with Representative Dan Newhouse. We will also host a panel discussion, “What’s Happening in D.C.?,” with Morgan Wilson, director of Governor Inslee’s office in Washington, D.C., and Rich Innes of the Meridian Institute. Wilson and Innes will discuss the appropriations process and give an overview of potential upcoming legislation, such as the infrastructure package.
Representative Newhouse will speak for about 25 minutes, including a Q&A component, beginning at 1:30 p.m.
Advance registration is required.
We will send regular announcements with confirmed speakers for the week as well as a registration link for each event. You can also check https://www.psdoth.org for the latest information.
Week 3:
Friday, May 7, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time
With Representative Dan Newhouse and panelists Morgan Wilson (Governor Inslee) and Rich Innes
An interesting experiment in public discourse starts tonight to bring together a truly random group of Washingtonians to discuss Climate Change and what can be done to bridge the gap between beliefs to find a solution that might be acceptable to all. It’s being supported by some of our legislature. Can this work? As one of the people involved told me, “It’s an experiment being done with a rigorous framework.” Could it fail? Yes. Is it worth doing ? You bet. You can watch the assembly tonight (1/12/21) at 6PM at this link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q1_0VI71Aw\
The WA Climate Assembly will focus on answering the following question:
How can Washington State equitably design and implement climate mitigation strategies while strengthening communities disproportionately impacted by climate change across the State?
People’s Voice on Climate is the initiator and sponsor of the Washington Climate Assembly, the nation’s first climate assembly. Supported by five key State House Committee chairs, this event will gather “our state in miniature” to deliberate and ultimately answer this question: How can Washington State equitably design and implement climate mitigation strategies while strengthening communities disproportionately impacted by climate change across the State?
The Assembly itself is conducted by an independent team hired by a diverse panel of Washingtonians. People’s Voice On Climate will publicize this event and promote the Assembly’s recommendations in the Legislature and elsewhere.\\
A People’s (or Citizens’) Assembly is a democratic process that seeks to answer a question or solve a problem facing a community in a way that fairly represents the interests of people from all walks of life.
An Assemblycan center around any topic; a Climate Assembly is one that centers around the problem of climate pollution.
Assemblies have been used worldwide to help shape the work of governments. At the WA Climate Assembly, members will learn about the issue of climate pollution, take time to discuss the issue and potential solutions with one another, and then make recommendations about what should happen legislatively.
The Assembly is an exciting event in which 80 Washington residents will come together remotely in Winter 2021 to learn about, discuss, deliberate, and recommend climate change solutions for consideration by the State Legislature. Participants will be chosen through a lottery so as to accurately represent the state in terms of demographics such as age, race/ethnicity, geographic distribution, and views on climate change.
We are excited to announce an opportunity for a talented individual to join our team here at the North Olympic Salmon Coalition (NOSC)! NOSC has a reputation as a leader in salmon habitat restoration, education and volunteer programs on the North Olympic Peninsula of Washington State. Please share the attached job description and announcement below via your usual avenues and with any qualified individuals who might be interested.
Position name: Education Program Coordinator
Position location:This is a remote position that will engage virtually and in person (for filming as needed) with NOSC staff and volunteers located in the Port Angeles and Port Townsend areas of the North Olympic Peninsula of Washington State.
Anticipated start: Mid- to late September 2020
Application deadline: All applications are due by email by 12PM PST – Tuesday September 8, 2020
Education Program Coordinator:NOSC is seeking proposals from qualified applicants with experience in online curriculum development and virtual instruction to assist with the adaptation of its Real Learning, Real Work education curriculum to a virtual platform and to execute the online curriculum with students from school districts on the North Olympic Peninsula of Washington State. The Real Learning, Real Work education program teaches middle school students the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills necessary to envision, design, and implement their own salmon habitat restoration projects. Taking on the role of a restoration professional, students learn how to use new tools, take field notes, and practice adaptive management. They also connect with professionals in the fields of science, engineering and natural resource management so they can envision themselves in STEM careers. For more information, visit: https://nosc.org/join-our-team/. Many thanks for helping us get the word out about this exciting opportunity! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Yours sincerely, Catherine MarzyckMembership & Office AdministratorNorth Olympic Salmon Coalition205 W. Patison St. Suite BPort Hadlock, WA 98339Office: (360) 379-8051Web: www.nosc.org
Chris Dunagan writes: “I’m impressed with artists who combine their passion for nature with a message about protecting the environment and how we all have a role to play. This week, I’d like to share winning artwork from two recent contests. One is a poster competition inspired by the “We are Puget Sound” (Water Ways) book and campaign. The other is a project that involves placing whimsical pictures of sea life on storm drains in Kitsap County. (Puget Sound Institute)
This is not about our Peninsula, nor the Pacific NW. But the story how this tiny West Coast tribe, almost wiped out and by most people, assumed dead and gone, have revived themselves and their lands, is a story worth telling. As many of you know, there is a famous “new age” retreat here, primarily by and for wealthy white people, (I only reference the images on their web site that are almost uniformly white) called the Esselen Institute. There is no mention on their web site that their name is derived from the native tribe who’s land they sit on. No honor to the tribe at all.
The coast here is supremely rugged, and the people who chose to live here must also have been very experienced in living in this unique environment. They were, by all accounts, a gentle and peaceful people. Not a warrior tribe. They unfortunately apparently trusted the Spanish who turned against them quite quickly.
Anyone who has visited the coast of Monterey and south, can only imagine what it must have been like being able to subsist off vast amounts of seafood, shellfish and rivers teaming with salmon, along with acorns, camas, and other flora further inland . The rivers there held runs (and still do) of steelhead. According to the Western Rivers Conservancy, who bought the land and donated it to the tribe, “The ranch’s ridgetop grasslands and giant redwoods are ideal feeding and nesting habitat for California condor, and wildlife biologists predict the land will become part of the expanding range of recovery for this endangered bird”
All of this in one of the most hospitable climates outside of Italy. In my mind, it is one of the most beautiful places on earth, and an astonishingly welcome place for human habitation. It is no wonder why these people settled here. Now, a small correction to the incomparable suffering of these people over the last couple of hundred years, as they were driven out of their homes to be enslaved by Spaniards, beaten by priests, and ignored and murdered by whites, looking to settle their land, is being righted.
According to Wikipedia: “About 460 individuals have identified themselves as descendants of the original Esselen people and banded together to form a tribe.” After an extended battle for the ability to be accepted as a tribe, due to the work of the Western Rivers Conservancy, land along the Little Sur river have been bought for them.
We are living in an age of recovery. While recovery of natural habitats is important, as important is the recovery of native peoples to the lands they lived on, in a balance with nature, for thousands of years. Their struggle and their true love of their lands continues to be a guidepost for those of us moving from a culture of imperialism, war, racism and conquest, to one of balance, cultural diversity and peace. The work has barely begun and has a long time before it can be called, “complete”. If ever.
View of Adler Ranch, Big Sur, California Photo by Doug Steakley
The story below would be more accurate if it had said, “…were forcibly removed from their lands and enslaved in Spanish missions.” That is the truth of the matter.
After 250 years, the Esselen tribe has reclaimed their homelands
In 1770, the people of the Esselen Tribe of northern California were forcibly removed from their lands and brought to Spanish missions. But now, after more than 250 years, the Esselen tribe is landless no more.
This week, the Esselen tribe finalized the purchase of a 1,200-acre ranch near Big Sur, along California’s north-central coast, as part of a $4.5 million acquisition that involved the state and an Oregon-based environmental group. The deal signifies a return to their ancestral homelands. It is also a big win for environmentalists as the tribe will conserve old-growth redwoods and endangered wildlife such as the California condor and red-legged frog, as well as protect the Little Sur River, an important spawning stream for the imperiled steelhead trout.
Filed under: education, Environmental Law | Comments Off on The Esselen Tribe of Big Sur regain some of their land -The Optimist Daily and other sources
Where in the world has Greta Thunberg been, while the world has struggled with COVID-19? Putting together her radio broadcast of her remarkable last year on the road. She ties it all together with how climate change and COVID are interrelated, and what must come next. Don’t miss this incredible radio broadcast, but give yourself some time. It’s an hour and a twenty minutes long. You can download it from this link at the BBC. A great production.
Things may look dark and hopeless, but I’m telling you there is hope. And that hope comes from the people, from democracy, from you. From the people who more and more themselves are starting to realize the absurdity of the situation. The hope does not come from politics, business or finance. And that’s not because politicians or businesspeople are evil. But because what is needed right now simply seems to be too uncomfortable, unpopular and unprofitable.
Public opinion is what runs the free world, and the public opinion necessary is today nonexisting, the level of knowledge is too low.
But there are signs of change, of awakening. Just take the metoo movement, blacklivesmatter or the schoolstrike movement for instance. It’s all interconnected. We have passed a social tipping point, we can no longer look away from what our society has been ignoring for so long. Whether it is sustainability, equality, or justice.
I think Pete speaks for many of us, very frustrated at the endless planning and prioritization sessions that the Partnership foists on us. In the end, we need more money on the ground, being spent on a wide range of projects and education of the population.
Hello? Puget Sound Partnership? Do you suppose you could take a little break from meetings and planning and strategizing and round up some ammunition to send my way?
Having just returned from a river rafting trip on the John Day in Oregon, this thought crossed my mind. And of course, someone has recently written about it on the Internet. Enjoy.
While sitting in the front of a canoe on a twisty Alaska creek, my daughter asked to steer closer to the riverbank. She wanted to grab some suds. There, caught in the elbows of fallen trees, were quivering mounds of white foam.
Foam is floating on most Alaska waterways this summer. Years ago, when I first saw yellowish suds on a creek that ran behind my cabin, I thought of something man-made and nasty spilled upstream. But the Pearl Creek foam and other globs seen far from towns are probably natural.
The focal point for environmental news & perspective on the news. Our goal is to help educate and connect the public on the Peninsula. We are not a non-profit so donations are not tax deductible. Maybe someday with your help!
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WA State Emergency Management Division: 1-800-258-5990
National Response Center: 1-800-424-8802
Pacific States & British Columbia: 1-800-OILS-911 (1-800-645-7911)
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Clallam Marine Resources Committee is offering two free oiled wildlife training April 8th and April 15th.