Sound Waters 2010 - February 6

Welcome to Sound Waters 2010

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Held annually since 1994, Sound Waters provides a "one-day university for all" with presentations and displays about the natural history and people history of our island environment.

Sound Waters is a project of Island County Beach Watchers, a program of the WSU Extension. Each year we begin work in May, to pull together a diverse and interesting set of speakers for our audience of over 500 people.

Please look at this index of selected articles, many written by Dan Pedersen, which highlight some of the presenters and their topics.

The Sound Waters Central website provides full information on the schedule, classes and presenters.

Registrations will be accepted (by mail and online) beginning January 4th.

Free showing of 'A Sea Change' - 7 pm, Saturday, Feb. 6

2009-12-07T12:09:00.000-08:00

Sven Huseby, on-location in Norway during filming of A Sea Change, the first film about ocean acidification.

Photo: Daniel de la Calle

A world without fish? It seems unthinkable but now appears likely unless worldwide carbon emissions are cut dramatically.

"A Sea Change", the award-winning film which has captivated audiences around the world, will be shown starting at 7 pm in the fellowship hall of Coupeville United Methodist Church, 608 N. Main Street. On hand to introduce the film and lead a discussion afterwards will be Dr. Richard Feely of the National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration and University of Washington. The event is sponsored by Island County Marine Resources Committee. Admission is free.

The film documents the personal journey of Sven Huesby, a retired Norwegian school teacher and descendant of commercial fishermen, in his quest to understand what is happening to the world’s oceans. He discovers that excess carbon dioxide is dissolving in the world’s oceans, changing seawater chemistry and in ways that threaten the entire marine food chain.

To learn more about this powerful film, see www.aseachange.net

To learn more about ocean acidification, attend Dr. Feely's presentation at Sound Waters.

An Island Charmer – That Goofy Guillemot

2009-12-05T16:22:00.000-08:00

This article was written for Frances' presentation at Sound Waters 2009, but provides good background information. This year, she will be presenting: "Birding from Our Shores and Bluffs" (A2)

The beaches and waters around Whidbey Island offer summer breeding and winter feeding to many seabirds. Through photos and videos we will track the yearly cycle of guillemots, those lively, red-footed clowns of our summer beaches. And we’ll discover how our island waters attract murres, murrelets, auklets and the occasional puffin.

Author and naturalist Frances Wood has been studying Pigeon Guillemots of Whidbey Island since 2002. Along with volunteers from Whidbey Audubon she has conducted a yearly survey of the approximately 900 guillemots that breed on Whidbey. She is the author of three books including Brushed by Feathers: A Year of Birdwatching in the West. Wood writes an award-winning birding column in local newspapers and has contributed over 100 programs for BirdNote, which airs daily on public radio.

Adapted from an Article by Dan Pedersen
Published in the Whidbey Examiner

Every spring, Whidbey Island's icon seabird goes apartment-hunting. It is the first step in a journey that typically ends in August with many baby birds tumbling 100 feet down a cliff and walking to the water.

Residents around Penn Cove and the west side of Whidbey watch the clownish, red-footed adult Pigeon Guillemots flying back-and-forth toward the rims of the higher, erosional bluffs, says Frances Wood of Whidbey Audubon Society. The birds look for existing holes several feet deep in which to feel reasonably safe from predators while raising one or two chicks during the summertime.

In April and May, people walking the beach observe groups of Guillemots standing on rocks just offshore, billing (more-or-less kissing), flapping their wings and putting on a show of courtship. June finds most of the Guillemots moving into the burrows to incubate their eggs, which will hatch in July.

Wood, along with Phyllis Kind of the Marine Resources Committee (MRC), has been leading a breeding study of Guillemots for several years. "Thanks to the support of Whidbey Audubon and the MRC we have learned a great deal about these playful, entertaining birds," she says. About 1,000 Guillemots typically reside in local waters, of which many will breed in shoreline colonies. In addition to burrows, Guillemots find places to nest in the rocky crags of Deception Pass and the old pier at Keystone, two especially good spots to observe them with binoculars. They are easily recognized by their black, pigeon-like profile and white wing patches as they swim in groups offshore.

Guillemots are superb underwater swimmers, using their wings to propel themselves 150 feet deep for food. "Flying is a different story," Wood says. "They are somewhat clumsy, often coasting to a water-landing that amounts to a 'splat.'"

When the eggs start to hatch in about four weeks, Audubon volunteers take up their posts nearby to wait and watch. They watch for adult birds to deliver fish to the burrows, revealing how many breeding sites are "active" with chicks. In the waters around Whidbey the adult Guillemots catch mostly Blennies and Sculpins to feed their young. To volunteer to help in the survey, e-mail Frances Wood at wood@whidbey.com.

Breeding is tricky, Wood emphasized. Only about 1/3rd of the adults breed. Those that do breed lay only one or two eggs. Predators such as raccoons, crows and other birds will try to reach into the burrows and eat the eggs or chicks. Too much human disturbance can stop the whole process in its tracks.

"The greatest threat, by far, is dogs running loose on the beach," Wood says. "They often chase and put stress on the birds, causing them to move offshore, away from the burrow and their young. The adult birds' instinct is to save themselves from danger, so if this happens too often they will simply give up and leave." She asks dog owners to keep their dogs on leash to give the birds a chance.

But perhaps the most remarkable part of the Guillemot breeding story is how it ends. Wood explains:

"In about August, when the fledglings are ready to leave, they walk to the opening of their burrow and tumble down the cliff to the beach. They can't fly. They won't be able to fly for about two weeks. After falling and rolling about 50 or 100 feet down the face of the cliff, they pick themselves up, walk across the beach, get into to the water and swim happily away."

Masters of the Sky – The Birds of Whidbey

2009-12-05T16:19:00.000-08:00

This article was written for the Johnsons' talk at Sound Waters 2009. Their talk this year is "Hummingbirds of Whidbey Island" (C4), but the background material continues to be relevant.

Excerpts from an Article by Dan Pedersen
Published in The Whidbey News-Times and South Whidbey Record

Publishing stunning photography books of Whidbey Island birds is not what Craig and Joy Johnson do for a living. It is what they do for fun.

The authors of Our Puget Sound Birds and Habitat are quick to point out their real livelihood is commercial watercolor art and illustration of maritime vessels. They work from a small woodland home near Freeland, where they could not help noticing the wild birds all around. Curiosity took them in a direction they could not have predicted. "We started photographing the birds to help us identify them," Craig Johnson said.

Putting their passion for birds together with Craig's background in graphic arts and Joy's talents as a writer, the Johnsons took a leap of faith and self-published 1,000 copies of a modest book, "Our Puget Sound Backyard Birds." It was soon followed by a second, "Our Puget Sound Backyard Birds II." Their third and latest is a 100-page, full-color paperback that sells for $25 in island bookstores and wild bird shops. The photography is breath-taking. As with the earlier volumes, many of the photos in this one were taken in familiar Whidbey Island settings.

"People tell me they had no idea all these birds were out there," Craig Johnson says. "I am using the book as a tool to get these birds in front of people who might not normally notice them."

Designing and publishing books adds a big workload to an already demanding job, Johnson admits. "But it is well worthwhile if it helps others discover these fabulously specialized creatures and how they adapt to their habitat."

The Johnsons will share remarkable close-up images when they present "Birds of Whidbey Island," one of more than 50 classes offered to the public at the one-day Sound Waters University, on the campus of Coupeville middle and high schools.

Sound Waters classes are presented by a cross section of authors, educators, enthusiasts and experts. The Johnsons are typical in that their enthusiasm is infectious and their passion for birds goes well beyond photography. Craig Johnson worries that habitat loss poses a great threat to many species of birds living and breeding on Whidbey Island. "Working with Whidbey Audubon as conservation co-chair is helping me dig into those issues, though I have much to learn," he says.

The Johnsons work as a team. Craig does the photography, design and watercolors. Joy does the writing and also helps spot the birds while Craig is concentrating on the camera. Since they do not consider books their actual livelihood, they donate the proceeds from book sales to wildlife preservation and conservation work.

People of the Coast Salish Sea

2009-12-05T16:17:00.000-08:00

What does it mean to be part of the culture of Puget Sound’s Salish peoples? To Swinomish representative Larry Campbell, the way in which one thinks about this question reveals something about the answer.

Asked by a non-Indian what it took to be "a good tribal person," he asked his audience to put down their pens, stop taking notes and just listen thoughtfully.

His advice, said Patricia Green, an Earthwatcher Teacher Fellow in the audience, was to: "Listen with an open heart. When the time comes, it will come to you."

Campbell is historical preservation officer for the LaConner-based Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, one of many tribes comprising the greater Puget Sound Salish community. He has devoted 30 years to tribal work and is involved in the regulatory aspects of cultural and archaeological resources in the Swinomish Tribe’s usual-and-accustomed areas. Over his long career, Campbell has served on many tribal committees concerned with the interrelationships of tribal, local, regional, national and international governmental programs. He speaks often on inter-governmental relations, cultural, spiritual and historical issues.

Patricia Green, of Earthwatch, said Campbell calls himself fortunate because he is not only Swinomish but is related to several other tribes in the region. This is often the case among Salish peoples through intermarriage, Campbell explained. His background includes Swinomish, Upper Skagit, S’Klallam, Samish and Colville. Tribal culture assures that members take care of one another in good times and bad.

The Swinomish have always been a fishing people, Campbell said. In times of abundance, people share. In times of scarcity, they help one another.

Salish culture places an especially high value on learning from tribal elders, he said. "They never tell us what to do, but they suggest ways that it has been done in the past and how to think about it," Green quoted him as saying.

The Swinomish people have lived in Puget Sound for thousands of years. Family groups occupied permanent villages and also had “usual and accustomed areas” from which they harvested seafood and shellfish, berries, roots, cedar, minerals and other necessities of life. They also had areas for spiritual activities.

Oh, Sailor, Beware ...

2009-12-05T16:16:00.001-08:00

Island County waters present some special challenges for boaters, sailors, kayakers and others. Strong tides and currents, brisk winds, especially rough patches, active shipping lanes, rocks, shallows, fog and a whole set of hazards at Deception Pass are just a few that require local knowledge and wise preparation.

Doug Bishop knows these hazards first hand from years of exploring local waters. A boater since 1976, he has been teaching boating skills and safety to students since 1996. The retired chief financial officer from Whidbey General Hospital holds an advance pilot rating with the Deception Pass Power Squadron. He has taught seamanship, rules of the road, piloting and navigation, local knowledge, and cruising in Canada.

Bishop will share information on the tides and currents of Puget Sound, the effects and hazards of wind on currents, the roughest waters to watch out for, predicting when rough waters will occur, hydraulic currents and Deception Pass hazards, predicting safe passage, the two main fog types, crossing shipping lanes, rocks and shallow areas, and some practical safety suggestions.

Marine Mammals of Puget Sound

2009-12-05T16:12:00.000-08:00

This article was written for Sandy's talk at Sound Waters 2009, but provides relevant background material. This year Sandy will give a 3 hour class on Marine Mammal Stranding.

Learn about the natural history of our local marine mammals, whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals and sea lions. Learn how we are negatively affecting their habitat and why they are stranding on our beaches. Instructor Sandy Dubpernell has been collecting data on stranded marine mammals for the National Marine Fisheries Service/ NOAA since 2002.

When a Coupeville deputy marshal found a five-day-old harbor seal in the back of a car he had stopped last July, it set off alarms throughout the Puget Sound region. Interfering with marine mammals is a violation of the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act, pointed out Sandy Dubpernell, principal investigator of the Central Puget Sound Marine Mammal Stranding Act. The penalties can include steep fines and jail time.

While the couple who “rescued” this seemingly abandoned baby from the waters of Penn Cove may have thought they were aiding a helpless creature in distress, they likely condemned it to death. The circumstances often are not as they appear. The mother seal probably was hunting for food and would have returned to care for the pup if humans had just left it alone.

The harbor seal that was recovered in Coupeville was badly dehydrated when removed from the car and died days later at the Wolf Hollow Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Friday Harbor.

Sadly, it’s a variation of a story Dubpernell hears all too often. People mean well but do all the wrong things in their effort to give nature a hand.

Stormwater, Salmon, and the Health of Puget Sound

2009-12-03T17:25:00.000-08:00

Keynote Address by Dr. Nathaniel Scholz

Stormwater runoff is rapidly becoming the most important pollution threat to the nation's waterways. Major efforts to reduce runoff to the Chesapeake Bay, the Everglades, the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico have largely failed to keep pace with human population growth and changing land uses. In the Salish Sea, stormwater runoff now carries the largest mass of toxic chemicals to the waters of Puget Sound. Toxic runoff originates from our doorsteps, lawns, streets, parking lots, highways, commercial and industrial facilities, and almost everywhere else people live and work.

Myriad regional efforts are now underway to reduce the impacts of polluted runoff on Puget Sound. Examples include pollution reduction via toxic source control, low impact development, redevelopment using green infrastructure, and best management practices to filter or otherwise remove contaminants from stormwater. Are these costly efforts working? Will they be enough to ensure a sustainable and resilient Puget Sound ecosystem for future generations? How will we know?

These questions are driving ongoing NOAA research on stormwater. Recent scientific findings are pointing to salmon as key sentinel species for understanding both the ecological impacts of stormwater as well as the effectiveness of toxic reduction strategies. This presentation will explore how salmon can mirror the success or failure of current strategies and more clearly frame the challenges that lie ahead.

Dr. Nathaniel Scholz

Nat Scholz is a marine conservation biologist with a research focus on pollution. A native of the central Oregon coast, his career began with graduate research in Boston University's Marine Program in Woods Hole, MA. After teaching marine science on a tallship schooner in the Caribbean, he went on to finish a doctorate in marine zoology at the University of Washington.

Nat is currently with the Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle. The Center is the headquarters for NOAA's fisheries research in the Pacific Northwest. For the past decade, he has been leading a group that studies the impacts of toxic chemicals on the health of coastal watersheds and embayments.

Pollution research at the Center is designed to help NOAA (and many others) identify toxic hazards to both humans and aquatic life, to assess the effectiveness of pollution control strategies and habitat restoration projects, and to protect and recover endangered species. The science also supports NOAA's mission to anticipate and minimize pollution threats related to human population growth, coastal development, and climate change.

A list of scientific publications and information on the Center's Ecotoxicology Program can be found at
http://www.nwfsc.noaa.gov/research/divisions/ec/ecotox

Articles about Presenters and Topics

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There are over sixty presentations at Sound Waters 2010.
Here are some articles relevant to a subset of the presenters
and/or their topics:

For a full list of presentations - see Sound Waters Central

Wildlife Art

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Courtesy www.bartrulon.com

Bart Rulon lives and works on Whidbey Island. He received a bachelor's degree from the University of Kentucky in a self-made scientific illustration major. He graduated with honors and became a full-time artist, focusing on wildlife and landscape subjects, specializing in birds.

Rulon's works have been exhibited in many of the finest exhibitions, museums and galleries displaying wildlife and landscape art in the United States, Canada, Sweden, Japan and England. His paintings have been included in 14 exhibitions with the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, including 12 times with the Birds in Art exhibit and one each in their Wildlife: The Artist's View, Natural Wonders, and Art and the Animal exhibits. His work has been chosen for the Society of Animal Artists' annual exhibition Art and the Animal for 12 years since he became a member in 1993. His paintings have been included in the Arts for the Parks Top 100 exhibition and national tour seven times, and in 1994 he won their Bird Art Award. Other recent awards include the Henderson Area Arts Alliance Award at the 2000 Kentucky National Wildlife Art Exhibit, Featured Artist for the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation in 2001, and the Audubon Alliance Artist of the Year Award for 1998. His paintings of birds are included in the permanent collections of the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum, the Bennington Center for the Arts, and the Massachusetts Audubon Society.

Rulon is the author and illustrator of the books Painting Birds Step by Step (1996), Artist's Photo Reference: Birds (1999), Artist's Photo Reference: Water & Skies (2002), and Artist's Photo Reference: Wildlife (2003), and Artist's Photo Reference:Songbirds & Other Favorite Birds (2004) all published by North Light Books. His work has been featured in five other North Light Books: Wildlife Painting Step by Step (Patrick Seslar 1995), The Best of Wildlife Art (edited by Rachel Rubin Wolf, 1999), The Keys to Painting Fur & Feathers (edited by Rachel Rubin Wolf, 1999), Painting the Faces of Wildlife Step by Step (Kalon Baughan, 2000), and The Ultimate Guide to Painting from Photographs (2005). His work is also included in the book Wildlife Art (Rockport Publishers, 1999). Rulon's paintings have been featured on the cover and in the interior of many Bird Watcher's Digest issues. His illustrations of seabirds appear in the field guide All the Birds of North America (HarperCollins, 1997), and he was commissioned to paint a variety of birds for A Guide to the Birds of the West Indies (Princeton University Press, 1998).

Rulon's primary interest is in experiencing his subjects firsthand in the wild. He focuses on painting subjects and scenes he has experienced in the wild rather than trying to paint animals he's only seen in captivity. Rulon prides himself on the time he spends in the field researching his subjects, because this is what he enjoys the most about being an artist. His travels have taken him to new places every year including long trips to Africa, India, South America, and Alaska, and he has been all over the contiguous United States and Canada. On many of these field trips he uses a sea kayak or a custom made floating blind as tools to experience the behaviors of wildlife up close. Rulon says "all this extra effort pays off in the long run because I get to see the intimate details of an animal's life that most people never see." It's that personal experience that inspires him to re-create an image for others to enjoy, more than the act of painting itself.

Wild Mushrooms

2009-12-03T16:41:00.003-08:00

While Scott and Kathleen Chase are best known locally as avid WSU Beach Watchers from Camano Island, they have some other irons in the fire. Scott Chase is coordinator of the spectacularly successful WSU Shore Stewards program of Island County, which boasts more than 500 members locally and is currently expanding throughout Puget Sound.

Scott's artist wife, Kathleen, is the other half of this persuasive team, backing him up and diligently staffing the Shore Stewards booth at community events on both Camano and Whidbey islands while Scott interacts with the crowd.

A more closely guarded but important secret is this couple's passion for wild mushrooms.

"We both became interested in mushrooms after buying our property on Camano in the early 1990s and finding mushrooms growing everywhere," Scott says. "We were wondering if any were edible. We joined Puget Sound Mycological Society in Seattle, where we volunteered and took classes on mushrooms.

"We cook with local morels in the spring, followed by oyster mushrooms, then chanterelles in the fall, and with other mushrooms we find throughout the year. Our favorite hunting area is in the foothills near Darrington."

Their class on mushrooms is both fun and educational. Scott and Kathleen will describe the mushrooms in your yard and the forests of Western Washington. They'll explain which ones are edible and how fungi interact with your trees and plants.

The Truth About Trash

2009-12-03T16:41:00.001-08:00

Janet Hall could be called the conscience of WSU Extension. As coordinator of Waste Wise Volunteers, Hall was the one who blew the whistle a couple years ago on plastic water bottles at Sound Waters University, and who is constantly seeking better ways to live less wastefully.

Reduce, reuse, recycle is Hall's mantra. But her mandate from Island County is even clearer -- to reduce the quantity of solid waste that accumulates at the county's transfer stations, since all of it ultimately must be shipped at great cost to distant, off-island landfills.

"And while we're at it, let's remember Island County is a sole source aquifer," Hall points out. "We need to be concerned about what we're putting into the ground because it can get into our ground water, as well."

For Hall, waste is about lifestyle choices. And she is philosophical. She encourages more mindful and sustainable living that puts the focus on the quality, not the physical scale, of life and possessions.

Graduates of Hall's training, WSU Waste Wise Volunteers, gain a toolkit of strategies to manage their homes and gardens in ways that generate fewer discards and less damage to the environment. For some, the joy of establishing a thriving first worm bin for composting is the start of a grand new adventure in country living.

For many, managing their homes with more environmental sensitivity is the "think locally" piece of the much bigger challenge to "act globally." Recent weather aberrations have heightened the concern by many that things need to change in fundamental ways. The unusually windy island winter of 2006-7 may not be just an "off year" but a taste of more unsettled years to come as our climate adjusts to global warming.

"It’s not only scientists now but citizens who see the problem," Hall says. "More and more people want to know why it’s happening, how to prepare and how to help."

Many of the answers can be found in WSU Extension’s Waste Wise training. The course is offered free of charge to those who commit to give back equivalent hours of service in educating their own communities.

For years, Waste Wise training focused on household recycling, composting and sustainable living. More recently the training has grown broader to teach strategies to become more carbon-neutral.

"Much of what we do every day releases carbon into the atmosphere," Hall points out. "Carbon emissions add to global warming. By understanding the sources of carbon emissions, we can make personal choices to reduce or offset them."

Household recycling is a good example. "By recycling half of our household waste at home we can each save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide. And since recycled paper requires only 10 – 30 percent as much energy to manufacture, it makes sense to buy recycled paper products." She added that by avoiding heavily-packaged goods, homeowners can reduce their garbage by 10 percent and save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide.

More and more people are consciously down-sizing or making changes in their lifestyle that value quality of life rather than quantity of possessions. “Recycling is good and we should all practice it. But it’s even better if we can learn strategies to consume less and generate less household garbage and fewer discards.”

"Nobody expects perfection," Hall said. "Waste Wise is not about being perfect – it is about sharing knowledge, exploring ideas and the excitement of learning. Many graduates of past years’ training say they met others in the Waste Wise program who have become some of their most valued friends in the community."

Saving Natural Habitats Forever

2009-12-03T16:40:00.001-08:00

What would possess a landowner to forego development rights to acres of Island County land worth thousands, if not millions, of dollars?

Harry Case, one such landowner said it well. "If we are going to save the environment, the little people are going to have to do something."

As executive director of Whidbey Camano Land Trust, Patricia Powell works every day with private landowners who are stewards of some of the islands' loveliest farms, prairie land, forests and beaches. The land has been in their families for a lifetime, perhaps generations, and they face agonizing decisions. Do they sell it for development and take the money? Or find a way to preserve the land they love so it is protected in a natural state far into the future.

As an expert in the tools and strategies of land preservation, Powell is a creative deal-maker who knows any solution must be a win-win for the landowner and the public. For more than 20 years the land trust has worked with landowners, community groups and public agencies. In 2006, the organization protected 3,257 acres -- twice as much land as in the previous 19 years combined!

Whidbey Camano Land Trust focuses on the most critical lands in the county's 118 watersheds and 200+ miles of shoreline. These areas provide natural habitat for wildlife and aquifer recharge to protect the islands' drinking water, plus nearshore habitat for birds and marine life, including nursery areas for forage fish and salmon.

They also work to preserve the islands' cultural heritage, which is reflected in working farms, trails and areas providing access and views to the public.
Since 1984, Whidbey Camano Land Trust has permanently protected over 5,300 acres critical to our islands natural systems. Learn how this local, nonprofit conservancy works effectively with willing landowners to protect and steward land, and discover ways you can help secure an enduring legacy of land.

Rosario…of Legends and Tidepools

2009-12-03T16:39:00.002-08:00

By Sammye Kempbell
Reprinted from Beach Log, October 2008, published by WSU Beach Watchers

On May 16, 1995, during a -3.2 tide, 29 school buses and numerous vans and vehicles carrying an estimated 1,200 people came to visit the Rosario Tidepools. As Beach Watchers know, after this event the rocky tidepools looked like a barren moonscape due to the trampling and destruction that day.

Many things have changed for the better since that sad day. The park now requires groups to register before coming. They are greeted and given beach etiquette training before they are given a task to complete while there. There is now a (marked) trail running through the tidepools that they are asked to stay on. There are permanent signs explaining the story and trails. Education and recovery of the tidepools area are now the goals.

During the summer there are wonderful volunteers, mostly Beach Watchers, who give freely of their time and knowledge to educate and inspire the visitors. Some spend their time at the education table helping people. Others work down in the tidepool area.

Something so awesome happens when a 10-year-old begins to ask the most interesting questions. At first I wonder, "How will I answer his questions?" Sometimes it is beyond my knowledge. As beach naturalists we have to be honest and say we don't know, but we share what we do know. We also suggest books, websites and visits to the library.

With awe I watched a 2-1/2 year old little girl gently lift up the seaweed to discover what was hiding underneath. It was amazing when I saw her lying across a rock on her tummy, gazing into a tidepool, and then gently reaching in with a finger to touch something. It was enough to inspire me to continue to do what I do.

When I see a child bring his parents down and begin to teach them about this fragile ecosystem I am inspired to do what I do. I learn from the public every single day I am on the beach. In July we had a group of school children visiting from Montana. Oh my gosh! They were so lucky! A large pod of Orcas passed right by us that afternoon. How wonderful that those children got to see Orcas in the wild, among other wonders at Rosario.

Most of the people introduced to the trail system are really appreciative of the opportunity to do their part helping with the recovery. A few are challenging. I guess I like a little bit of challenge, as they inspire me to do what I do. Sometimes I think if I can teach enough people they will teach others and eventually most of us will understand. The education people get at Rosario can be shared on any beach. My hope is that the people with whom we interact will share with others what we have shared with them.

On the 4th of July weekend we interacted with 484 people. Now that took teamwork! I am so proud of the great volunteers who made that day a success. As beach naturalists we talked to 7,165 people in 2008. Most of that was done at Rosario Beach. Without knowing that the seaweed in the tidepools is the nursery for new life and the hope for recovery, damage occurs repeatedly. When the visitors number in the thousands, inadvertent destruction occurs. There are too many feet, contaminated hands from natural oils on our skin, sunscreen, hand lotion and bug spray, too many little crabs that fall too far from hands or that get crushed by a rock. So the efforts of our volunteers continue! I invite you to come and explore Rosario with me next summer.

An Orca Family History

2009-12-03T16:39:00.001-08:00

Susan Berta has a long history with Sound Waters, having founded the event during her 1989 - 2000 tenure as coordinator of WSU Beach Watchers of Island County. Howard Garrett is a long-time whale researcher whose interest in Orcas dates from 1980 when he began working with the Center for Whale Research.

For Berta and Garrett, Orcas are much more than an interest. These extraordinary marine mammals are their life's work. After pursuing separate careers in related fields, Berta and Garrett in 2001 co-founded The Orca Network, www.orcanetwork.org, on Whidbey Island to track the Orcas in our local waters and spread community awareness of their condition and needs.

Once considered vicious killers, the Salish Sea Orcas have since been determined to be members of distinct cultures. Berta and Garrett will review recent studies of Orca natural history and share some glimpses into their family life.

An extended clan of Orcas, the Southern Resident population, socializes and forages in the waters of Island County, Puget Sound and British Columbia for much of the year. The Orca Network collects and shares sighting information, photographs and individual identification data from hundreds of volunteer observers.

Within the Southern Resident population, male and female offspring remain for life with their mothers. They live a lifespan comparable to humans and communicate with members of their extended group using unique dialects. Unlike any other mammal except humans the different population groups demonstrate cultural separation in their reproductive patterns. Even though different Orca groups cross paths with one another, they interbreed only with their own.

To thrive, local Orca populations require plentiful salmon and unpolluted waters. Sadly, neither condition exists today and the Orcas of Puget Sound are struggling. The plight of Southern Resident Orcas came forcefully to public attention in 1970 when a tragic capture operation - then legal -- was conducted in Penn Cove at Coupeville. At that time Orcas were called "Killer Whales" and were widely devalued and considered dispensible. Some 80 Orcas were herded into a pen. Six of the young were captured and separated forever from their families. Five died that day.

Of the captured Orcas, only one still survives, named "Lolita," who remains housed in the Miami Seaquarium. Efforts are continuing to bring about her return to freedom in Penn Cove.

Native Americans and Whidbey’s History

2009-12-03T16:38:00.001-08:00

Anthropologist Lou LaBombard could just as well be a crime scene detective. But the events he reconstructs are thousands of years old and the sites are seasonal villages of Island County's first peoples, going back generations. He has devoted his career to understanding how people lived on our islands' shores for centuries before the first Europeans arrived in their tall ships.

For thousands of years the Salish of Whidbey and Camano islands lived and foraged in a mega optimum zone, where fish, shellfish, game, plants and crops supported them abundantly. As a result they were able to develop complex societies, divide their labor and pursue specialization.

LaBombard works from a handful of clues often mined from ancient garbage dumps, called shell middens, that grew to vast sizes alongside these villages.

Such sites are visible today where beaches have carved into shore-side bluffs. Beach walkers paying close attention will notice lush vegetation growing atop many feet of clamshell-laden black soils, still rich from thousands of years of human habitation and nutrients. Often the shells are all open-side down, lying just as they landed when a Salish woman turned over her basket to empty it.

Such garbage includes not only the predictable broken articles, but sometimes a perfectly intact tool as well, which he will discuss and share in his presentation. When LaBombard finds one of these treasures he often shuns complex explanations to offer an everyday one. "You know how kids are," he says. "Somebody's kids lost the tool they were using," or "They just forgot to pick up after themselves."

The Skagit Valley College professor teaches anthropology, sociology and ethnic studies. He conducts field schools in archaeology on the island in the summer. LaBombard is not only a Native American himself (Iroquois-Seneca/Mohawk), but a professional Native American story teller, and has given many presentations concerning Native Americans in the U.S. and other countries. He is a veteran of the Vietnam War, where he served as a paramedic.

Meet Your Intertidal Neighbors

2009-12-03T16:37:00.000-08:00

If it grows on the beach and walks, crawls, burrows, swims or clings, Mary Jo Adams and Rick Blank want to know more. Walk any beach and you may meet Adams at the center of a crowd transfixed by the wonders of a tide pool at her feet, or carrying an armload of washed-up kelp.

Adams is a WSU Beach Watcher who starts many of her classes by confessing she is terrified of public speaking. You wouldn't know it because when she gets going on her topic, she is like a kid in a candy store.

Blank is a ranger at Deception Pass State Park and you'll find him at the center of a crowd, too, joyful and enthusiastic, oblivious to the mosquitoes that are eating him alive.

Adams and Blank know that healthy beaches are complex communities of plants and animals, often overlooked or abused by thoughtless passers-by. Discovering these communities is the first step to understanding them, which leads to valuing them, then watching for changes, and finally protecting them from harm.

Kelp to Crab: Our Magical Ocean

2009-12-03T16:36:00.001-08:00

Seattle diver and photographer Jon Gross is back for a third year as a Sound Waters presenter. Coming back this year was an offer he could not refuse, since his parents, Jan and Pete Gross, are key organizers of the event.

Gross has been diving since his undergraduate years at The Evergreen State College. His interest in the sea led him to obtain a degree in marine biology. He admits he is a fanatical diver, having slipped beneath the surface well over 1,000 times in the waters of Puget Sound, Washington and British Columbia. He is also passionate to share the diversity of colorful marine creatures he encounters. Many years after his first dive a friend loaned him a simple point-and-shoot camera in an underwater housing.

To his wife's dismay, that simple camera soon turned into a giant collection of diving gear and underwater camera gear, and he has spent the last 15 years exploring the marine water of Puget Sound Basin and British Columbia. Today he markets his underwater images on a commercial website. He has worked with National Geographic photographers, government agencies, corporations, nonprofits, educational institutions and private individuals. He has a permanent display of over 40 photos located in the new outpatient clinics at Children's Hospital in Seattle, as well as a show at the Seattle Aquarium.

Underwater photography is a daunting challenge, Gross points out. Water is a difficult medium through which to shoot, especially in the Pacific Northwest where 20 feet might be the maximum range of visibility on a good day. Because of a diver's face mask and regulator, the diver cannot hold the camera viewfinder close to the eye, so must learn to aim accurately by feel and practice. The best lighting for underwater photography is a hand-held strobe, positioned away from the camera so the light is coming from an angle that does not reflect back at the camera.

From experience Gross shares a wealth of tips for better photos. One of the most fundamental is to move slowly and let the fish approach you, rather than pursue the fish.

"Chasing fish is often fruitless," he says. "You end up neglecting your diving buddy, not paying attention to where you are, using more air and stirring up the bottom."

Sudden motions are counterproductive. "Control your breathing. Bubbles are noisy and not natural to a fish. Watch your fins. If you are not careful you will egg-beater the bottom while trying to get into position for the shot. The fish might hang around but you end up silting out your shot, not to mention possibly damaging other critters on the bottom."

See Jon's website for some amazing pictures.

It's Your County

2009-12-03T16:35:00.002-08:00

Making local government accessible and accountable to citizens is a passion for John Dean, the former newspaper editor elected in 2007 as one of three Island County Commissioners. One way he does it is by teaching classes such as this one to directly engage and inform the public.

"County representatives need to be visible," Dean said during his campaign. "They need to make frequent rounds as ambassadors of democracy and open government, continually polling a diverse group of island residents and business people about the quality of their lives, their needs and expectations.

"Island County has a diverse population to serve - families, retirees on fixed incomes, small business owners, cottage industries, hobby farmers, the U.S. Navy, forest dweller, construction companies and Realtors," Dean says. "Such a complex mix invites county officials and island residents to leave entrenched positions to collaborate creative, just, non-political and bi-partisan win-win solutions that favor all in turn, or ideally, each in some measure."

A former theology student and later newspaperman, Dean is also a musician, songwriter, performer, artist and co-author of Camano Island: Life and Times in Island Paradise." He and his wife, Julie, a registered nurse, live on south Camano Island. Dean said he ran for office partly to ensure that Camano Island had direct, meaningful representation in a county leadership team that had formerly been comprised only of Whidbey Islanders.

Before running for office, Dean had worked for 26 years in community journalism with the Stanwood/Camano News, where he had been editor and associate publisher.

In endorsing Dean for election, current publisher Dave Pinkham described him this way:
"He listens to all sides before making a decision. He is inclusive. He is positive. He always pitches in without complaint… He gets people to work together, even if they started with major differences…It's a matter of attitude: he's never met a problem that couldn't be solved."

"He has a passion to serve. He feels his trying to improve Island County government is a calling."

Open Forum: The Greening of Oak Harbor, Coupeville and Langley

2009-12-03T16:35:00.001-08:00

Times are changing in Oak Harbor, Coupeville and Langley. Suddenly businesses, homes and developments are starting to install rain gardens and talk about low-impact development.

Langley was the first city in Washington to officially adopt low-impact development as part of its planning process and use the Low Impact Development manual published by the Puget Sound Partnership.

Oak Harbor has hired an environmental educator and is completing its bayside trail, which winds through a section of restored shoreline marsh and aquifer recharge area.

Coupeville is exploring the feasibility of diverting outflow from its sewage system and stormwater outfalls to Ebey's Prairie for agricultural use. Such a system would deliver much-needed water to the prairie, keep pollutants out of the marine waters of Puget Sound and help recharge the precious aquifer.

Join WSU Beach Watcher Graham Johnson as he moderates an open-forum discussion of exciting environmental progress by island mayors Jim Slowick of Oak Harbor, Nancy Conard of Coupeville and Paul Samuelson of Langley. And bring your questions for the mayors.

Get Crazy, Not Lazy, Teaching Kids

2009-12-03T16:34:00.001-08:00

"Activity is the key when teaching kids about the environment," says Maribeth Crandell. "If they're involved physically, emotionally and mentally they'll 'get it.'" Crandell encourages adults who work with kids to learn experiential teaching techniques "for the kid in all of us."

Recently, Crandell has been getting some hands-on experience as environmental educator for the City of Oak Harbor. In October she teamed with WSU Waste Wise Volunteers to offer Junior Waste Wise training as an after-school enrichment program at Broadview Elementary School. The curriculum included kid-friendly activities and demonstrations such as a Recycle Relay, Stuff Swap and "garbology" field study.

Crandell comes from a background of similar educational activities at the city, state and national park level, with Whidbey Watershed Stewards and with Island County Recycling.

Grow Food Under Water – The Penn Cove Shellfish Story

2009-12-03T16:33:00.001-08:00

The dozens of rafts anchored in neat rows along the south shore of Penn Cove may seem a mystery to some, but they are the Promised Land for mussel-lovers. Like the tip of an iceberg, they are the visible part of Penn Cove Shellfish LLC, a major local aquaculture operation and the world's largest grower of mussels.

Mussels grow encrusted on lines suspended from these rafts, and local crews harvest them by raising the lines from the water.

General manager Ian Jefferds and farm manager Tim Jones oversee an operation that has earned worldwide acclaim for the flavor of its product. They attribute this to its freshness and the unique growing conditions in Penn Cove, which Jefferds describes as a "nutrient soup" of lower-than-average salinity, thanks to the fresh-water influence of the nearby Skagit River.

The combination of fresh water from the Skagit River and sunshine from the rain-shadow effect of the Olympic Mountains results in ideal growing conditions. And unlike other forms of aquaculture, mussels require no feeding. They filter everything they need directly from the water.

The Jefferds family has been growing mussels on Penn Cove since the 1970s, when they first visited the area on a low-tide day and noticed mussels clinging to every exposed surface.

Coastal Bluffs and Beaches

2009-12-03T16:32:00.000-08:00

Nature's work is sediment transport, says Hugh Shipman, coastal geologist with the Washington Department of Ecology. Storms, currents, floods, landslides and natural erosion all go about the never-ending business of reshaping our landscape.

So it should come as no surprise that much unintended ecological damage has been done by our attempts to maintain a static landscape, he says. Mankind and nature are in a constant battle for control, and nature always gets the last word.

We can live more successfully along the shore when we understand coastal processes and act in harmony with them, rather than try to stop them.

Dramatic examples are readily visible in Island County, with its high bluffs, beaches, estuaries and lagoons, and on the nearby river deltas of the Skagit, Snohomish and Stillaguamish.

See Hugh's blog, Gravel Beaches for some fine pictures and discussion of Whidbey shoreline.

Beach Watchers Training: Having the Time of Your Life, Making Your Mark

2009-12-03T16:31:00.000-08:00

What do Beach Watchers do? Sarah Martin, Beach Watcher Coordinator, and Sue Howard, Chair of BW Volunteer Training Committee, will provide an overview in this class and answer all of your questions.

Following Excerpts Are from an Article by Dan Pedersen
Published in 2007 in The Whidbey News Times

When teams of WSU Beach Watchers take to the shoreline next February with large beach seines, they will be showing up for work with an attitude. This is a job they don't have to do and don't get paid to do. They'll be laughing and joking, most likely, about the early hour and the bone-chilling cold.

The beach-seining teams are highly trained volunteers. For the last three years they've been conducting serious research that is opening people's eyes, finding days-old fish where many thought none existed. Nearby property owners often shake their heads in pride and disbelief at what was there all along on their beaches.

These volunteers are piecing together a picture of how salmon and other marine species use the Whidbey Island shoreline. For many, the time they invest in this work is about leaving something better to the next generation, their children and grandchildren.

The juvenile salmon study is one of many science and outreach projects of this local program founded in 1989 by Washington State University (WSU) Extension. Beach Watchers has since trained some 400 members of the community, and starting this March it will train 25 more.

The organization is accepting applications right now for its next class. Information about Beach Watchers and its projects is available at .beachwatchers.wsu.edu or by calling Sarah Martin at 1-360-679-7391.

To apply, visit beachwatchers.wsu.edu/island/about/training/ for instructions. Class size is limited. Beach Watchers receive more than 100 hours of university-level training and sign an agreement to give back 100 hours of community service over the next two years. They do it in ways tailored to the strengths and interests of each member.

Educational events: Some help organize large educational events such as Sound Waters University, a one-day event that attracts more than 500 people every February to Coupeville middle and high schools for a day of classes on natural history and related topics.

Rosario interpretive guides: Others work as beach naturalists in partnership with Washington State Parks. They provide interpretive assistance to the public as they enjoy the history and marine beauty of Rosario Beach in Deception Pass State Park. In 2006, these volunteers interacted with some 3,500 visitors, helping them understand the abundance of life in the tide pools and encouraging behavior that will foster reclamation of this too-often-abused intertidal habitat.

Beach monitoring: Many Beach Watchers participate in monitoring the marine life on 35 different beaches in Island County. They accumulate baseline data over time on invertebrates, seaweeds, and beach conditions. This database is maintained and made available for research and environmental policy establishment purposes.

Creosoted logs: Others help identify and remove creosoted logs from local beaches to reduce degradation of the marine habitat. In 2006, volunteers on both Camano and Whidbey walked many miles of beaches, identifying creosoted or treated wood and recording GPS locations for subsequent removal by Washington Department of Natural Resources.

These and other Beach Watcher projects are helping protect habitat, engage and inform the public, and assist scientists in reversing the decline in Puget Sound marine life. Much more help is needed, and Beach Watcher training is the place to start.