Living with the Coast: Is your land slip sliding away?
Attend a free workshop for marine shoreline landowners in Port Susan to learn how you can protect and maintain your shoreline property. Saturday, June 1, 1:00-5:00pm.
Topics include:
- Improved slope stability and habitat
- How and why beaches and bluffs change over time
- Shoreline permitting and regulations
- Educational beach walk
Participants will also receive information on free site visits by a private shoreline management professional to learn how to protect their property. Click here to register online.
What's New
Welcome, Jody Kennedy
We’re pleased to announce the appointment of Jody Kennedy to the Northwest Straits Commission by Governor Inslee. Jody is the Washington policy manager for the Surfrider Foundation. She earned a Masters in Public Administration from the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Affairs and previously worked as the lead staff for the San Juan Marine Resources Committee.
Octopus Advisory Group
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Phil Anderson appointed Caroline Gibson, Marine Program Manager for the Northwest Straits Commission to the Giant Pacific Octopus Advisory Group. The group is tasked with developing recommendations to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife regarding harvest of giant Pacific octopus. For a glimpse of the regional distribution of this extraordinary creature, click here. Link (and photo at left) provided by advisory group member and REEF outreach coordinator Janna Nichols.
NW Straits Foundation Receives Oil Spill Preparedness Funding
The Northwest Straits Foundation, in collaboration with San Juan MRC, has been successful in attaining a $60,000 grant from the state Department of Natural Resources to support a regional oil spill outreach, education, and preparedness program. MRCs from Whatcom, Skagit, Island, Clallam, San Juan and Jefferson counties will benefit from the project and will assist with coordination of various tasks as they pertain to their communities. The purpose of this project is to facilitate community engagement in oil spill response in the six county target region. Target audiences include local government and Tribal officials and local communities. The Foundation will work with local and Tribal officials to deepen local preparedness through participation in drills and the development of robust incident notification systems in each county. Read more...
Northwest Straits Commission
The next Northwest Straits Commission meeting will be held on Friday, May 31 at the Service Alternatives building in Coupeville, Island County. The agenda will be posted the week of the meeting. For information about past meetings click here.
MRCs Assist with Mussel Watch Expansion
Thank you to volunteers with four MRCs (San Juan, Skagit, Snohomish, and Whatcom) who have completed the cold, dark, and wet field portion of the Mussel Watch Pilot Expansion Study led by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW). Using native Pacific blue mussels deployed for two months in predator exclusion cages, the study aims to evaluate the level of exposure to pollutants from stormwater and other sources. This study supports NOAA’s national Mussel Watch program. For more information please contact Jennifer.Lanksbury@dfw.wa.gov.
Newsletter
Click here to see the current edition of the Northwest Straits Initiative's monthly newsletter. If you would like to recieve our monthly newsletter click here.
The Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative, authorized by Congress, is nationally recognized as an innovative approach to bring sound science and an ecosystem perspective together with citizen energy and entrepreneurship.