International Coastal Cleanup

Saturday, September 15Meet at PTMSC Museum under the red tent

Hosted by Ocean Conservancy. Volunteers from around the world will work together to keep our oceans and the life in them as healthy and diverse as possible. Volunteer to be part of the Port Townsend Marine Science Center’s and ICC's Beach Clean-up. Pre-register at coastsavers.org.

Check in: Noon, PTMSC Museum, under the red and white striped tent. Get directions and beach locations, trash bags, and gloves and head out to the beach.
Weigh your accomplishments.
Visit the PTMSC as our guest.
Return to PTMSC: by 4 pm

Ocean trash is a serious pollution problem that affects the health of people, wildlife, and local economies. Make an impact locally in the Salish Sea by joining the world's largest volunteer effort for our oceans and waterways with the Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup Day.

It’s easy to participate! Here’s what you need to know:

• Stay for all or part of the event
• Bring gloves and extra buckets
• Wear closed-toed shoes
• Download the Clean Swell app
• Wear ocean-friendly sunscreen
• Dress for the weather
• Bring a reusable water bottle to stay hydrated on the beach

15% OFF discount cards to all our beach cleanup volunteers from sponsor Howell's Sandwich Co. in downtown Port Townsend

for more info call 360-385-5582 x204

Thanks to Olympic Disposal and Howell's Sandwich Co. for their support.

Summer Camp 2018

At the end of this week, we will have brought our last summer camp of the year to a close. It's been a whirlwind of a summer, and - after 11 camp sessions and over 100 campers - there's a ton of stories to share. What follows is only a short, abbreviated handful.

Junior Explorers race to discover what insects will fall out of the next tree.

Campers discovered new loves. One Marine Biology camper tumbled into the world of chitons, and spent the better part of the week chasing down every specimen she could find (living, and quite a few previously scavenged). Many encountered the strange, alien world of plankton for the first time, and left with a greater appreciation of the little things in our seas. Still others hung out with the insects - aquatic and terrestrial - and learned that bugs can be creepy, crawly and quite a bit cool.

We'll See You At The Wooden Boat Festival, September 7-9!

Join us this year at the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival as we explore the Salish Sea! 

Journey into our walk-through model kelp forest, discover tiny plankton under a microscope, and learn how to identify the marine mammals you might encounter when you are out on the water.

Dates: Sept. 7-9

Time: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.,a every day of the festival
Location: Adjacent to the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife booth
Info: More Wooden Boat Festival information here!

Three Fascinating Things!

It’s officially been 10.5 months of service! This year serving as an AmeriCorps member at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center is finally coming to an end for me. It flew by so fast, and I’d like to share some of my favorite new things I’ve learned about.

I came to Port Townsend from Minneapolis, Minnesota where there is no marine life anywhere. So this year I was learning while I was teaching people. I’ve discovered so many fascinating things about the Salish Sea.

Fun fact: I didn’t even know what the Salish Sea was until I moved out here. I would like to share the top three most fascinating things I’ve learned and discovered during my year of service.

Communities near and far are eliminating single-use plastics

Marine debris litters a beach on Laysan Island in the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge,
where it washed ashore. (source: Susan White/USFWS)

Scientists increasingly warn that ocean plastic pollution has become a global crisis. Plastic bags, which can’t be recycled effectively, are known to adversely affect more than 200 species of marine animals in the Salish Sea alone. And microplastics are being found in large concentrations in the middle of the Pacific Ocean in an area twice as large as the state of Texas known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. 

Nominate Your Environmental Hero!

Do you know someone who has worked to conserve or protect the North Olympic Peninsula, taken steps to encourage community-wide environmental sustainability, or altered the way you consider your impact on your local environment?

Make that person the next Eleanor Stopps Environmental Leadership Award winner!

Last year's winner, retired NASA astronaut John Fabian, spoke at the annual 
PTMSC Stewardship Breakfast about his work as organizer of the Hood Canal Coalition

From the 1960s through the 1990s Eleanor Stopps was an active member of the Northwest conservation community. Eleanor founded the Admiralty Audubon Chapter and took over the work of Zella Schultz to protect the nesting habitat for 72,000 pairs of seabirds nesting on Protection Island. She was also a tireless educator working with groups of students and Girl Scouts to raise environmental awareness.

Eleanor Stopps 

Eleanor Stopps recognized the need to protect the uniquely important marine environment of the Salish Sea. With no special political base or powerful financial backers, she formed a coalition of grassroots supporters who worked to get legislation and public support for protection of Protection Island and the surrounding marine waters. She was a primary driver behind the establishment of the Protection Island National Wildlife Refuge, one of the few established by an Act of Congress at that time.

Today, Protection Island is a critical habitat link in the preservation of the whole Salish Sea region, providing breeding habitat for Pigeon Guillemots and Rhinoceros Auklets, Bald Eagles and Peregrine Falcons, Harbor Seals and Elephant Seals, and a myriad of other species.

The Eleanor Stopps Environmental Leadership Award is given annually to a citizen of the North Olympic Peninsula (Jefferson and Clallam counties) who, like Eleanor Stopps, has created a legacy of conservation.

Please take a moment to recognize your environmental hero by nominating them for the Environmental Leadership Award.

The winner of the award will join the visionaries and risk-takers before them with their name engraved on the Eleanor Stopps plaque as well as an official presentation of the award at the Marine Science Center's annual Stewardship Breakfast.

Everyone nominated for the award will receive public recognition on our blog, Octopress online, and in a press release to regional media.

Email your completed form to info@ptmsc.org.

Nominations must be received by August 23, 2018.

Honor your hero today...