Port Townsend Marine Science Center welcomes new executive director

Bee Redfield officially takes the reins on April 1

Bee Redfield, PTMSC Executive Director, effective April 1, 2022

The Port Townsend Marine Science Center is pleased to announce that Bee Redfield will join the organization on April 1 as its new executive director. Redfield replaces Janine Boire, who announced her departure last fall following an 8-year tenure.

“Last year, the board embarked on an intensive search for a new leader who would build upon and advance the extraordinary work done by Janine Boire,” said PTMSC Board of Directors President Ellen Hargis. “We identified four key areas where our next leader must excel: leading people, leading change, exercising business acumen and building coalitions.

“We are thrilled to welcome Bee Redfield. She has the nonprofit leadership experience, science expertise and commitment to conservation that meets those requirements,” Hargis said. “The Board has great confidence that Ms. Redfield will strategically guide the organization forward and develop rich and meaningful relationships with all our constituents.”

“I am so excited, grateful, and so incredibly blessed to be joining the Port Townsend community as the new executive director of the Marine Science Center,” Redfield said. “To have been chosen to help lead this organization into the future is such an honor. I will put my heart and soul into providing support and leadership towards the conservation efforts for the Salish Sea that we're working so hard to achieve.”

Redfield possesses over a decade of experience leading non-profit operations at the director-level, including at a wildlife center in Illinois. She holds a master’s degree in conservation biology from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, with a focus on bringing conservation programming and awareness to communities. In addition, she holds a second master's degree in human resources management and is currently finishing her Ph.D. in quantitative ecology.

“For the past 10 years, I've held leadership roles with nonprofits in the areas of community engagement and organizational operations,” Redfield said. “I've been really lucky to work with some amazing conservation organizations all around the world. I've gotten to conduct research in the Hawaiian Islands and off the coast of California in the Channel Islands. I've taught undergraduate ecology and ornithology classes at Purdue University in Indiana, and I have done hands-on work with many different animal species at zoos and aquariums.”

Hargis and Boire will host an introductory session with Redfield via Zoom on Friday, March 25 at 2 p.m. The session is open to the public; a sign-up link can be found on the PTMSC website.

In addition, Redfield will meet many of the PTMSC’s ardent supporters at the organization’s annual fundraiser on April 16 at the Fort Worden Commons. “You, Me & The Salish Sea” will feature both a live and silent auction and a 40th anniversary celebration. Online registration is available at https://ptmsc.schoolauction.net/ptmscauction2022/register/ticket_sales.

Port Townsend Marine Science Center debuts new exhibit space at Flagship Landing

Downtown location opens to the public on March 4

Left-to-right: Judy D'Amore, PTMSC co-founder; former PTMSC Executive Director Ann Murphy; PTMSC Executive Director Janine Boire; Libby Palmer, PTMSC co-founder

The Port Townsend Marine Science Center gave its supporters and the media a sneak peak at Phase 1 of a new exhibit space and store in downtown Port Townsend on March 2. The exhibit and store will open to the public on March 4.

In August 2021, the Port Townsend Marine Science Center made a big announcement: The non-profit purchased the Flagship Landing Building at 1001 Water Street. The acquisition was the result of the organization’s in-depth search for a new facility that will eventually house its aquarium, exhibits, store, labs and offices.

Interior display at Flagship Landing

Phase 1 serves as an introduction to the Port Townsend Marine Science Center’s programs including community citizen science, life-long education programs and exhibits, and a store for unique marine-friendly products. The organization is also celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2022.

“What better way to celebrate 40 rides around the sun for this collaborative community committed to inspiring conservation of the Salish Sea,” said Janine Boire, PTMSC executive director. “One of our primary goals with the Phase 1 space is to share our vision and invite people to visit our aquarium and museum spaces at Fort Worden.”

Fort Worden State Park has been the home of the marine science center since 1982, when founders Libby Palmer and Judy D’Amore marshaled support to build an aquarium exhibit in the wooden building on the pier on Battery Way.

Ellen Hargis, the PTMSC board president, spoke to the future vision for the organization. She emphasized that the non-profit organization is not leaving Fort Worden.

Interior of gift shop at Flagship Landing

“The aquarium will continue to operate until the pier is removed by Washington State Parks in the coming years,” Hargis said. “And the museum building will eventually become an environmental field station and lifelong learning center.”

Another space in the back of the Flagship building has already hosted a traveling photographic exhibit that opened in mid-December: “We Are Puget Sound."

Hargis said that Phase 2 of the building’s renovation will begin in the coming years following an extensive planning and permitting process that includes working with current tenants, as well as conducting a capital campaign. Retrofitting for seismic preparedness and measures to mitigate the effects of sea level rise and weather extremes are also being planned. The entire project is expected to span 5 years.

Port Townsend City Manager John Mauro and Jefferson County Commissioner Kate Dean reflected on the PTMSC’s history, expressed enthusiasm about the organization’s growing influence and stature in the environmental community and praised its positive contributions to the city and county.

Beginning March 4, the new facility will be open to the public Friday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Plans are underway to open six days a week beginning in May. For the latest information, visit https://ptmsc.org/left-menu/visit-us.

Ellen Hargis, PTMSC Board President

Hargis said that Phase 2 of the building’s renovation will begin in the coming years following an extensive planning and permitting process that includes working with current tenants, as well as conducting a capital campaign. Retrofitting for seismic preparedness and measures to mitigate the effects of sea level rise and weather extremes are also being planned. The entire project is expected to span 5 years.

Port Townsend City Manager John Mauro and Jefferson County Commissioner Kate Dean reflected on the PTMSC’s history, expressed enthusiasm about the organization’s growing influence and stature in the environmental community and praised its positive contributions to the city and county.

Beginning March 4, the new facility will be open to the public Friday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Plans are underway to open six days a week beginning in May. For the latest information, visit https://ptmsc.org/left-menu/visit-us.

Read the Peninsula Daily News article here.

Connie Gallant awarded 2021 Eleanor Stopps Environmental Leadership Award

Port Townsend Marine Science Center honors longtime Olympic Peninsula activist

2021 Eleanor Stopps Environmental Leadership Award winner Connie Gallant.
Photo credit George Sternberg, 3rd Act Magazine.

The Port Townsend Marine Science Center announced today that Connie Gallant is the recipient of the 2021 Eleanor Stopps Environmental Leadership Award. The award was announced at the annual PTMSC Stewardship Celebration during a Zoom event.

Gallant and her husband moved to Olympic Peninsula in 1982. Shortly thereafter, her future as an environmental activist came into focus. Monitoring dissolved oxygen levels on Quilcene and Dabob bays, Gallant and fellow activists organized opposition to the excessive commercial oyster farming that was depleting the local waters of oxygen essential to sustaining the ecosystem.

Soon Gallant was working with the Olympic Forest Coalition, the Olympic Park Associates, the Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society and the North Olympic Group of the Sierra Club to halt deforestation throughout the Olympic Peninsula. The Olympic Forest Collaborative was the outgrowth of that cooperation.

One of Gallant’s most notable achievements has been her groundbreaking work on the Wild Olympics Campaign, which spawned the Wild Olympics Wilderness and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. The federal legislation has passed the U.S. House of Representatives and awaits approval by the U.S. Senate. If passed by both chambers, the legislation is expected to become law following President Biden’s signature.

“We must come to understand that it is cheaper to protect than to restore wilderness,” Gallant said in a video announcing the award. “We are talking about our planet ... This is it. You have to be on top of all these issues all the time. But regardless, never give up fighting for what you believe in.”

About the Eleanor Stopps Environmental Leadership Award
From the 1960s through the 1990s, Eleanor Stopps was an active member of the Pacific Northwest conservation community. She founded the Admiralty Audubon Chapter and was a primary driver behind the establishment of the Protection Island National Wildlife Refuge in 1982, one of the few federally protected marine refuges established by an Act of Congress at that time. Today it is a critical habitat link in the preservation of the entire Salish Sea ecosystem, providing breeding grounds for pigeon guillemots and rhinoceros auklets, bald eagles and peregrine falcons, harbor seals and elephant seals, and myriad other species.

Stopps died in April 2012 at the age of 92.

The leadership award created in her memory is presented annually to a citizen(s) of the North Olympic Peninsula (Jefferson and Clallam counties) who has led a successful resource conservation effort that benefits the North Olympic Peninsula and its residents directly; acted as a community catalyst for programs, initiatives or ventures that demonstrate a commitment to the future of the earth and its biodiversity; become a model for future leaders in business and education; or has been an exemplary citizen or policy maker who has implemented decisions that, though they may entail risks, have helped our communities take the next step towards environmental sustainability.

The PTMSC has sponsored this annual award since 2009.

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New interactive orca exhibit opens at Port Townsend Marine Science Center

‘Orca: Shared Waters, Shared Home’ explores the history and challenges of Southern Resident orcas

The Port Townsend Marine Science is pleased to announce the Aug. 21 opening of a new exhibit, “Orca: Shared Waters, Shared Home,” at its museum facility at Fort Worden State Park. The interactive exhibit explores the natural history of the orca species and the extreme challenges facing the Southern Resident orca families that frequent Puget Sound. The exhibit will be up until October 31st.

Based on the book of the same name co-published by The Seattle Times and nonprofit publisher Braided River, the special showing features captivating photography by Steve Ringman and others, and stories by author and Seattle Times journalist Lynda V. Mapes about the power, majesty and plight of two endangered – and intertwined -- species of the Salish Sea: Southern Resident killer whales and Chinook salmon.

 

“Orca: Shared Waters, Shared Home” is a traveling exhibit that is touring Salish Sea marine centers in 2021-22. It complements the PTMSC’s permanent exhibit, “Learning from Orcas – The Story of Hope” at the PTMSC museum.

"We are grateful to Lynda Mapes, Braided River and The Seattle Times for bringing this complex story into focus,” said PTMSC Program Director Diane Quinn. “The writing, photographs and illustrations will reach visitors in a new way and help us all remember what's at stake for the orcas and for us."

Quinn said the exhibit is designed for all ages. For children there’s an orca rocker, a drawing and coloring table, children's books about orcas, a dorsal fin to measure one's relative height, model whale toys and an orca rope to show the size of adult and newborn orcas. While the children are engaged, parents can review the display panels, view the Seattle Times’ Hostile Waters webpage, and read newspaper reprints and excerpts from Mape's book. Also, a monitor will be running the orcasound.net website as well as a sound loop of orca recordings made by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Janine Boire, PTMSC executive director, said the traveling exhibit is the result of a collaborative effort by the marine science centers around Puget Sound to support each other to achieve their common goals.

"This is what the collective is made for,” Boire said “Throughout the pandemic we've found ways to support each other. I can't imagine a more perfect next step for these organizations to take together."

To visit, look up our hours on our Visit Us page.

Port Townsend Marine Science Center purchases historic Flagship Landing building

On August 5, we celebrated our purchase of the Flagship Landing building on downtown Port Townsend's Water Street. 
(photo by Jen Lee Light Photography)

We are so excited to announce that the Port Townsend Marine Science Center has purchased the Flagship Landing building at 1001 Water Street. 

In my 10+ years working to advance our mission, first as the Administrative Coordinator and now as the Marketing and Development Coordinator, I’ve associated the Port Townsend Marine Science Center to a very specific location: Fort Worden State Park. From the dock that stretches out over the calm shores and cradles our aquarium, to the historic building that houses the legendary skeleton of Hope the orca, to even the high-ceiling office where my desk resides for me to perform my tasks, my work has been tied to a fixed location for over a decade. But in recent months, my construct of a fixed location has been challenged by COVID-19, a force that has little respect for geography. Since March of 2020 I have worked from home. At first I did this begrudgingly. But now, after a year and a half, I’ve come to a new understanding: for PTMSC to advance our place-based mission of “inspiring conservation of the Salish Sea”, we may not necessarily have to stick to just one location. 

We are excited and proud to announce our purchase of the Flagship Landing building on Water Street, Port Townsend’s historic downtown thoroughfare. Our plan is to make this a platform for our vision to foster the growth of generations of environmental stewards living in balance with marine ecosystems. Our Executive Director explains, “Not only does Flagship Landing give us the flexibility to move in over time, but most importantly, by bringing new life to this historic 132-year-old building, we dramatically reduce the carbon footprint of the project. The purchase of this building provides us with an exceptional opportunity to showcase best practices in shoreline redevelopment for a healthier marine environment. And working with Port Townsend’s city manager, John Mauro, we intend to be a demonstration project of seismic and sea level rise adaptation for our town.”

PTMSC staffers Mandi Johnson (left) and Marley Loomis display a piece of
whale baleen in front of PTMSC's newly aquired Flagship Landing building. 
(photo by Jen Lee Light Photography)

Even as the scope of our mission has expanded, the pier on which our aquarium sits was assessed by Washington State Parks to be near the end of its useful life. We participated in State Park’s planning efforts and, when it became clear a smaller pedestrian pier was best for the marine environment, our Board of Directors began the search for a new home. Our long-term goal is to create an aquarium at our new Flagship Landing building; in the meantime, we’ll continue to operate at the existing Fort Worden aquarium and museum as long as possible during the transition phase.

And then there is the issue of reaching more people. When the news of this change was shared with Anne Murphy, founding Executive Director, she responded that “this is a time for bold and radical action. The time to make a radical change is now.” She wholeheartedly endorsed the plan.

Throughout this process, I have thought about how difficult it would be to give up our location on the Fort Worden dock‒this has been an iconic spot for our organization and a focal point for our visitors, volunteers and staff. But I weigh this feeling of attachment against the ever growing need for our mission “to inspire conservation of the Salish Sea”‒ if we truly wish to fulfill this mission, we must inspire via leading by example. Letting go of an old dock in the interest of marine conservation is ultimately a better fit with our values, and retrofitting a historic building is entirely more environmentally sound than building a new facility from scratch.

Led by Executive Director Janine Boire (right), PTMSC's staff and board members carry items across Port Townsend's Water Street signifying the organization's transition to a new headquarters downtown. (photo by Jen Lee Light Photography) 

Besides, the Port Townsend Marine Science Center is so much more than an aquarium. While we transition in phases to our new location over the next several years, we offer and will continue to to offer programs like our popular summer camps, marine mammal stranding assistance, The Future of the Oceans lecture series, quality marine education programs for schools, Protection Island wildlife cruises (in partnership with Puget Sound Express), and so much more.

Even after we have fully phased into the Flagship Landing building, we will retain our museum building at Fort Worden as an environmental learning center. 

Our partnership with Fort Worden remains strong, and we look forward to strengthening the connection between downtown and Fort Worden by deepening our collaborations with other nonprofits that operate (or wish to operate) in both locations, such as Northwind Arts, Jefferson County Historical Society, and the Northwest Maritime Center. 

We look forward to this exciting new phase of inspiring conservation.
Become a member and be a part of this thrilling new chapter in our 40+ year story!

Brian Kay

Brian Kay (he / him)

PTMSC Marketing & Development Coordinator

Read the media links below:

Peninsula Daily News article

Port Townsend Leader article

Sketching the Natural World Workshop

Saturday, September 25
11 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Pope Marine Park, Port Townsend

offered by Jefferson County Historical Society

Join artist Maria Coryell-Martin and naturalist Carolyn Woods of The PT Marine Science Center for a sketching and watercolor workshop at Pope Marine Park, inspired by the natural world! Each guest will be provided with a handmade art kit, consisting of a pencil, paper, a watercolor palette, and a water brush. Guests will enjoy 45 minutes of guided looking and sketching, and finish with 15 minutes of independent sketching or painting. Guests are encouraged to continue after the 1-hour workshop concludes, as well as enjoy all day complimentary admission to the Jefferson Museum of Art & History and The Port Townsend Marine Science Center.

$5 for kids, $10 for adults.
Pre-registration is required.
20 guests max. (masked required)
Register here.

Maria Coryell-Martin is a Port Townsend-based expeditionary artist. She graduated from Carleton College in 2004 and received a Thomas J. Watson fellowship to explore remote regions through art from 2004-2005. Since then Coryell-Martin has worked with scientists, local communities, and travelers in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and the Antarctic Peninsula. In the field, she sketches with ink and watercolor, and collects multimedia recordings to build her palette of place, a record of experience, climate, and color. This work becomes the basis for exhibits of large-scale studio and field paintings, as well as multimedia presentations and hands-on workshops for audiences of all ages to promote observation, scientific inquiry, and environmental awareness.