Monday, October 9, 2017
Wednesday, October 4, 2017
2017 Eleanor Stopps Environmental Leadership Award presented to John Fabian
The Port Townsend Marine Science Center is pleased to announce that retired NASA astronaut John Fabian is the recipient of the 2017 Eleanor Stopps Environmental Leadership Award. Fabian received the award at the annual PTMSC Stewardship Breakfast at The Commons at Fort Worden on Oct. 4.
The prestigious award recognizes significant contributions in the protection and stewardship of the natural environment of the North Olympic Peninsula. The award, now in its 13th year, pays tribute to Eleanor Stopps whose vision, advocacy and determination exemplify the power and importance of citizen leadership.
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| Hood Canal Coalition organizer John Fabian |
"Through his pioneering work with the Hood Canal Coalition, Dr. John Fabian has led a determined effort to preserve the pristine ecosystem that is inextricably linked to the health of the Salish Sea," said PTMSC Executive Director Janine Boire.
"Like Eleanor, he is a powerful coalition builder," said Boire. "It is so fitting that Dr. Fabian is this year's Eleanor Stopps Environmental Leadership Award winner. We are very pleased to recognize his leadership and grassroots advocacy today."
Upon receiving the award, Fabian said: "I am indeed honored to accept the Eleanor Stopps Award on behalf of the Hood Canal Coalition and its 6,000 members. Environmental stewardship encourages us to react responsibly to projects and policies that threaten our region."
Background
One of the few people to view the Earth from space, Fabian said most who have had that privilege share his concerns about the vast impact of human activity on the global environment.
"I don't know anybody who's done it and hasn't come back more environmentally aware," Fabian told a Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter in 2004.
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| John Fabian, NASA astronaut |
Fabian received his Ph.D. in Aeronautics & Astronautics from the University of Washington in 1974. In addition to his national service with NASA, Fabian also distinguished himself as an Air Force pilot, served the Pentagon as Director of Space, and spent a decade leading a think tank that studied space systems.
In 2004, while retired and living in Port Ludlow, Wash., an announcement from Fred Hill Materials --a nearby Olympic Peninsula gravel mining company -- caught Fabian's attention. The company was planning to send strip-mined gravel on a 4-mile conveyor belt through the unspoiled woods that would end at a 1000-foot industrial pier on the shores of the bucolic Hood Canal.
Fabian sprang into action, writing letters, speaking at meetings and eventually co-founding the Hood Canal Coalition to fight the proposal. The coalition has grown to 6,000 members and, despite the odds against them, Fabian and his followers have, thus far, succeeded.
In 2012, Fred Hill Materials closed and the company that took over -- Hood Canal Sand and Gravel -- lost a suit in 2016 that challenged a conservation easement. The ruling effectively blocks the company's plans.
"I think the existing plan is dead," Fabian told the Port Townsend Leader in September 2016. "Whether they have an alternative plan, I don't know. We'll have to wait and see."
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| Eleanor Stopps |
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 region, 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 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 Port Townsend Marine Science Center has sponsored this annual award since 2005.
Friday, September 29, 2017
The Future of Oceans: Dave Bonnett to reveal acoustic research about Amazonian pink river dolphins
The PTMSC's Future of Oceans lecture series, started in 2014, explores the frontiers of ocean research and emerging technologies while confronting the human capacity to understand and sustain healthy oceans. Each year hundreds of attendees are challenged and informed with thought-provoking presentations. To view the 2017-18 schedule of lectures, visit https://ptmsc.org/programs/
Marine acoustic researcher and citizen scientist Dave Bonnett will present the most recent findings of his work with Amazonian pink river dolphins (Inia geoffrensis) at the first of the Port Townsend Marine Science Center's 2017-18 lecture series, "The Future of Oceans," at the chapel at Fort Worden State Park on Sunday, October 8, at 3:00 p.m.
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| Marine acoustic researcher Dave Bonnett |
Bonnett, a PTMSC supporter since its inception 35 years ago, is experienced in the field of underwater acoustical research. He has undertaken numerous trips into the Peruvian Amazon with his wife Dottie, a marine biologist, to record and study the particular sounds of pink river dolphins and learn how ecosystem changes are impacting the species.
"Our main objective in the beginning was to investigate the efficacy of using underwater sound recordings, along with behavioral observations, to identify and count individuals," Bonnett said. "We have discovered a very complex world associated with Inia, and are continuing to evolve and expand our research."
Bonnett's lecture will also focus on how his research relates to local species of Cetacea in the Salish Sea.
"There is a growing urgency to better understand this threatened species because of increasing anthropogenic pressures on both Inia and their habitat," Bonnett said. "This is a story that will be familiar to citizens of the Salish Sea."
For the latest information about the Port Townsend Marine Science Center, visit www.ptmsc.org and www.
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
The Sonic World of the Amazonian Pink Dolphin
Sunday, October 8, 2017
3 pm
David Bonnett, Citizen Scientist
The Fort Worden Chapel
Admission: $5
(students, teachers FREE)
Mr Bonnett will present his most
recent finding of his acoustical research with Amazonian Pink Dolphin (Inia geoffrensis) including how ecosystem changes in the Amazon are
impacting this species and how this research relates to our local species of
Cetacea. His research grows from decades of underwater acoustical research and
designing ultra-quiet vessels.
This is the first installment of The Future of Oceans lecture series.
This event is offered with generous support by the Darrow Family.
Assisted Listening Devices available
This is the first installment of The Future of Oceans lecture series.
This event is offered with generous support by the Darrow Family.
Assisted Listening Devices available
Monday, August 21, 2017
Sunning The Whale Day
Friday, September 1
11am-5pm
Fort Worden Pier
Come visit the PTMSC when we "daylight" the gray
whale bones on the Pier for a long dose of sun and warmth. For this one-day-only event, staff and volunteers will be on hand to answer questions about gray
whales, how this one came to be part of the PTMSC collection, and what we can
learn from marine mammals in our midst. You can also learn more about the
Marine Mammal Stranding Network at work right here in Port Townsend.
In May of 2016, a juvenile gray whale died in Elliott Bay in
Seattle and was towed to a site on Indian Island provided by the US Navy. A
team of volunteers, staff, and AmeriCorps members assisted with the necropsy
and additional preparation of the body for preservation of her skeleton. The
PTMSC has been storing the skeleton until it can be articulated for use in
educational programs and exhibits.
From Park to Pier: The Early Days of the Port Townsend Marine Science Center, Part 4 of 4
Although Libby Palmer
returned to Port Townsend in 1990, for the next two years her job often took
her out of the area. Still, she now had more time to devote to the Port
Townsend Marine Science Center and the important work that co-founder Judy D’Amore,
the part-time staff and the growing base of volunteers were sustaining.
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| 2017 Water World, photo by David Conklin |
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
Vehicular Recollections of a 2017 Marine Mammal Stranding Network Coordinator
As my time at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center (PTMSC) comes to a close, I cannot help but remember the adventures I’ve had in this new home in the Pacific Northwest. As far away as I am from my home state of Texas, there were countless experiences that comforted me adapting to this new and different place. The open arms of caring people, happily greeting an out-of-place and chilly southerner, bathed me in countless opportunities to widen my horizons with new stories to tell. I have spoken to a lot of the PTMSC staff and volunteers about my focus, marine mammals, but most of my adventures stemmed from cars or relationships with folks over cars.
Those of you who know me know of my obsession with cars, old and new. The nature of how things work, living or mechanical, is a fascination of mine and determines my two outlets: physiological ecology of marine mammals and car mechanics. While pursuing my marine mammal career here in Port Townsend, I met a man named Denis Keyes, a gentle, knowledgeable soul, who helped set aflame my infatuation with turning wrenches on cars. We met while Denis was volunteering in the Natural History Exhibit, and by visits to his property where former PTMSC intern Tim Weissman lives. Soon, we began to work on Denis’s 1974 SuperBeetle, moving over many months from a disassembled engine on the floor to nearly driving it from the garage.
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| Denis's Super Beetle gets an engine |
When I met Tim Weissman, he was in need of a car. After weeks of pouring over ads, and about nine hours on the road, he came home with his new blue Subaru. The catch was I had pulled for Tim to purchase a type of car he had yet to learn to drive – one with a standard transmission. I taught him the ropes soon thereafter.
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| Tim and I sporting our off-road vehicles |
Tim’s girlfriend at the time, Sarah, who was also an AmeriCorps at PTMSC, wanted to learn how to change the oil on her Ford, and we also replaced the tensioner pulley.
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| Sarah completing her first oil change |
With encouraging mechanical outlets through Denis, Tim, and Sarah, and my desire to put my mind and hands to work, I decided to purchase my own project car.
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| The "Metrocity" in January after a wheel refurbish |
I bought a 1990 Geo Metro Xfi for $100 in Edmonds in the dead of winter. The car had an open back due to surly modifications and no heater, providing a true test of commitment and wool socks. Over some months, I replaced the heater and restored the floors, and my plan was to replace the transmission, which had blown 5th gear. I
had even gone to a junkyard and retrieved a new-to-me transmission and was
gearing up to install it. I was moving towards this and other projects
before I hit a dead stop.
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| The restored floors |
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| Supporting the weight of the engine/transmission with a spare junkyard radio |
In a playful moment, I decided to drive my unregistered, uninsured, and non-road legal project car six blocks to show fellow AmeriCorps, Juhi LaFuente. I was pulled over and given a ticket for $686 – one and a quarter my salary and a simple, youthful, foolish mistake which I successfully contested. I then sold it to a hopeful and excited teenager for $300.
Working at the PTMSC has opened many doors for me professionally and made me many friends. I greatly enjoyed working with all the helpful and hard-working volunteers, teaching youth in marine science classes or running a fascinating exhibit open to the public. These experiences and others I will carry with me through my life, telling stories of the time spent in Washington and how I wish I could have stayed longer. To those which made this time spent so wonderful, I thank you.
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