Letter to the Editor: Come to the Kwiaht Party

— from Russel Barsh —

Kwiaht and the Indian Island volunteer team warmly invite you to share some food, music, and current knowledge with us at Orcas Center on Thursday November 19 beginning at 5:30 pm! Admission is free for everyone, as always.

This year — our seventh — we have some particularly interesting observations and data to share. We have been closely monitoring the course of Seastar Wasting Syndrome around Indian Island, and it appears that Ochre Stars are recovering — but we have confirmed that other species of seastars are not only down, but that they have been declining since we began counting them in 2009, which was long before Wasting Syndrome appeared. Something else is going on.

Another interesting discovery is that while eelgrass is indeed slowly declining in the bay, Bay Pipefish, which spend most of their lives camouflaged in eelgrass, seem to be doing better. Has the warmer weather benefited Pipefish but hurt eelgrass? Is it something about what Pipefish eat, or the survival rates of their offspring?

Although the Oystercatchers failed to hatch any eggs last summer, we saw the number of nesting species on Indian Island increase, which has to be a good sign. On the other hand, the number of human visitors to the island ballooned last summer (our volunteers spoke to over 6,000 visitors) and we need to be thinking carefully about the best ways of managing tourism to strike a balance between people’s experience of nature, and sustaining nature. Your ideas are important to us, so come join the party on November 19, and share with us!