Report on Islands’ Marine Observatories Today

The San Juan County Marine Resources Committee meeting has scheduled a meeting the “Community Science and Ecosystem Monitoring Sharing Session,” on Wednesday, Sept. 15, from 2 to 5:30 p.m. at the Eastsound Fire Hall, to share and discuss their work at Indian Island and Fishing Bay on Orcas Island, the Port of Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, Fisherman Bay on Lopez Island and a wonderful variety of projects on Waldron.

Mary Knackstedt, Coordinator of the San Juan County Marine Resources Committee (MRC) said, “The San Juan Islands have an active group of people taking a disciplined look at the local marine and nearshore environments around the islands.”

WSU Extension Beach Watchers is the lead entity for this meeting, under coordinator, Shann Weston; the intention is for community volunteers from major islands to meet each other, share their work, and dialogue with MRC members about community monitoring efforts. Two of the groups leading the way on this monitoring are Kwiáht and the WSU Beach Watchers.

The schedule for the Orcas Island meeting is as follows:

2:00-2:30pm      Regular MRC business

2:30-2:50pm      Community Monitoring Successes in Washington and other states

2:50-3:00pm      Overview of Marine Health Observatories (MHOs) by Shann Weston (Beach Watchers) and Russel Barsh (Kwiaht)

3:00-3:45pm      Presentations from Waldron, Lopez, Orcas and San Juan MHO volunteers

3:45-4:15pm      Presentations of monitoring data collected by Lopez and Orcas students

4:15-5:00pm      Roundtable Discussion – accomplishments, issues, challenges, what’s next in 2011

5pm                   Travel, for those who need to leave

5:00-5:30pm      Mixer – informal discussions, networking

Knackstedt says, “This meeting provides an opportunity to discover what volunteers have learned about these ecosystems and learn about opportunities to get involved with this interesting and rewarding activity. Community science is an excellent way for people of all ages to learn about the marine ecosystem and join the cadre of volunteers who are tracking the health of the San Juan Islands.

“Community science is monitoring of our shared natural resources by community members under the supervision of scientists by all sectors and ages of the community over the long term. Their work develops data that, over time, paints a picture of the trends of local ecosystem health. Data from these community monitoring efforts will be combined with that from other monitoring projects as part of a comprehensive monitoring strategy for the San Juan County Marine Stewardship Area.”

Shann Weston, WSU Beach Watcher Coordinator for the San Juan Islands program, is quick to point out that there is a distinct difference between “citizen” and “community” science. Citizen scientists work directly for a scientist and an agency performing monitoring activities defined by the scientists. Community science, as the name indicates, engages volunteers who are concerned about the long term livability of their ecosystem and work with the scientists to develop the monitoring strategies, and are engaged in the scientific inquiry, outreach and stewardship for the long term.

Future MRC meetings will be held on San Juan Island Oct 6, Wednesday, at Islanders Bank, and on Oct. 20, Wednesday, at Lopez Community Center, with a Shoal Bay Tour planned.

For more information, contact Knackstedt at 360-370-7592, or maryk@sanjuanco.com