Sound Water Stewards of Island County, WA
Working for a healthy, sustainable Salish Sea marine environment
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Monthly Member Meeting | Mussel Watch Stormwater Action Plan
May 8 @ 10:00 am – 12:00 pm
Recording of Speakers – see Speaker Bios and topic Below
10:00 am – Sound Water Stewards (SWS) Business Meeting
First Stewards Acknowledgement
Sound Water Stewards Reports:
- Board – Paul Belanger, Board President
- Jim Husting remains a VP and the board also elected Robbin Boyatt as 2nd VP – both from class 2022 and, along with Allison Hiltner a great addition to our 2023 board.
- Other members are John Welsch (treasurer), Stacey Thompson (secretary), Scott Chase, Jeanie McElwain, Lee Badovinus, Allison Hiltner and Kris Holley through June.
- Executive Director – Paul Belanger will be reporting for Judi Sladki
- Volunteer Education & Training Committee (VET) – Lee Badovinus
- SignupGenius is to monitor who is going, this will not record your hours. Details and maps are on the VET Field Trip page.
- VET Field Trips open 3 days prior to all SWS members
- Education Committee – Jean Stark
- Stewardship Committee – Kelly Webb or Scott Chase
- Crabs
- May 13: Snohomish County volunteer training workshop, Edmonds Rec Center (10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.) followed by a BioBlitz practice molt search event at Olympic Beach in Edmonds (1:00 p.m.)
- Green Crabs What to Do
- Derelict Crab Pots
- Crab Lifecycle Derelict Gear Preserving the resource
- “Know Your Weeds” at Green Bank Farm
- Crabs
- Science Committee
- Volunteers needed for:
- Forage Fish monitoring on Whidbey (email Paul Belanger & Tabitha)
- Stormwater Monitoring in Oak Harbor (Paul Belanger)
- Northern Giant Hornet trapping
- *NEW Position Available*
- Shellfish collection every other Monday starting in May at the beach in Skaget Head at low tide
- Volunteers needed for:
- Camano Events – Joan
- Camano Events Team report 1 – Low-Tide Walks see all dates in the pdf linked on the first date which is June 3 and sign up here
- Discover Iverson Spit on Camano – special event on Sat, July 8
- Discover Camano Island State Park – Aug 10 – special event for community – we need lots of help
- Next Camano Events Team Meeting is June 6 at noon
- Whidbey Events–
- May Education in the Field @ Fort Casey and at Coupeville
- May tabling at Penn Cove Water Festival (5/13) and Wings Over Whidbey (5/20)
- Sign up for these shifts here under Education in the Field on VolunteerMatters!
- Educational Programs include
- Barnacle Bonaza
- Beach Exploration
- Plastic Timeline
- Seaweed / Nature Journaling etc.
- Shadowing and training available contact Tabitha & Jean Stark
- 5/12 Whidbey Coffee Social
- June 5 Technology Social and Support at the Coupeville Library (in-person + via zoom)
- Need help now? View the VolunteerMatters PDF here
- SWS Calendar
10:30 am – Featured Speakers – Mariko Langness & Danielle Nordstrom of Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), Marine Fish Science, Toxics Biological Observation System for the Salish Sea (TBiOS) on how transplanted mussels are used to monitor pollution in the Puget Sound nearshore under the WDFW Mussel Watch program.
Learn about the current status of the most frequently detected organic contaminants found in the study mussels from the initial seven-year WDFW monitoring survey period and the results of the Stormwater Action Monitoring program partner survey data. Plus, future program plans and volunteer opportunities for the upcoming fall/winter (2023/2024) field survey season.
Public is welcome to attend.
Read more about Mariko and Danielle below.
11:30 am – Breakout Rooms for Camano and Whidbey
- May end early due to Intertidal Monitoring that same day
About the presenters: Mariko Langness and Danielle Nordstrom are Fish and Wildlife Biologists with the WDFW Toxics Biological Observation System (TBiOS) team. They support TBiOS monitoring programs to determine the extent and magnitude of toxic contaminants in marine and salmonid species living in Puget Sound and Washington’s Pacific coast.
Mariko is largely focused on developing monitoring programs to assess the status and trends of toxic contaminants in nearshore biota. She currently manages the biennial Washington State Mussel Watch surveys, a contaminant monitoring program using transplanted native bay mussels to monitor pollution in the nearshore. Mariko received her B.Sc. in Aquatic and Fishery Sciences from the University of Washington in 2008.
Danielle coordinates all field and lab activities for the Mussel Watch surveys and provides similar support to other TBiOS projects. She is further active in environmental education and community outreach. Danielle received her B.Sc. in 2015 from The Evergreen State College with an emphasis on marine biology and botany.
Meeting ID: 859 5145 2336
One tap mobile: +12532050468,,85951452336# US
Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85951452336
