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05/10/2007: "Whale Museum Marine Naturalist Training"

(Whale Museum photo)

The 2007 Marine Naturalist Training course offered by The Whale Museum on San Juan Island was a great success. The course curriculum provided an overview of the natural history of The Salish Sea, the inland marine waters between Vancouver Island and the mainlands of Washington State and Southern British Columbia.

The ecology and conservation of local marine species was a main focus of the training. Interpretive field techniques were developed in the areas of marine mammals, salmon, seabirds, intertidal ecology, geology, and the human history of the islands.

The class was filled to capacity with 30 students plus a few key staff members and existing volunteers and was in session April 7, 14, 21, 28 and May 5 & 6.


Marcy Kober, Education Curator for The Whale Museum, said she wished to thank all of the students who registered for this course for their dedication and enthusiasm to enrich the public’s knowledge of the marine ecosystem of the Salish Sea through education, and also extend a thank you to the instructors who gave of their time to thoroughly enhance our curriculum.

Those instructors are Shann Weston from Spring Street School, Skagit Valley College and the Western Prince Whale & Wildlife Tours; Dr. Russel Barsh KWIAHT (Center for the Historical Ecology of the Salish Sea); Jim Johannessen from Coastal Geological Services in Bellingham; Mike O’Connell from Long Live the Kings Glenwood Springs Salmon Hatchery on Orcas Island; Rowann Tallmon from WSU Beach Watchers of San Juan County; Kari Koski, the Whale Museum’s Soundwatch Director; David Drummond from the Merlin Falcon Foundation; Dr. Rich Osborne previous Director of The Whale Museum; Dr. Joe Gaydos from the SeaDoc Society; Shona Aitken from Wolf Hollow; and Dr. Val Viers, Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Whale Museum and professor at Colorado College.

Additional thanks go out to Elements San Juan Island Hotel & Spa for donating their conference room space for our class time, to San Juan Transit for providing transportation to various field trip locations on San Juan and Orcas Island and to the Western Prince for providing a spectacular wildlife cruise to wrap up the course.

The mission of The Whale Museum is to promote stewardship of whales and the Salish Sea ecosystem through education and research. Please visit their website for educational resources and links, group visits, Orca Adoption & our online store: www.whalemuseum.org.