Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMarch 2025 NPC MRC First DRAFT Meeting Summary NPC MRC 3/18/2025 DRAFT Meeting Summary 1 March 18, 2025 NPC MRC Draft Meeting Summary The Tuesday, March 18, 2025 NPC MRC meeting took place at the Peninsula College in Forks, WA and by Zoom connection from 4:00 PM to 5:31 PM ([00:09:05] to [01:36:47]). Appointed committee members present at the meeting were Maggie Bockart (Hoh Tribe Representative), Chris Butler-Minor (Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, ex officio), Eileen Cooney (Citizen Representative, Jefferson County - Economic Groups), Wendy Feltham (Citizen Representative, Jefferson County – Scientific Community), Rod Fleck (City of Forks), Jennifer Hagen (Quileute Tribe), John Hunter (Citizen Representative – Conservation / Environmental Groups), Rebecca Mahan (Clallam County Representative), Ian Miller (UW Sea Grant, ex officio), Tami Pokorny (Jefferson County Representative and NPC MRC Coordinator), and Jill Silver (Citizen Representative, Jefferson County– Conservation/Environmental Groups). A quorum was present at the beginning of the meeting. Rebekah Brooks (Rebekah Brooks Contracting), Lee First (Twin Harbors Waterkeeper), Ally Galiotto (Puget Sound Restoration Fund [PSRF]), Eleanor Hines (Twin Harbors Waterkeeper Executive Director), Nancy Messmer (Northwest Clean Coast Alliance), Roy Morris (Northwest Clean Coast Alliance), Florence Sullivan (Coastal Oceanic and Seabird Survey Team [COASST] Science Coordinator), Vera Trainer (Olympic Natural Resources Center [ONRC] Marine Science Director), and Katie Wrubel (OCNMS) were also in attendance. Introductions Public Comments Jill Silver mentioned a new commercial self-test for individuals to identify microplastics in the body that came up in an OceanPlastics email list. Additions to and Approval of the Agenda The agenda was approved by consensus as written. Approval of the February NPC MRC Summary Wendy Feltham asked about the affiliations of the scientists who presented about ice age climates at the meeting. Jill Silver shared the links to the scientists: Roger Creel is currently with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, but will be starting a position with Texas A&M in August (https://rogercreel.com/index.html); Hung Nguyen is with University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (https://esec.illinois.edu/directory/profile/hungn); Marion McKenzie is with the Colorado School of Mines (https://mmglacialgeo.com/); and Guleed Ali is with Stonybrook University Department of Geosciences (https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/cas/about/idea_fellows/_fellowprofiles/Guleed_Ali.php). Rebekah Brooks noted that affiliations can also be found in the list of attendees at the beginning of each meeting summary. The February NPC MRC Summary was approved by consensus. Announcements NPC MRC 3/18/2025 DRAFT Meeting Summary 2 Tami Pokorny announced that the new request for proposals was released and is open for sponsors to submit projects. She asked everyone to please invite people to the upcoming Film Festival. Chris Butler-Minor noted that the Makah Tribe’s marine ecologist Adrianne Akmajian would be giving a talk on the prevalence of algal toxins in gray whales feeding in Northwest Washington at 5:00 PM tonight as part of the OCNMS-Feiro Series; registration is at https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8302759093071762009?utm_medium=email&utm_source=GovDeliv ery. Lee First announced an upcoming remote beach cleanup in the vicinity of the Raft River; please contact Lee directlyleefrider7@gmail.com if interested. Old Business Film Festival Planning The Film Festival is scheduled to take place in conjunction with RainFest over the weekend of 4/12/25. RainFest is offering support with covering costs, providing a facility, and helping to bring in people. Ian met with RainFest planner Sue Shane about cooperation with RainFest. She proposed the film showing for 7:30 to 9:30 PM on 4/12/25, so that the Rainforest Arts Center could be as dark as possible. The doors will open at 6:30 PM. The group discussed what the Natural Resources Fair should look like. *Roy Morris volunteered to help with the event. Katie Wrubel suggested inviting state agencies and the Forks Peninsula College Natural Resources Program to participate. *Maggie Bockart also volunteered to help, and will notify other regional organizations, including the North Pacific Coast Lead Entity and Coast Salmon Partnership. *Ian will tell Sue that the Natural Resources Fair will run from 6:00 to 7:30 PM prior to the Film Festival. New Business Marine Science Research at the ONRC Dr. Vera Trainer presented an Aquatic Science Research Overview: Olympic Region Harmful Algal Bloom (ORHAB) Partnership. The ONRC leads the effort with multiple partners, including the Quileute, Quinault, Makah, and Hoh Tribes; Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife; Washington Department of Health; OCNMS; Olympic National Park; and the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System. They hold annual meetings, with the last one being in January of 2024, and toxin analysis workshops. Regular monitoring helps provide earlier warnings for forecasting HAB events. They hope to expand the program with more data, partnerships, and autonomous vehicle deployment for HAB sampling. The ONRC Marine Science Program is also working on additional projects, including one on ocean acidification in the Salish Sea, which is looking at the combined effects of ocean acidification, increased temperature, and nutrification; and an international workshop with international partners investigating HAB control and the impact of HAB on fish farms in Asia. Jill Silver shared a story from her childhood of growing up on the Peninsula eating mussels. As red tides became more regular, her family ran a test case to look for tingling on the lips or tongue, which was a method passed down from the Quileute Tribe. Chris Butler-Minor asked Vera if she would be available to participate in a presentation about multi-stressors to the OCNMS. *Vera said either herself or Francis Chan could present. Roy Morris brought up the possibility of involving students in sample collection. COASST Project Update Marine ecologist and new COASST science coordinator Florence Sullivan gave an update on the COASST project that the NPC MRC is helping to fund. Florence just started at COASST about two months ago, and said she was delighted to hear about other projects that the NPC MRC is supporting. After 25 years of data collection along the Washington coast, the COASST program now has a baseline and can document spikes and abnormal situations. The COASST intern project provides a stipend for four Quileute Tribal School (QTS) students who are collecting data on dead birds on 1st and 2nd beaches in La Push. They have put in a total of about 24 hours of surveying, conducting four to eight surveys per student. As part of the project, the interns not only participate in community science, but also have contact with other students at the University of Washington (UW). UW undergraduate students came out to La Push in the fall to do surveys and connect with the QTS students. Two NPC MRC 3/18/2025 DRAFT Meeting Summary 3 weeks from now, the QTS interns will go to the UW campus to tour the environmental science programs, meet with current students in the geoduck program who followed non-traditional pathways to their undergraduate degrees, attend a luncheon to meet other tribal students, and take a tour of the Burke Museum. One of the intern’s girlfriends has been joining in with the surveys, and due to convenient logistics, will be able to attend the UW tour as well. The project will culminate in a community presentation in June, where the interns can share with the community about their findings and experiences, and recruit more students if the program is continued. Jennifer Hagen brought up the issue of lights on the new school building attracting storm petrels and encouraged Florence to connect with QTS science teacher Alice Ryan. Nancy Messmer shared her experience of trying to recruit students to be part of the COASST team that surveys Hobuck Beach in Neah Bay. She added that there is a purple gallinule feather in the Burke Museum that she collected during her own surveys. Building Capacity for Coastal Dungeness Crab Larval Monitoring Community monitoring projects coordinator Ally Galiotto gave an update on the PCRF light trap network, which the NPC MRC has helped to expand. The network began in 2019 with 13 sites and increased to 22 sites in 2024 to include the outer coast. The program traps Dungeness crab megalopae to forecast adult crab abundance. The locations include La Push, Neah Bay, the Wa’atch River, Westport, and Tokeland. Project partners include the Quileute, Makah, and Shoalwater Bay Tribes, and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. The first objective of the project is to support coastal partners who are established with this monitoring. Ally went over the ways PCRF has been supporting their coastal partners. With the Makah Tribe, they conducted site visits and helped to design a new submerged trap design. They are going to continue weekly monitoring and add temperature monitoring. The Quileute Tribe team faced difficulties because of location and capacity; the sampling location has high freshwater input and a ten-foot tidal range that limit deployment options, and daily sampling is a challenge. Next steps may include borrowing the submerged trap from the Makah Tribe. WDFW has been a long-term partner, so it is important to maintain the ongoing data set of larval crab abundance on the outer coast. This year, they plan to continue at the two sites in Westport and Tokeland. The second project goal is to update and improve light trap construction and protocols and share resources to standardize methods. To meet this goal, PCRF has updated the light trap sampling protocol to include the new submerged trap design, created an instructional video, prepared a light trap toolkit to publish on the website, and met with the Larval Crab Monitoring Working Group on 3/17/25. The project will continue through May, and Ally will write an article about it to publish locally. Tami Pokorny asked about who participated in the workshop, and Ally said that all of the partners were represented. Jennifer Hagen asked about the findings of the genetic work. Ally said that analysis has found no evidence of genetically distinct subpopulations in the adult crab or larvae. Updates Coast MRC Update Chris Waldbillig was not present for an update. Washington Coastal Marine Advisory Council (WCMAC) The next WCMAC meeting is scheduled for 3/19/25. Rod Fleck gave an overview of the agenda, which will include a review of the workplan, and updates on offshore wind energy and the Washington Coastal Zone Management Program. The Governor’s new natural resources staff will step in for introductions between 10:00 and 10:40 AM, if anyone is interested in attending for that agenda item. The next meeting is scheduled for June. The agenda and other WCMAC meeting materials can be found on the Ecology website: Department of Ecology - Committees, Boards, and Workgroups (wa.gov). Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council The next meeting is scheduled for 3/21/25. Chris Butler-Minor gave an update. The meeting will include updates from the Department of Ecology on the Washington Coastal Zone Management Program. The advisory council has sent out a list of high-level strategies from the new draft management plan, asking for comments on the top NPC MRC 3/18/2025 DRAFT Meeting Summary 4 five priorities. To join the meeting, go to https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/934726957 or dial in using your phone at +1(872) 240-3412 | Access Code: 934-726-957. West Coast Ocean Alliance Jennifer Hagen reported that the tribal portion of the alliance has grown, and that it was very encouraging to see that participation up and down the coast was blooming. With the next set of funding, they will be developing administration for a regional funding proposal, and data tools for analysis of health and trends along the coast. Invasive European Green Crab Jennifer Hagen announced that the Quileute Tribe was awarded funds from the Bureau of Indian Affairs for monitoring for European green crab this year. They will be hiring high school students to help with trapping over the summer and are bumping up their efforts. During yesterday’s Dungeness crab working group meeting, there were side bar conversations about plans for more robust efforts to trap European green crab. Marine Debris Chris Butler-Minor noted that the Washington Coastal Cleanup was scheduled for 4/19/25. Last year, 8.1 tons of debris were removed from Washington beaches on that single day. *She will send out the sign-up registration link as soon as it opens. Jennifer Hagen mentioned some changes for the 2nd Beach cleanup; in the past, the Olympic National Park provided dumpsters, but the Tribe has been notified that this year the debris will be removed by truck instead. Nancy Messmer said that the Western Straits cleanup would be held during the following week. She added that the Clean Coast Alliance shares its data publicly and is continuing work on recycling and getting beyond plastics. Roy Morris pointed out that in spite of the criticism about recycling plastics, it is still important to remove it from beaches so that it does not turn into microplastics. *Tami Pokorny said she would follow up with Roy regarding Lee First’s work on microplastics. Jill Silver added that she sent an article to Tami about nature-based plastic for distribution. Climate/Fossil Fuels Related (All) There was nothing new to report. Administrative Update Tami Pokorny reminded the group that the request for proposals was out. Next Agenda (April 15, 2025): The next NPC MRC Meeting will be held on 3/18/25 and will include a presentation from Ian Miller on chronologs. Tami Pokorny hoped that sponsors might have some new projects to bring forward. Public Comments/General Ian Miller said that he would be giving a talk on erosion at Kalaloch Beach with the Olympic National Park speaker series. He was curious about connecting with people who have pre-1990s memories about Kalaloch. *Jill Silver said that she would share her memories. Other suggested contacts included John Anderson (with the Forks Beachcombing Museum) and Mike Doherty (with the Clallam County MRC). *Tami Pokorny added that she would send out information on the WCMAC meeting and the nature-based plastics article. Adjourn at 5:31 PM Action Items *Roy Morris volunteered to help with the Natural Resources Fair. NPC MRC 3/18/2025 DRAFT Meeting Summary 5 *Maggie Bockart also volunteered to help with the Natural Resources Fair, and will notify other regional organizations, including the North Pacific Coast Lead Entity and Coast Salmon Partnership. *Ian Miller will tell Sue Shane that the Natural Resources Fair will run from 6:00 to 7:30 PM prior to the Film Festival. *Vera Trainer said either herself or Francis Chan could present about multi-stressors to the OCNMS. *Chris Butler-Minor will send out the Washington Coast Cleanup sign-up registration link as soon as it opens. *Tami Pokorny said she would follow up with Roy Morris regarding Lee First’s work on microplastics. *Jill Silver said that she would share her memories about Kalaloch Beach with Ian Miller. *Tami Pokorny will send out information on the WCMAC meeting and the nature-based plastics article. Draft summary compiled by Rebekah Brooks.