by Kathryn True | Oct 15, 2018 | blog
Recent news of ailing orcas is stirring a sense of urgency around the health of our favorite whales and underscores their reliance on thriving salmon populations, which depend on the smaller and aptly named forage fish, like surf smelt and sand lance. For the past...
by Kathryn True | Sep 26, 2018 | blog
As I drove over the West Seattle Bridge last week, Mt. Rainier wore a bank of clouds like a mourning cloak. I had just learned that particulates from car tires washing into streams are likely responsible for mysterious Coho salmon die-offs around the Sound. As my...
by Bianca Perla | Mar 30, 2017 | blog
by: Kathryn True On several cold, wet nights this winter, while the rest of us cozied up by the fire, a group of intrepid scientists and volunteers visited local beaches to pan for gold—fish gold to be exact. They carefully measured out predetermined beach sections,...
by Bianca Perla | Nov 24, 2014 | Wildlife Sightings
The resident Orca whales have visited Vashon shores twice this week, circling the island today in a “superpod” composed of members of J,K, and L pods together. They ping-ponged between the south end of the island and the Narrows for a bit finally swimming...
by Kathryn True | Jan 4, 2014 | blog
A version of this article also appeared in the January 1st edition of the Vashon Island Beachcomber as an invited series on citizen science. When John Martinak signed up for the Vashon Nature Center Salmon Watcher Program last fall, he wasn’t convinced he’d actually...