July 5th Beach Cleanup in Westport

The Surfrider Foundation will host a beach cleanup from 10am-2pm at Westhaven State Park on July 5th.  Registration will be in the parking lot and the majority of the efforts will be focused around the jetty, but adventurous volunteers will be encouraged to patrol beaches to the south for marine debris.

A considerable amount of debris is strewn across Washington beaches following the customary pyrotechnics used to celebrate our Independence Day.  A surge of marine debris in the last few months has deposited plenty of plastics and foam as well.  Collectors may find debris ranging from buoys to glass bulbs to rubber duckies, but the majority will be plastic, foam and fireworks shrapnel.

If you're traveling to the Long Beach area for the weekend, you can join the Grass Roots Garbage Gang (ourbeach.org) for their annual July 5th cleanup.

See you on the beach!

Anticipating sea level rise and flooding

If you missed our Ocean Acidification and Sea Level Rise workshop on April 8th, don't fret! You can access pdfs and youtube videos of the presentations here. In Todd Sandell's presentation, he walks you through the use of sea level rise projections in a few coastal areas to open up discussion about how we can use these projections to plan for the future.

Fortunately, more and more resources are available to help coastal communities plan for the future while incorporating these environmental changes. Through the Climate Adaptation Knowledge Exchange you can submit your own community's case study, read about other success stories, and find many planning tools.

Two websites have a mapping tool that can help you visualize the combination of sea level rise and flood risks: Surging Seas and NOAA. Play around with the mapping tool to see multiple scenarios of what areas might be underwater in your community- is it farmland? Hotels? Estuaries?

Many reports on local climate change impacts are also available for you:

California, Oregon, Washington, and the Surging Sea

Addressing Sea Level Rise in Shoreline Master Programs (WA)

Climate Change in the Northwest: Implications for our Landscapes, Waters, and Communities

Introducing Kevin Decker- Sea Grant's Coastal Outreach Specialist

Washington Sea Grant's newest staff member, Kevin Decker, is a Coastal Outreach Specialist based in Aberdeen. As a beach goer and diver, he is not only a recreator, but through the Idaho Wildlife Federation he also has a background in recreation advocacy. He has an academic background in economic development and has developed an economic profile for Latah County, ID that looked at indicators of economic health and an evaluation of the economic contribution of the primary industries for the region. His current doctoral research in environmental science is focused on the economic value of conservation.

Kevin will be doing outreach and education about marine spatial planning to support the public's involvement in the process and also to share the mapping tool at http://msp.wa.gov. He will also be applying his background in economics to the Washington coast to help communities identify growth opportunities. At Surfrider, we are looking forward to working with Kevin through marine spatial planning.

If you’d like to meet Kevin, his office is at Grays Harbor College, and you can reach him at: kadecker@uw.edu or 360-538-2521.

World Oceans Month and International Surfing Day

Wow, it's June already and that means it's World Oceans Month! Surfrider has so many ways for you to celebrate your love for the ocean; come join us in Tacoma, Seattle, or Port Angeles at an International Surfing Day event coming up next week. (Don't worry, you don't have to surf at any of these events!)

The Surfrider Foundation will be offering the following special membership gifts throughout the month of June. Click here!

·    $40: Membership, digital subscription to Surfing Magazine and a limited edition Dane Reynolds tee.
·    $100: Includes the above + a 30th Anniversary Surfrider tee
·    $500: Includes all of the above + a Surfrider license plate holder and reusable bag.

If you are out enjoying your favorite beach next weekend, enter the My Special Place contest. Upload your coolest beach pic on Instagram and make sure to tag it with #ISD14 and #myspecialplace to be entered to win a surfboard, wetsuit, and other sweet beach gear.