education & stewardship
Achieving protection of our local resources requires the education and engagement of all citizens. Education helps to develop support for protection and restoration efforts along with developing individual stewardship ethics.
FRIENDS works to educate the community about ways to protect and preserve our natural environment. FRIENDS informs the community about scientific findings through workshops for teachers, realtors, shoreline landowners, land managers and interested public. FRIENDS has also been active with local schools and created the nearshore educator toolkit.
 FRIENDS involves community members in local and regional environmental issues and activities by passing along information and priority actions to members and the general public through our quarterly newsletters, our website, email alerts and newspapers and other press outlets.
FRIENDS has an active team of volunteers who assist with activities that directly benefit shoreline habitats. Shoreline stewards are involved in maintenance and monitoring of existing restoration sites, conducting field studies with staff and monitoring for invasive green crab, loss of eelgrass, etc... FRIENDS also manages spring and fall community beach cleanups and surveys throughout the San Juan Islands. Please contact Tina Whitman if you would like to be a FRIENDS volunteer.
Nearshore Educator Toolkit
"The Salish Sea and The Nearshore Environment of the San Juan Archipelago", is a very inclusive resource for anyone interested in teaching about the local marine environment. It can be used with fourth grade students on up to adults. Included in the compilation are two overhead transparency packs, a 16-slide slide show, detailed notes on salmon life histories, a taxonomic listing of many of the marine organisms in the area, and a list of easy to identify marine birds.
 The first overhead pack, The Salish Sea , covers topics as general as the natural history of the entire Puget Sound all the way down to specific threats to individual species (in addition to almost everything in between). Additionally described are ways for anyone to get involved in the assessment and protection of our marine resources through the Forage Fish Assessment Program, Marine Resource Committees, and practices that individuals can take in their daily lives.
The second overhead pack, presents detailed information of the large marine mammals found in the islands as well as an in depth view of what specific organisms live at each level of the intertidal zone. This compilation will be available to anyone interested and will serve as an excellent opportunity for community outreach and education. Contact FRIENDS Science Director Tina Whitman (tina@sanjuans.org), for a copy.
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