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Whatcom Watch Online
Beach Naturalists Are Back In 2010


June 2010

Beach Naturalists Are Back In 2010

by Doug Stark

You might see Doug Stark out on the beach with fellow volunteers and his boy, Rowan. Now in his eighth summer with the RE Sources program, Doug also serves with the Marine Resources Committee and has previously taught coastal field science with the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. He was a naturalist in seven western states before settling in their pool with his wife Ann.

What to do you see when you go to the beach? Hermit crabs scrambling for vintage shelters like our loyal RE Store patrons? The midshipman fish, acting as stay-at-home dad on guard under a rock until his young hatch and leave the nest? Perhaps you see kids with buckets curiously overturning rocks as though on an Easter egg hunt, collecting shore crabs and shells.

It’s finally June, and you may find all these along with beach naturalists surfing the waves with beach combers, sharing fun seashore facts and tips for conservation with our visitors. Now in their tenth season, the volunteer beach naturalists are brought to a park near you by the combined efforts of RE Sources for Sustainable Communities, the Marine Resources Committee of Whatcom County and the Puget Sound Partnership.

We naturalists share in the enthusiasm of finding creepy crawlies or flopping fish under rocks. Of course, after checking them out, we return any dislocated animals where we found them, gently replacing their rock shelters.

Those of you with children know that it’s not always easy asking kids to put back their treasured finds, but beach naturalists have a few tricks up their sleeves. You might see a beach naturalists with an ochre star in hand—when found on sand or sea weed these sea stars can be lifted without harm to share fascinating features, fun facts and advice on etiquette with beach goers before returning them. Take a look at “Ode to a Beach Naturalist” to get a real sense for what it’s all about.

Look for us on low tide dates at Larrabee State Park and Birch Bay State Park. For these and selected dates at other locations see the calendar on the left page or on the Web at http://www.re-sources.org/beach-naturalist.

Have questions or want more tips for enjoying the beach? Contact Doug Stark: dougs@re-sources.org or 733-8307. §

Seven Beach Naturalist Tips for Guiding Young Scavengers

Appeal to sharing – Leave so another boy or girl can find it. One million visitors come here every year. What if everyone took something?

Relate personal experience – “When I first visited the shore as a young-un, I took home a bunch of snails—all of which died and got really stinky so I had to throw them out.”

Emphasize usefulness – Everything gets reused on the beach. A hermit crab might like to use that shell (Oh look! One is already in there.)

Appeal to sympathy – How would you like it if your house was flipped upside down and stuck in the mud? Flip rocks back over when you are done.

Appeal to sensibility – Flip over rocks no bigger than your head. It’s safer for you and the animals.

Offer a substitute – Instead of going home with sea shells, how about a snazzy beach guide brochure as souvenir. (Sweet!)

Appeal to reason – A sea star uses hundreds of tube feet to pull apart a mussel shell. If you rip a sea star off a rock, you rip off the tube feet and then it can’t eat. What a rip off!


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