Community Science In the Salish Sea: Intertidal Monitoring in the Cherry Point and Fidalgo Bay Aquatic Reserves

Monitoring programs are an essential part of habitat restoration and protection efforts, but many programs often require more time and capacity than career scientists can afford. One way to fill this gap is to train and organize volunteers through community science programs overseen by staff. The Fidalgo Bay and Cherry Point Aquatic Reserves each have teams of volunteers who work diligently to collect baseline data on intertidal biota, beach substrate, and beach slope across 4 sites per reserve. This work provides a record for baseline conditions that can be used to assess natural change over time as well as the impacts of climate change, oil spills, and other anthropogenic activities. This can also benefit the volunteers themselves, as they come away with a greater knowledge of their local beaches, gain valuable technical skills, and form connections with career scientists who they know and trust. These projects also have the ability to bridge generational gaps, relying mostly on experienced retirees and energetic youth who together make this work possible. The intertidal program aims to collect high quality data while engaging community members in the scientific process to make it more transparent, approachable, and understandable. At the end of the day, we are able to fill vital data gaps and provide information to the Department of Natural Resources and our other partners and site managers to aid in Salish Sea protection and restoration that will benefit future generations.