Category Archives: events

Check out our invasive species resources

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Aquatic Invasive species images

 
It’s National Invasive Species Awareness Week, and Oregon Sea Grant has resources to help you take action against non-native animals and plants that can wreck native habitats and out-compete the local fauna and flora.

Port Orford Field Station Holds Open House Nov. 14

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PORT ORFORD – Oregon State University’s two-year-old research field station in Port Orford will hold an open house Nov. 14 to celebrate its expanded role in coastal research, outreach and education.

The open house runs from 3-6 pm at the station, 444 Jackson Street, in Port Orford. It’s free and open to the public; light refreshments will be served.

The field station is supported by numerous programs at OSU that have a role in marine studies, including Oregon Sea Grant, the Coastal Oregon Marine Experiment Station (COMES), the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife and the OSU Research Office.

Port Orford Sustainable Seafood, a local fish processor, is also located in the building and its staff will be on-hand during the open house to describe its operation.

“The field station has been a place that professional scientists, students and citizen scientists can use as a base of operation to study topics ranging from the ecology of marine reserves to gray whale foraging behavior,” said Cynthia Sagers, OSU’s vice president for research. “The field station provides two laboratories, classroom and office space, and housing for visiting researchers.”

Station manager Tom Calvanese said that in June, the station installed a SCUBA air fill station to support scientific divers conducting underwater surveys. “Recently, we began to make this service available to recreational divers seeking to explore the rocky reefs in the area – a known diver destination,” he said.

Funding for the facility was launched with a $425,000 allocation by the Oregon Legislature in 2011 to purchase the building. OSU has funded its operation since.

Teachers: Register now for Oct. 9 Coastal Learning Symposium

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NEWPORT – Registration is open for the 2015 Coastal Learning Symposium, an annual event aimed at giving pre-K-12, informal and post-secondary educators creative ways to address learning objectives using the ocean, forest and community as context.

The symposium, which takes place Oct. 9 at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport and OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Center, features break-out sessions by Oregon Sea Grant, Oregon State Parks, the Oregon Forest Resources Institute and several learning technology companies, on topics ranging from Connecting Math and Science: Exploring the Math in Boyle’s Law data to Creating Art in Nature.

Field trips include learn-to-surf and paddle-board workshops at Agate Beach emphasizing beach and ocean safety, and guided interpretive walks of Yaquina Head and Brian Booth State Park, Oregon’s newest coastal park.

Greg Smith, professor at Lews & Clark College’s Graduate School of Education, will deliver a keynote address, and the day will culminate with a Learning Symposium Cruise of Yaquina Bay by Marine Discovery Tours.

Schools sending three or more teachers receive 30% off registration fees with the promotional code “GROUP” if they register by Sept. 25. Graduate credit is available through Portland State University.

The symposium is part of the  COASTALearning series, a project of the Oregon Coast Aquarium and Lincoln County School District.

Learn more:

National Take Back Prescription Day wants your old drugs

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Oregon Sea Grant teams up with the Corvallis Police Department, Corvallis Public Works and the Benton County Heath Department on Sept. 26 to collect your unused, expired and otherwise unwanted pharmaceuticals, free of charge.

Dispose of old medicine on National Prescription Drug Takeback Day

The collection takes place from 10 am to 2 pm at Republic Services, 110 NE Walnut Blvd., Corvallis.

Unused prescription drugs should never be tossed in the trash or flushed down the toilet, experts say, because they can make their way into the waterways with potential harm to animals and plants. And keeping them around can result in accidental poisonings, overdose or theft.

According to the US Drug Enforcement Administration, which sponsors the nationwide event, medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to theft, misuse, and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are at alarming rates, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs. Studies show that many abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet.

“Prescription drug abuse is a huge problem and this is a great opportunity for folks around the country to help reduce the threat,” DEA Acting Administrator Chuck Rosenberg said.  “Please clean out your medicine cabinet and make your home safe from drug theft and abuse.”

Research – including studies funded by Oregon Sea Grant – has found evidence that pharmaceuticals leaching into the waterways, possibly from improper disposal, are showing up in the tissues of fish and sea birds with as-yet unknown consequences.

While narcotic prescriptions, such as hydrocodone, oxydodone, and morphine, are the main focus of the nationwide take-back, you can drop off other prescription drugs as well. The only thing not accepted is syringes.

In the previous nine Take-Back events nationwide from 2010-2014, 4,823,251 pounds, or 2,411 tons of drugs were collected, according to the DEA.

Hatfield Center celebrates 50th anniversary next week

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Hatfield Marine Science CenterNEWPORT, Ore. – Fifty years ago this summer, Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center opened its doors as a fledgling research and education facility envisioned to help the depressed central Oregon coast economy revive.

Today it stands as one of the most important and unique marine science facilities in the country, bringing together a plethora of scientists from different agencies to tackle some of the most pressing issues facing the world’s oceans, educating a new generation of students about these issues, and reaching out to inform the public about their impacts.

Oregon Sea Grant has been part of the HMSC since the beginning. The program’s first marine Extension agent, Bob Jacobson, was stationed there, providing service and consultation to the commercial fishing fleet. Sea Grant marine educators Don Giles and Vicki Osis laid the groundwork for what would become an exemplary k-12 and public education program which now leads STEM education efforts on the Oregon coast. And we manage the HMSC Visitor Center, popular with tourists – and now serving as a living laboratory for studying how people learn in informal settings such as aquariums and museums.

OSU and the HMSC will commemorate their half century of success with a celebration and reception on Friday, Aug. 7, at the center. The public is invited.

“This is an opportunity to look at the past and honor the people and events that have made the Hatfield Marine Science Center such a special place,” said Bob Cowen, director of the center. “It’s also a time to celebrate the future, as OSU is launching its Marine Studies Initiative and working on plans to expand the center and its capacity.”

The 50th anniversary celebration will begin at 4:30 p.m. just outside the Hatfield Marine Science Center, located south of the Yaquina Bay Bridge in Newport. The celebration will feature speakers, displays, a historical slide show, and a video featuring faculty, student and community perspectives on the center’s future plans. A reception will follow from 5:30 to 7 p.m.; the events are free and open to the public.

Earlier in the day, a special presentation by Rick Spinrad, chief scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and former OSU Vice President for Research, will be held in the Visitor Center Auditorium. His talk, “How Oceanography Saved the World,” which begins at 3 p.m., is part of the 50th Anniversary Alumni Speaker Series.

Other speakers include former Oregon State President John Byrne, a former NOAA administrator.

Event information and links to HMSC archives, historic photos, video and a timeline of landmarks for the Hatfield Marine Science Center can be found at: http://hmsc.oregonstate.edu/50th.

 

Schools, communities celebrate STEM Week Oregon

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Schools, communities and organizations across the state will take part May 2-10 in STEM Week Oregon, a statewide movement to raise awareness, celebrate and engage young people in learning science, technology, engineering and math.

There’s still time to get involved, by joining in an activity that’s already planned – or coming up with your own. Teachers and their students, parents and their children, community groups and businesses get ideas and register their events at http://stemoregon.org/stemweek/ .

Organizers also invite STEM professionals and companies to volunteer at local schools, talk about their careers and research, or host a field trip for students during the week. Colleges and universities, meanwhile, are invited to host STEM activities for students and the broader community, and encourage students and faculty to sign up with STEMOregon for more ways to get involved.

Shark Day coming at HMSC

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Shark Day 2011

Shark Day 2011

NEWPORT – Did you know more than 30 species of sharks can be found off the Pacific Northwest coastline? Learn more about them this Saturday, Jan 24, as the Hatfield Marine Science Center celebrates our annual Shark Day!

Stop by the Center between 10 am and 4 pm for shark-themed exhibits, biofacts, films and kid-friendly activities related to these fascinating sea creatures.

Afraid of sharks? How about vending machines? You might be surprised to learn which is more dangerous to humans!

Make sure to be here at 1:30 pm. to watch and listen as Dr. Bill Hanshumaker, Oregon Sea Grant’s chief scientist at the Visitor Center, conducts a necropsy on a salmon shark and talks about the animal’s biology, life cycle and habits.

Learn more:

Join us for Sea Grant Scholars Day, Nov. 13

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Join us for the 2014 Oregon Sea Grant Scholars Day Former Sea Grant director Bob Malouf listens to presentation during 2012 Scholars SymposiumSymposium on Thursday, November 13, 2014 from 1:30 pm to 5 pm in the Joyce Powell Leadership Center Journey Room in the OSU Memorial Union!

Several of our student fellows and other scholars will be making presentations or presenting posters about their Sea Grant-related work. This gives students the opportunity to gain valuable experience presenting their research and experiences to a public audience and receive feedback on their work and presentation skills.

See the draft agenda here.

Learn to safely can fresh-caught tuna

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Fresh-caught tunaNEWPORT – Tuna are abundant and available on the Oregon coast at the best prices of the year – so now’s a great time to learn how to safely can your own tuna at home.

Sea Grant Extension’s seafood product development specialist Mark Whitham and Ruby Moon, fishery Extension agent, will lead a workshop in home-canning tuna on Friday, Sept. 12 at Newport’s First Presbyterian Church, 227 NE 12th Street, from 9 am to 3 pm.

Participants will learn to safely and successfully can tuna, and the skills to do it all at home. Participants will also leave with the jars of tuna they can during the workshop.

Registration is $40 per person and space is limited; register by Sept. 1 with the Lincoln County Extension Office, 29 SE 2nd Street, Newport or by calling 541-574-6534.

Learn more:

Science Pub to explore the future of oceans

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CORVALLIS – The effects of global climate change and associated threats to the oceans are the topic for the May 12 edition of Science Pub Corvallis, presented at the Majestic Theatre, 115 SW 2nd St., from 6-8 pm. Admission to the public talk is free.

Andrew Thurber, a post-doctoral fellow in Oregon State University’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences (CEOAS), will lead the discussion in an informal presentation where questions are welcomed.

The Earth’s oceans face multiple climate-related stresses: warming temperatures, low oxygen, acidification and a lack of biological productivity. As marine ecosystems respond, the consequences could be felt directly by about 2 billion people whose lives depend on ocean fisheries and other resources. Those are among the results reported by an international team of 29 scientists who studied the influence of climate change on marine systems from the poles to the Equator.

Thurber, who holds a Ph.D from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, helped to conceive the study and was a co-author of the report that appeared in October 2013 in the journal PLOS Biology. “What is really sobering about these findings is that they don’t even include other impacts to the world’s oceans such as sea level rise, pollution, over-fishing, and increasing storm intensity and frequency,” he says. “All of these could compound the problem significantly.”

Thurber will discuss the study and actions needed to avert the most significant changes.  His research focuses on deep-sea ecosystems, particularly the role of invertebrates in recycling nutrients and sequestering carbon. He has conducted experiments under seasonal sea ice in Antarctica and explored communities that live around methane seeps near New Zealand and Costa Rica.

Science Pub Corvallis is sponsored by OSU’s TERRA magazine

Learn more …