Oregon Sea Grant’s invasive species specialist, Sam Chan, visited Vancouver B.C. recently and took some time to walk the beaches with his Canadian counterparts and talk about the potential for unwanted plant and animal visitors, washed to sea in the Japanese tsunami of 2011, to make it to North American shores – and the consequences if they do:
http://globalnews.ca/video/1136779/still-waiting-for-tsunami-debris
Now through February 28, 2014, Oregon Sea Grant is offering 20 to 30 percent discounts on all its 
publications and videos.
You can purchase most of our publications and videos (including such favorites as the Oregon Coast Quests Book and Boats of the Oregon Coast) at a 20 percent discount, but three are available at a 30 percent discount—Pathways to Resilience, The Oregon Rain Garden Guide (printed copy, not pdf version), and Celilo Falls DVD.
To purchase online, go to marketplace.oregonstate.edu and use these promotional codes: 28Feb20% (20% discount) or 28Feb30% (30% discount available only on the three products mentioned above). Please note that you might not be able to use both codes in one order, so you may need to place two separate orders if you wish to use both codes.
Oregon Sea Grant will release a special call for Social Science and Human Dimension Research proposals on Monday, February 3, 2014.
Researchers who intend to respond must submit a Letter of Intent by Friday, February 14. Full Proposals will be due Monday March 3, 2014. The principal investigator on each proposal must be faculty at any public or private institution of higher education in Oregon.
We expect to invest up to $300,000 in two to four projects addressing one or more of our strategic planning focus areas. Examples might include learning more about factors that help or hinder Oregon’s coastal communities in becoming more resilient to social, economic or environmental stress, challenges communities face in moving toward-ecosystem-based management, or community governance concerns and challenges.
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Jim Lichatowich, a noted biologist and author, will discuss the fate of Pacific salmon during a presentation on Wednesday, Jan. 15, at Oregon State University. The free, public event begins at 7 p.m. in the rotunda of the Valley Library on campus.
Lichatowich will speak about his new book, “Salmon, People, and Place: A Biologist’s Search for Salmon Recovery,” which was just published by the OSU Press.
Joining Lichatowich will be Carmel Finley, an OSU science historian, and author of “All the Fish in the Sea,” which was published in 2012 by the University of Chicago Press.
In his OSU Press book, Lichatowich points out many misconceptions about salmon that have hampered management and limited recovery programs. These programs will continue to fail, he argues, as long as resource managers look at salmon as “products” and ignore their essential relationship with the environment.
Lichatowich served for years on the Independent Scientific Advisory board for the Columbia River restoration program, as well as on Oregon’s Independent Multidisciplinary Science Team and other science groups in British Columbia and California. He is author of the award-winning book, “Salmon without Rivers: A History of the Pacific Salmon Crisis.”
Finley and Lichatowich will discuss the status of salmon recovery, address its problems and outline the potential for revitalization. Audience members will have the opportunity to pose questions to the scientists, purchase books and have them signed.
Learn more
NEWPORT – Saturday is all about sharks as the Hatfield Marine Science Center celebrates its annual “Shark Day” at the Visitor Center on Jan. 11.
Join Oregon Sea Grant’s marine educators and scientists for a day of shark science, with a full day of hands-on crafts, family activities and games. The Shark Riddle film and education program will be presented in Hennings Auditorium in the morning and again in the afternoon. The Visitor Center is open from 10 am to 4 pm, and as always, admission is by donation.
SCHEDULE:
Check out several new fellowship opportunities, including the newly announced 2015 Knauss Fellowship: http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/education/fellowships
Current opportunities
Want to find out more what it’s like to be an Oregon Sea Grant Scholar?
Many beaches along the Pacific Northwest coast have experienced increased erosion since the late 1800s.
So says the U.S. Geological Survey, which is working with Oregon State University on a study that’s analyzing shoreline changes in the nation’s coastal regions. The agency made the discovery while examining coastal erosion and land loss.
The groups found that since the late 1800s, most beaches are either stable or adding a little bit of sand. However, 13 of 17 beach “littoral cells,” or beach stretches between rocky headlands and major inlets, have either eroded or built up less sand than in the past. The hardest hit littoral cells include the Neskowin, between Cascade Head and Pacific City, and the Beverly Beach littoral cell between Yaquina Head and Otter Rock. Shoreline change rates at Beverly Beach have averaged more than one meter of erosion a year since the 1960s.
The findings could provide baseline data that will help researchers analyze future climate change impacts
There’s also a pronounced difference in the effects faced between Oregon and its neighbor to the north.
“In a general sense, Oregon has faced much more erosion in the short term than has southwest Washington, which has seen more accretion as a result of sediments from the Columbia River and jetties at the mouth of the Columbia and at Gray’s Harbor,” said Peter Ruggiero, an associate professor in OSU’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences.
Lingering ice and snow from a severe winter storm will close the Oregon State University campus on Monday, Dec. 9,, forcing the postponement of two candidate interviews for the vacant position of Oregon Sea Grant director.
The interviews will be rescheduled for a later date. Two additional interviews, scheduled for Dec. 18-19, are expected to go on as scheduled.
OSG Communications has just created a new Vimeo channel for high quality playback and downloads. Please take some time to view our most recent productions and make sure to follow our page.
A Big Change: Climate and Fisheries from Michael Monroe on Vimeo.
Dump Station PSA from Michael Monroe on Vimeo.
You can also find versions with closed captioning on our YouTube channel.
PORTLAND (StreetRoots News) – Nobody’s quite sure why, but toward the end of middle school students lose interest in science and math. Researchers at one Portland school want to learn why. By solving the mystery, they hope to reverse the trend.
Northeast Portland’s culturally diverse, working-class Parkrose Middle School is the subject of an investigation by Oregon State University researchers hoping to discover why science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM, no longer appeals to many kids once they reach the eighth grade.
STEM has become a watchword for educators wanting a trained workforce capable of flourishing in an increasingly science-and-technology-driven global economy. Others say STEM is essential to create an informed citizenry able to weigh in on issues from climate change to bioengineering.
However, whereas much of STEM education is currently dominated by in-school curriculum changes, the OSU Parkrose project is traveling a different path.
“The data says if they [students] have interests and are engaged, good things will happen,” says OSU professor John Falk.
Falk heads OSU’s Center for Research on Lifelong STEM Learning. He’s organizing the Parkrose project and its small team with his wife, OSU professor Lynn Dierking.
Both are also associated with Oregon Sea Grant’s program in Free-Choice Learning – operated out of the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport – which seeks to systematically study how people learn about science in “free-choice” settings such as aquariums and musems, where they can follow their own interests, set their own pace and explore at will. …
(This story was written by Nathan Gilles, a Portland writer and former Sea Grant Communications intern)