SeaTrust Institute Spring/Summer 2010
SeaTrust Institute and IGI Global Consortium on Climate Change and Population Health
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We hope that our work will help to foster strong stewardship and good coastal and ocean natural resources decisions through sustainability science and social sensitivity.
Where are we?
Located in Olympia with research sites in Grays Harbor, Washington, we are fortunate to have prime habitats for shorebirds, macroinvertebrates, and a host of other residents and visitors including pacific gray whales, humpbacks and orcas. The Wishkah, Chehalis, Elk, Humptulips and other rivers feed Grays Harbor, a shallow 58,000 acre estuary on the outer Washington State coast. It is an important nursery ground for juvenile salmon and passageway for returning adults. One of the most important staging areas for shorebirds along the west coast of North America, this estuary provides a critical refueling point for western sandpipers and other shorebirds migrating between their northern breeding grounds and winter grounds to the south. In 1988, approximately 1500 acres was designated as the Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge. The Refuge is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In 1996, the Grays Harbor estuary was recognized as a Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network site of hemispheric importance.
Grays Harbor borders the Olympic National Marine Sanctuary which makes our location ideal for research and educational projects and partnerships.