Access your 2024 Donation Details! Plus check out Repair Events and plenty of beach activities!
If you're having trouble viewing this email, you cansee it online.
A sanderling (Calidris alba)
Photo by PTMSC Volunteer Wendy Feltham
Octopress Online February 2025
A Note from Diane Quinn
What's new in 502?
Work is well underway to transform the exhibits in building 502. A highlight of the project so far was having Lee Post, master bone articulator, in town for a few wondrous days to help make adjustments to Hope, the orca skeleton he first helped PTMSC to construct for display in the building. Her flippers were repositioned and her entire spine is now attached in a graceful new attitude. Working with Lee were AmeriCorps members Hillary Sanders and Kelly Kingdon, and several other volunteers and staff, including Gabe Meyer.
Shoreline restoration brings record turnout for MLK Day of Service
From our AmeriCorps member Hillary Sanders:
On the morning of January 20, 2025, a crowd gathered outside the Port Townsend Marine Science Center museum at Fort Worden. With shovels and garden forks in hand, the group took to the beach for a day of service to the Salish Sea.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Day is the only federal holiday designated as a National Day of Service to encourage people to volunteer to improve their communities. PTMSC has been hosting a community service event at Fort Worden in collaboration with our partners since 2013.
This year saw record turnout. A total of 84 people contributed over 175 hours to restoring critical beach habitat. Volunteers removed a ton of the invasive beach grass – literally, we removed over 2000 pounds of the stuff – plus some Scotch broom and trash.
Some volunteers shared they have been attending this event for years, helping to advance a variety of different restoration projects across the park.
Read more about this amazing event on our news page:
Check in at Haines Place Park and Ride 440 12th St, Port Townsend
Show some love for Earth this Valentine's Day! Join us in cleaning up Downtown Port Townsend's streets and beaches!
How to join: Check-in at 10 a.m.: Meet at Haines Park-and-Ride (next to Safeway) to receive supplies and cleanup locations!
Return to the Pourhouse at 12 p.m.: Join us after all your hard work to weigh your accomplishments and enjoy a free drink (up to $7) at the Pourhouse and a slice of pizza from the Pizza Factory!
Find more information at our website A huge thanks to our sponsors Pourhouse and PT Pizza Factory for supporting this cleanup!
TAX SEASON IS HERE! ACCESS YOUR 2024 DONATION DETAILS
Check out PTMSC's online Constituent Portal Dashboard!
Access your user data, including membership status, donation history, contact info, and email subscriptions via our Neon database.
Print out donation receipts, set up easy recurring donations and auto-renewal membership management options.
Join us for this free community gathering in which people with repair skills share their time and talents to fix their neighbors’ belongings.
For this event, we will have volunteers donating their time to help repair small appliances and electronics, textiles/clothes, bicycles and other household items. Limit of 2 items per person. If you know the specific part needed to repair your item, we ask that you bring it along.
Bring your toaster that no longer toasts, sweater with a hole in the elbow, and excitement to get these belongings repaired while also learning how they did it and ways you could do it yourself next time!
At this Port Townsend Repair Event, we will have volunteers helping with:
Our lecture series, The Future of Oceans, draws on the commitment of professional researchers and educators across all academic spectrums to help define and inspire the health of our oceans.
"Animals of Extreme Habitats in the Deep Sea"
Presented by
Dr. Paul H Yancey
Senior Research Scientist and Professor of Biology Emeritus Whitman College
Sunday, February 16, 3 p.m.
Fort Worden Chapel
This lecture delves into the deep sea, Earth's largest and least explored habitat, where life thrives in surprising ways despite extreme conditions of darkness, cold, and low food supply. The lecture also highlights the physiological adaptations of deep-sea life and the growing threats to these fragile ecosystems from human activities like pollution and mining.
Yancey will discuss research at these habitats, including expeditions to vents off British Columbia, seeps off Oregon, and major trench explorations using submersibles like DSV Alvin and DSV Limiting Factor. Notable discoveries of creatures from this lecture (including the translucent Mariana snailfish) have been featured in documentaries by BBC (Blue Planet II), Discovery+ Channel (Expedition Deep Ocean Part 2 - Southern Ocean), and NHK (Deep Sea Part 3 - Mariana Trench narrated by Sir David Attenborough).
To keep this lecture series accessible to all, regardless of the ability to pay, there is no set charge for these lecture events; however, donations are always welcomed and appreciated.
Thanks to the Darrow Family for their ongoing support
MARINE BOARD GAME NIGHT
Thursday, February 20
5 - 7:30 p.m.
940 Lawrence St, Port Townsend (2nd floor of Aldrich's)
Dive into board games with Strange Days Comics and Games and PTMSC!
We are co-hosting a "fin"-filled Board Game Night featuring aquatic, nature, and conservation themed games that are sure to make a splash.
Friends from Strange Days and PTMSC will be on hand to help teach new players, and folks are welcome to bring games they love to play as well.
This event is FREE and all skill levels are welcome to dive right in! Snacks and beverages can be purchased on the first floor.
Join PTMSC for a series of marine science art workshops centered around the unique ecology of the Salish Sea.
Explore a variety of different art mediums while learning about whales, invertebrates, and kelp, as well as ongoing conservation projects that you can support.
Workshop schedule & descriptions:
Felting the Intertidal Sunday, March 2 1 - 2:30 p.m.
In this workshop, participants will discover the complexities of the intertidal zone and meet some of the animals that live life on the edge. We’ll talk about ongoing threats such as Sea Star Wasting Syndrome and then get into the basics of felting. Participants will learn about different needles and techniques so they can shape their very own sea creatures.
Watercolor a Kelp Forest Sunday, March 23 1 - 2:30 p.m.
In this workshop, participants will learn about common types of marine algae and their vital role in the Salish Sea ecosystem and climate resilience. We’ll then be immersed in a kelp forest with video from local diver and marine biologist Florian Graner before learning the basics of watercolor painting and practice painting different seaweeds. At the end of the workshop, participants can contribute to a collective painting of a kelp forest.
Block Printing Whales of the Salish Sea Sunday, April 6 1 - 2:30 p.m.
Participants in this workshop will explore the diverse cetaceans of the Salish Sea, their conservation status, and the legacy of Hope the Orca. We’ll also talk about the different ways we can work together to help whales, including through the Marine Mammal Stranding Network. Following this discussion, participants will learn different techniques in block printing and try their hand at making their very own prints.
Workshops held at Zee Tai Collective 918 Water St., Port Townsend
Registration required.
Register for one or all workshops in the series. Space is limited.
Classes appropriate for those 13+ but all ages are welcome to attend. We will have other art activities for those younger than 13.
Recommended cost is $20 per person per class. This fee will allow us to cover costs of materials and staff time. We want this series to be accessible to all, so pay what you can. No one turned away for lack of funds.
With the Museum at Fort Worden State Park closed for remodeling until early Summer of 2025, we encourage you to check out our website (and future editions of this newsletter) for upcoming programs!
PTMSC gift cards are now available! Purchase gift cards for your family and friends, in any amount you choose, ($5 minimum.)
Gift cards are available in the downtown Store. Once redeemed, they can be refilled!
DONATE YOUR VEHICLE
through C.A.R.S. and help out PTMSC
Ready to get rid of an old car while supporting a cleaner planet? We here at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center make charitable car donation so easy! It also feels better when you support the cause you love.
.png)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.png)
