JULY 2006 Beach Log

WSU Beach Watchers P. O. Box 5000 Coupeville WA 98239 360-679-7391 ; 321-5111 or 629-4522 Ext. 7391 FAX 360-678-4120 Camano Office: 121 N East Camano Dr., Camano Island, WA 98282, 387-3443 ext. 258, e-mail: achase@was.edu E-mail: Kcooley@wsu.edu meehan@wsu.edu beachwatchers@wsu.edu Web address: www.beachwatchers.wsu.edu

Education, Research, Stewardship

Field Trip of Second Graders on Camano Island Five classes of second grade students, along with their teachers and chaperones from Lakewood Elementary School, took a field trip to Camano Island State Park on June 12. The 125 students were given a sample of marine etiquette and education by 12 Camano Island Beach Watchers.

The Beach Watchers provided fun activities to help them appreciate the fragile marine life at the beach. Each class had a Beach Watcher guide to lead them through five Exploration Stations; touchy/feely, rocky shore, high tide and bluffs, aquariums, and a story “Dear Fish.” The “little people” and adults rotated through the stations and were introduced to the marine environment all within about an hour.

As a bonus, after the event and during our debriefing, the Beach Watchers discovered an uncommon sight —a Melibe leonine nudibranch in a bucket of seaweed kept on hand for the aquariums. It was an amazing find and a highlight to the day.

Alice Blandin, BW Class of 2002

Photo credit:

Whidbey Island 2006 Seining Season Ends The arrival of warm lagoon temperatures (14 degrees+, centigrade) and the appearance of hundreds of shiner perch (Cymatogaster aggregate) signaled the end of the Whidbey sein-ing season for 2006. No juvenile salmon were caught at ei-ther Race or Harrington Lagoons on 17 May, our last (as it turned out) seining date of the year.

To summarize, we can characterize the 2006 season as “a very pink year.” Pinks (Oncorynchus gorbuscha) were by far the dominant juvenile salmon species at both sites. Chum (Oncorynchus keta) came in a strong second, with only a score of Chinook (Oncorynchus tsawytscha) recorded. Pacific stag-horn sculpin (Leptocottus armatus) and starry flounder (platichtys stellatus) were abundant. Notably absent last year was the appearance of surf smelt (Hypomesus pretiosis) at both sites, but in one net setting in March, the Race Lagoon team netted over 750 surf smelt.

Perhaps the most important accomplishment this sea-son has been the accelerated learning curve for the Beach Watchers seining teams. Teams gained a second year of seining experience using National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) protocols in net handling tech-niques, species identification and processing, water quality testing and data recording. NOAA’s Kurt Fresh praised the teams “very high level of competence.”

Beginning with the 2007 seining season, Whidbey sein-ing teams will assume primary responsibility for field opera-tions at Race and Harrington Lagoons. The research will continue to be conducted under NOAA license and moni-toring, with all data being forwarded to them for interpreta-tion/analysis. The teams are already looking forward to next season, as they spend time this summer procuring the nec-essary equipment to carry them through many more sea-sons.

Bob Buck, BW Class of 2004

Magnifiers help find critters in an aquariums. Photo credit: Alice Brandon

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Monitoring update (Whidbey) A thick blanket of fog enveloped Partridge Point the morning of June 11th but that didn’t stop a determined team of three as they set out to collect data on that beach. Because the horizon was not visible, the group used a small handheld device called a sight level to take the profile read-ings. This rocky beach on the west side of Whidbey Island is well known for its biodiversity and the team was not dis-appointed, finding eight species of crabs, three species of sponge, and a plethora of seaweeds that included three spe-cies of tarspot. Petrocelis (black tar spot) and Hildenbrandia (red tar spot) are commonly seen and are on the EZ ID list. Ralfsia looks somewhat like the black tarspot, but is more of a dark olive brown rather than black and also has lobes and concentric growth lines that give it the appearance of a lichen or fungus. In addition, they found the seagrass Phyl-lospadix (surfgrass) and in examining it, discovered tiny La-cuna snails, several isopods, and the encrusting red coralline algae Melobesia. Brian Giles reported that the highlight of the day for him was a sea lemon (Archidoris montereyensis) surrounded by bread crumb sponge. Jan Holmes enjoyed the seaweeds and was particularly pleased to find Cymathere triplicata. Accus-tomed to seeing lots of shorebirds on beaches, the team was surprised to be buzzed by a hummingbird as they finished their lowest level of quadrats, at the -1 foot level. Where the heck did that little guy come from?

The Langley Seawall team had light rain to contend with the next day. The team of five, led by Phyllis Kind, found some very interesting organisms. This sandy beach is loaded with ghost shrimp (Neotrypaea californiensis) and a close look at one revealed that it was carrying a passenger, a tiny red copepod (Clausidium vancouverense) that lives under the carapace and intermittently bounces around like a pin-ball within its confined space. Eagle-eyed Joani Boose found an eelgrass sea slug (Phylloplysia taylori ) and the group

also saw another nudibranch relative, Melanochlymus. An eelgrass limpet (Lottia parallela) and caprellid amphipods were also uncovered in the eelgrass.

Charlie Seablom had the Rolling Hills team out on June 13th when the tide retreated to the -3.1 foot level. A pair of kingfishers stayed busy flying back and forth as the team worked. This was the first beach Clyde Johnson had monitored, and he was impressed by a polychaete from the family Glyceridae which put on a quite a show as it everted its pharynx. Worms from this family are carni-vores and grab their prey with four hook-like jaws at the end of that pharynx. Joyce Peterson spotted two hermit crabs that were carrying around other smaller hermit crabs, holding onto the shells of the smaller crustaceans with their claws. (Brian Giles had noted this same unusual behavior at Partridge Point two days earlier). Sue Howard

was impressed by the prehistoric appearance of the chi-tons. Surprisingly, the team found no sea stars and no moon snails or their egg collars, species usually common-place at this beach.

The Harrington Lagoon team was out the same day with Donna Keeler at the helm. Donna notes that the beach appeared sub-stantially altered and was higher due to the winter storms. Ingri Johnson of the BW class of 2006 spotted and identified five in-vertebrates; a flatworm, a chiton, an anemone, an isopod, and a moon snail eggcase. Compared

Monitoring Madness

Partridge Point quadrat team.

Photo credit: Mary Jo Adams

Rolling Hills monitoring team Photo Credit: Charlie Seablom

Photo Credit: Jan Holmes

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to last year, the team found more crabs and fewer sea stars this time.

Rudy and Barbara Deck took a look at Footprint Rock on June 14th. Rudy reports “The Footprint Rock beach monitoring site was quite different this year. In past years, the survey area was quite sandy, probably 7/9 quad-

rats were nothing but sand. This year, except for a dry beach area and an exposed sand bar about 250 feet out, it was a broad width of slippery cobbles that was a few inches deep in sea water.” He also noted that they spotted Indian paintbrush growing on the bluff above the beach.

The thermometer hovered around the 70 degree mark as the Double Bluff Cirque Point team set out to docu-ment their beach on June 15th. Eugene Thrasher led a team of seven and one readily apparent presence was that of dozens of moon snail egg collars scattered about and

looking very much like manmade gas-kets. Eugene got a kick out of finding some small oysters adhered to the un-dersides of rocks. Dennis Gregoire found a red rock crab “almost big enough to eat,” and Lynn Peterson was excited by the dis-covery of gunnel eels, as she had never seen any be-

fore. The group also saw mottled sea stars (Evasterias tro-scheli), flatworms, and lots of shore crabs (Hemigrapsus nudis and H. oregonensis).

Double Bluff’s Wahl Farm was monitored on June 23rd and it was another day of sunshine and warm tem-peratures. The team reports that their #1 highlight was just being at the farm on such a nice day. They did make some interesting finds on the beach, including a small opalescent nudibranch (Hermissenda crassicornis), a rich di-versity of kelp species, red beaded anemones (Urticina cori-acea), flatworms, and rough piddocks (Zirfaea pilsbryi). Team captain Julie Buktenica had a mindset geared toward identifying intertidal critters to the point that she was pointing out clouds that she thought resembled nudi-

branchs! A team of nine spent a warm summery afternoon col-

lecting data at Coupeville Town Park Beach on June 25. Although a Beach Watcher for three years, Roxallanne Medley had not monitored a beach before, so was keenly interested in the monitoring process. Celia Bartram was fascinated by a ghost shrimp bearing a clutch of eggs and Paul Whelan got a kick out of another ghost shrimp that harbored the minute red copepod Clausidium vancouverense, visible through the carapace as a mobile red speck. Brian Giles checked out a nearby hole dug by clam diggers and found a gaper clam (Treses capax) that had been cracked open with the shovel. Investigating further, he spied a pair of commensal pea crabs belonging to the family Pinnexa. Mark Vanderboll is designing and creating a new BW monitoring database. He accompanied the team to learn more about the data that is collected so he can shape the database into a more effective tool. He brought along a

Photo Credit: Barbara Deck

Double Bluff-Wahl Farm monitoring team Photo credit: Jan Holmes

Double Bluff-Cirque Point moni-toring team

Photo credit: Mary Jo Adams

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Monitoring Update (Camano) Iverson Beach (Joey Eldridge's beach) was monitored by 14 Beach Watchers on a sunny June 14th. This was a spe-cial celebration day, as Joey is recovering from a stroke and was home for the afternoon. She hopes to be home “for good" in mid-July.

Two events caught our attention. First, Mary Jo dug up a lug worm, for which she had been searching for sev-eral weeks. We found many on this beach.

Second, a ghost shrimp, Callianassa californiensis, was uncovered. Waxy pale pink and orange, it is a soft bodied crustacean with a transparent, soft, flexible abdomen longer than its thorax. It is a burrowing creature with complex, tubular branching burrows in muddy or sandy sediments. Their burrowing habit makes them an impor-tant part of the marine environment. During feeding and burrow construction they are constantly processing the sediments, causing mixing and transportation of particles and gases. The presence of burrows ultimately increases the oxygen content of the sediment, leading to a healthier system.

Mary Jo was looking for a reddish copepod, Clau-sidium vancouverense, that lives under the carapace of the ghost shrimp. It is only about 2 millimeters long but can easily be seen though the transparent portion of the cara-pace. Voila! She found several and all of us were pleased.

At the start of the day, Joey suggested that we watch for eagles, and looking up, high in the sky, we saw eleven eagles soaring.

Crackerjack box-sized pocket pc in an impact-resistant and waterproof “otter box.” The computer is being pro-grammed as a data collection tool so that information can be entered into it in the field, replacing paper field data forms now in use and eliminating the need for a data entry person to do that job later. Mark bravely dipped the de-vice into Penn Cove to test the seals of the “otter box” and appeared quite pleased with the result. Penny Bowen and Mary Jo Adams are team captains for this beach.

Libby Hayward led a team of ten at South Whidbey State Park on June 26th. The day’s record-breaking high temperatures and -2.4 foot tide made for a great day at the

beach. This site has a large erratic that is loaded with life and that makes it a beach monitor’s delight. Charlie Seablom has become quite knowledgeable about our inter-tidal species, and he was along to help attach names to and shed light on the natural history of the various organisms. The group found three species of ribbon worms, the little leather limpet (Onchidella borealis), and a juvenile red rock crab (Cancer productus) with a white carapace.

Mary Jo Adams, BW Class of 1999

South Whidbey State Park monitoring team

Photo credit: Jan Holmes

Last Call for Mussel Disks I will be taking all of the mussel disks to the Penn Cove Shellfish Company at the end of this month. You may drop disks off at the Lighthouse, or at my house at 2082 Madrona Way in Coupeville (just leave them in the big blue bucket). In return for the disks, Penn Cove Shellfish will give us a bag of mussels, which we will cook as an appetizer for our Picnic.

Island County Beach Watchers are hosting the re-gional Beach Watchers Picnic at Fort Casey on August 10th and it should be great fun. Please join us, as we are the first Beach Watchers group and are regarded with high esteem. It is so much fun to see all of our Beach Watchers friends.

Sammye Kempbell, BW Class of Spring 2003

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Dates to Remember Upcoming Camano Island and Whidbey Island Events

and Other Items of Interest Camano Island

July 20, Thursday 2006. Twin Cities Pea Processing Field Trip. Due to limited parking at the plant meet at 9:45 am at Terry’s Corner Park and Ride so you can carpool. July 29, Saturday 2006. A Day on the Praire. WSU Extension fundraiser held on Whidbey. 1:00 to 5:00 pm tours, classes, and games; 5:00 to 7:00 pm BBQ supper; and 7:00 to 10:00 pm Barn Dance with Coyote Blues Band. For registration and information for this fun and worthwhile event call 360-240-5558 or go online to www.island.wsu.edu. August 7, Monday 2006. Camano Island Monthly Meeting. 9:00 am at the Camano Center. The topic will be “Dealing with Rats, Moles, and Voles” presented by Dave Pehling from the WSU office in Puyallup. August 10, Thursday 2006. Beach Watcher Regional Picnic. A first for Beach Watchers! All seven county’s will be converging at Fort Casey State Park to celebrate this amazing program. 11 AM in the picnic area behind the Lighthouse. August 17 - 20, 2006. Island County Fair! A Beach Watcher booth will be part of a WSU Extension display complete with activities and prizes. Sign up to man the booth and get a free pass to the Fair for the rest of the day. Call 360-679-7391to sign up.

Whidbey Island

July 2o, Thursday 2006. Whidbey Beach Watcher Monthly Meeting. Special "fieldtrip" addition at Ad-miralty Head Lighthouse in Fort Casey State Park. Meet at 5:30 pm with chair and drinking vessel. Tours will be given by Fred Terrell & Bill Blair. All welcome. July 29, Saturday 2006. A Day on the Praire. WSU Extension fundraiser held on Whidbey. 1:00 to 5:00 pm tours, classes, and games; 5:00 to 7:00 pm BBQ supper; and 7:00 to 10:00 pm Barn Dance with Coyote Blues Band. For registration and information for this fun and worthwhile event call 360-240-5558 or go online to www.island.wsu.edu. August 10, Thursday 2006. Beach Watcher Regional Picnic. A first for Beach Watchers! All seven county’s will be converging at Fort Casey State Park to celebrate this amazing program. 11 AM in the picnic area behind the Lighthouse. August 17, Thursday 2006. Whidbey Beach Watcher Monthly Meeting. Race Road Fire Station, 6:15 pm. Judy D'Amore from the Port Townsend Marine Science Center will speak on Tunicates. All welcome. September 16, Saturday 2006. Waves and Wine Tour! A Beach Watcher fundraiser that includes a whale cruise, dinner and wine. For more information call (360) 240-5558. September 21, Thursday 2006. Whidbey Beach Watcher Monthly Meeting. Trinity Lutheran Church, 6:15 pm. Gary Wessen will speak on the Archaeology of Whidbey Island. All welcome. October 19, Thursday 2006. Whidbey Beach Watcher Monthly Meeting. Race Road Fire Station, 6:15 pm. Frances Wood will speak on Pigeon Guillemot Bird Breeding Program. All welcome

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Eagle Chicks Get a Second Chance On June 30th and July 1, Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) biologist Julie Stofel worked with rehabilatator Sue Murphy and climber Tim Brown, both longtime volunteers with WDFW, to return two grounded bald eagle chicks to their nests in Whatcom and Island Counties. The landowners were instrumental in both cases, and enjoyed seeing the return of "their" babies.

In the Whatcom County case, two chicks had been grounded about five days, but continued to be fed by the parents. Stofel contacted Murphy and Brown after being called by the landowners when the smaller of the two chicks died on the ground. When they arrived at the site, they found that the dead chick was still in a mostly downy state, and was unlikely to have survived even if she had remained in the nest. But the larger chick was a huge (14 pounds) healthy female that was fully feathered and uninjured by her fall. After Murphy drew blood for a health panel and ad-ministered fluids to counteract potential shock (after being captured on a very hot day), the eagle was cooled off with water and returned to the nest by Brown at around 4 p.m. The landowners reported that a parent returned to the nest with food only two hours later.

The Island County bird, nicknamed "Miss Langley" for her capture location, had been in Murphy's care for about

two weeks after she had been captured (bruised, dehydrated and underweight after several days on the ground) by Matt Klope (biologist with Whidbey Island Naval Air Station). She and her sibling had fallen to the ground after the nest collapsed and fell from the tree. The sibling had been badly injured, with a broken femur and a lacerated throat (which may have occurred prior to the fall), and was euthanized. Miss Langley gained over two pounds while in rehabilita-tion, and was learning to feed herself. The plan, to return her to the nest rather than attempting to teach her to fly and hunt from rehab, came when the landowners called Murphy to report that the parents had returned and were rebuilding the nest. Being able to learn from her parents will make a big difference in whether she will gain the skills she needs to get through her first year, when typically only half of young eagles survive.

It took Tim Brown about an hour to climb to the top of the fir tree. When he reached the nest, he found that it was not securely constructed and was fairly wobbly. He used his bootlaces to tie the nest into the tree! Miss Langley was finally brought up into the newly remodeled nest, and was left with a couple of dead rats and the good wishes of all the people watching. It turns out that her parent were watching too. The moment Brown's feet touched solid ground, an adult eagle swooped in.

A happy ending for the birds, and for the multitude of people who volunteered to get them back together.

Julie Stofel, Bald Eagle and Marbled Murrelet Specialist, WDFW in Mill Creek

Photo credit: Tim Brown\

Miss Langley is back home, after the nest was reinforced with boot laces.

Grant Renewal Once again Sea Grant has come through to help

fund the WSU Beach Watchers. Sea Grant has been helping fund us for a number of years. It was not hard for Don Meehan to persuade Sea Grant to renew their commitment with Beach Watcher until June 2007. Sea Grant values our program and holds it in high regards.

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Name Change to Whidbey Watershed Stewards Maxwelton Salmon Adventure is proud to announce a name change and an expanded mission on Whidbey Island.

Over the last year it has become clear to our board of directors, staff and key advisors that what we have learned in working for over ten years in Maxwelton watershed can easily apply to other parts of South Whidbey and beyond. We regularly welcome Oak Har-bor students to the Outdoor Classroom. We have many Beach Watchers and other volunteers from Coupeville, Greenbank and Oak Harbor. Our donor and membership base is quite wide. We have been asked by people from other watersheds for help in de-signing and implementing projects.

When one of our board members said “I care about this watershed because I care about keeping Puget Sound healthy,” it resonated with all of us and we knew we were ready to evolve. We feel a responsi-bility, as you do, to conserve and protect this precious resource we all share. Our focus now is less directly on salmon, but rather on fostering healthy watersheds for all species--including humans.

We hope for your support as we work to fulfill our new mission statement:

Whidbey Watershed Stewards promotes the integrity of our watersheds and nearshore for the mutual benefit of people, their sense of place, and the Puget Sound environment. We engage the Island County community to conserve and restore watersheds. We educate people of all ages to be good stewards of the land.

We are incredibly grateful for all that has gone be-fore, including the original Beach Watchers who formed the organization. We are building on the hard work and foundation created by many people in our community. We will definitely continue to care about and work in the Maxwelton Watershed.

In fact, we have scheduled the next volunteer planting days for our current restoration project in Maxwelton. Come out and help us finish the planting around a culvert replacement along Quade Creek--each Saturday from October 7 through November 11.

We’ll work from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. with a break for lunch. Meet at the Outdoor Classroom to form carpools to the site. Let us know which date you are coming at info@whidbeywatersheds.org or 360-579-1272. Thank you!

Nancy Waddell, Administrator for Whidbey Watershed Stewards/Maxwelton Salmon Adventure

Calling all Adventurous Travelers! There has been interest expressed in a Beach Watcher trip to Antarctica! This is said to be a truly amazing place. Overseas Adventure Travel does offer trips there from November 2006 through February 2007. Each trip accepts only 32 travelers on a 240 foot cruise ship, specifically designed for remote areas and ice exploration. This 15-day adventure includes a visit to Buenos Aires followed by a flight to Ushuaia to board the ship for a trip through Drake Passage, the South Shetland Islands and the Ant-arctic Peninsula. Specific daily opportunities for landings will vary according to local conditions, but will include a visit to a former British scientific station and, hopefully, Petermann Island. The basic trip cost is $6690 to $7140, depending on the departure date.

A three day pre-trip to Uruguay and Argentina's Gau-cho Country is available for $595. Also, a three night post-trip to guassu Falls in Argentina is available for $695. All costs are per person/double occupancy. Single supple-ments are available at additional cost.

Please note that this trip involves travel over some of the roughest seas on our planet. However, you could ex-perience Antarctica's "austral summer," when the conti-nent is warmest, the days are longest, and wildlife births (penguins and seals) are happening!

If Beach Watchers is to receive compensation, we need a minimum of 12 travelers on the trip. If you are interested in this trip, or in the 2007-8 travel cycle (when costs will be higher), please contact Linda Ridder at ADE-RIDL@whidbey.com or 360-579-2521.

Linda Ridder, BW Class of 2005

The Speeding Train Beach Watchers has been likened to a speeding train

barreling ahead on it’s quest to restore environmental health to our county. Well, I think we should be switching into an even higher gear with the addition of Jennifer Sidzyik (pronounced Sid-check) to our team. Jen has ac-cepted the part time position of outreach coordinator and will help Beach Watchers be able to expand in our educa-tional and outreach endeavors.

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Our Summer Vacation: Ad-ventures in the Amazon Rain Forest and Land of the Incas, Part 1 Sixteen Island County Beach Watchers and friends have returned from a fabulous trip to Peru with Over-seas Adventure Travel (OAT). It’s hard to know where to begin to try to convey how wonderful this trip was for us all. In addition to raising $3251 for Beach Watchers, we learned so much about this part of Latin America.

We flew into Lima, Peru and were met by our OAT guide, Johnny. Our first two days were spent ex-ploring this colonial city of 4 million people on the Pa-cific coast with a gurua-moderated climate (the gurua is a fog bank generated by the Humboldt Current). We toured the Archaeological Museum and Colonial sec-tion of the city and explored the handcrafts markets. The city streets were remarkably clean in spite of a 30% unemployment rate in Peru. Some of us were able to visit Lima’s huge shantytown, Via Salvador, a well-organized city of squatters using anything available to create a shelter. Others of us flew over the famed Nazca Lines carved into the desert 2000 to 3000 years ago; covering 193 square miles, these geometric and animal shapes can only be appreciated from the air. On the Peruvian election day we flew to Iquitos, to board a riverboat for our Amazon River and Rainforest adven-ture. Long lines of Peruvians waited to vote in a special run-off Presidential election. Voting is mandatory for Peruvians, with heavy fines and restrictions against those who do not vote; also, no alcohol may be sold five days before an election! Peru has no public trans-portation; instead, an array of taxis, buses, and private automobiles crowd the roads.

No roads join Iquitos (which means “isolated by water”) to the rest of Peru; people here rely on tuk-tuks (tri-wheeled motor scooters) for transportation in the city, and handmade dugout canoes or rafts in the rivers. This capital of the Amazon region (Loreto province) is a city of 400,000. In the rainforest, rivers are the routes for transportation and the source of life for the people who live there.

Jorge and Huber, our naturalists, took us on a tour of Iquitos while Johnny went to vote. We walked through the market on foot, surrounded by young boys hired to protect us from would-be thieves. All manner of things were for sale, ranging from illegally caught tortoises, live birds and lizards, all kinds of fish, meat, chickens, herbs, potions, prepared foods, vegetables, flowers, fruits, and household items, all jumbled together in the hot humid air, with insects buzzing and people crowding. It was an amazing assault on our senses. Everywhere, hawkers were crowding against us and following us, trying to sell their wares. For a contrast, we cooled off in the lobby of a luxurious hotel until our riverboat and crew were ready for us to come aboard.

La Esmeralda was our home for the next six nights. We enjoyed the air-conditioned cabins for afternoon sies-tas, Pisco Sours on the top deck bar (along with music provided nightly by our wonderful crew), and great food in the aft dining room with floor-to-ceiling windows. Large ships navigate the Amazon River, 3200 miles from the Atlantic Ocean to Iquitos. We headed UP river, to explore the headwaters and the rivers (Ucayali and Ma-ranon) that create the upper Amazon. Every day we boarded the excursion boat which traveled alongside La Esmeralda, for a variety of trips to explore this world. Sometimes, we traveled closer to shore or up a smaller tributary to see wildlife more closely, along tannin-laden black water rivers. Other times, we traveled early in the morning, or after dark, and we stopped at various villages to interact with local residents. The river has swift cur-rents, up to seven miles per hour; on our first outing, we spotted a large undulating object just under the surface that passed back and forth in front of us. Maybe it’s an anaconda?? It turned out to be a submerged palm tree being carried by the currents! Our “wooden anaconda” was the subject of much joking henceforth.

The river depth varies enormously, from 200 feet dur-ing the high water season (our winter) to 30 feet during the low water season (our summer). The Peruvian Ama-zon region is 70 percent flooded rainforest (covered by water part of the year) and only 30 percent is terra firma (always dry, and that is where the biggest trees are). Brazil has 80 percent terra firma (one reason why the logging is intensive there) and only 20 percent flooded rainforest. Along the river in Peru most people live in small villages of houses built on stilts, above the high water levels since their communities are flooded part of every year; the floods can go inland as far as 50 miles. Houses typically

Page 9 July 2006 Beach Log

have few walls, thatched roofs, and uneven planks for floors. Sleeping is in hammocks, with everyone in one room or area. Cooking is done on an open wood fire on the floor, or a built-up table with dirt under the flames. Many species of catfish provide the predominant source of protein, along with whatever else can be raised or caught. Fish caught in nets or with a spear are scored and salted to preserve them. Rice, manioc, and bananas are raised in areas alongside the river. This is a subsistence culture, and families take and use

what they need. The River People along the Amazon (Ribereno) are of

mixed heritage, descended from native Indians and Span-iards who arrived in the mid-1500s. The remaining Indian tribes live in the interior rainforest now and not along the rivers. Few river villages have plumbing or electricity, but each one has a government-provided school and teacher. Most of the people in villages are related to one another.

On Sundays, one village will visit another for a spirited soccer competition; this also provides opportunities for young people to meet potential mates, for villagers to socialize and drink masato, boiled yucca root mixed with saliva and allowed to ferment. If someone gets “out of hand,” appointed guards put the person into a small “jail” for 24 hours OR the person can cut the soccer field grass with a machete! There is no taboo against sex, and marriage is not encouraged until a couple lives together and he proves to her father that he has the necessary skills to provide for a family. Girls are usually 15 or 16 and boys 18 to 19 years old when they form couples; when they marry, she moves to her husband’s village. Grandmother cares for the first-born child; thereafter, the older children care for the younger. Fam-ily size is shrinking (from an average of ten children to five or six now). Life expectancy is about 60 years for women (one factor is the lack of calcium in the diet) and 65 years for men. When there is a death, someone must tell a funny story, and the burial is the next day in the village cemetery. A common practice was cremation in a dugout canoe, until the Spanish introduced Catholi-cism. Health care is provided by the government and by many NGOs, including Grand Circle Foundation, the parent company of OAT. Children appear to be healthy and happy. A worrisome trend is that the teens tend to leave the villages and move to the city seeking a better way of life. Village women make and sell handcrafts, creating a great way for us to remember the trip and support them at the same time.

On one excursion, we encountered a family of river people who had made a raft of balsa wood, loaded it with bananas (250 bunches or more), and were floating down river to market. They had been on the river a week and would need three more days to reach the market in Iquitos, where they would sell their bananas and their raft before taking a local ferry back home. They were very wary of us at first. They call white peo-ple pelacares or “face peelers” because some brutal Span-iards murdered Indians and peeled off their faces to hang on their belts and terrify the native people. We bought a bunch of bananas from the family and watched them float away. The average annual income for a river family is $100; they need currency only to

The monkey on Sandy Dubpernell’s shoulder is a pet, orphaned when the human family ate the rest of the mon-key’s family.

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buy salt, sugar, soap, rope, clothing, mosquito net, kero-sene fuel, matches, and school supplies.

We walked through the tree canopy on a series of

rope bridges, as most life lives in the tree canopy, not on the forest floor. We also visited a local shaman, fished for piranha (they are pretty tasty!), swam in a tributary river, which felt great in the hot, sticky weather, paddled a dugout canoe with the canoe’s owner, visited a school, and had dinner with a village family. We played games, with the children pointing to a nose or eye and giving us the English word; when it was our turn, we found we were not nearly as good with our Spanish as they were with English!

A highlight was a home-hosted meal with a Ribereno’s family. We enjoyed roasted catfish tied in a leaf bundle, plantains, manioc root, and barbecued paca (an 80 pound rodent—mighty tasty!). On another day, our chef gave cooking lessons with Amazonian foods.

Some of our most memorable experiences were the ones that happened by chance along the river. One day we encountered a dugout canoe along the shoreline, with two young boys casting a spear into the murky water. The spear floated to the surface if it failed to find a fish. They showed us their catch, one of many catfish species (65 percent of the fish in the Amazon are cat-fish). These boys had never seen white-faced people before and were a bit unsure about us. We gave them salt for showing us their fish and spear.

On our final day in the Amazon we visited the old town of Nauta, population 14,000. This river town is 97 kilometers from Iquitos, and a new road connects the two cities. It represents an interface with the modern world with electricity, running water for most, and Internet and cellphone service. The clash of cultures makes us wonder if modern trends represent true pro-gress.

As our Amazon adventure drew to a close, the im-portance of this enormous watershed, encompassing 40 percent of South America and draining 2.5 million square miles, is put into perspective. With more than 1,100 tributaries, 14,000 miles of them navigable, this region supplies more than 20 percent of the world’s oxygen. Peru has established and expanded the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve area, between the Maranon and Ucayali Rivers, to protect it from development.

The problems are huge. Illegal logging is a problem in the terra firma (high ground). Last year loggers mur-dered four rangers (a Japanese timber company was the purchaser of the lumber). Brazil owns 82 percent of the Amazon terra firma rainforest, and only 34 percent of that is left! Brazil lost 5 million acres of rainforest in two years for the creation of cattle ranches to raise beef for Burger King and McDonalds. Global warming is having an effect here, too. The rainfall patterns and amounts have changed, causing crop failure and flood-ing. Another problem is the threat of drilling for oil. There is a lot of corruption, and most money sent by other countries never accomplishes its ecologically pro-tective purpose. We were urged to support groups such as the Nature Conservancy and World Wildlife Fund, along with Peru’s conservation fund, as they are helping Peru protect the Amazon. We should NOT buy any-thing made from rainforest products (wood), even when it is claimed to be sustainably harvested—it isn’t. Cut trees are not being replanted. Do not buy mahog-any, Spanish cedar, kapok, and other tropical wood.

Peru has significant problems, but we were encour-aged by the knowledge, passion, and commitment to help us understand Peru and her people, and to help Peruvians understand and know us. We learned so much, and had so much fun doing it!

Next month, our adventure continues with a jour-ney to Machu Picchu—an entirely different cultural experience!

Linda Ridder, BW Class of 2005

Linda LaMay is following our young guide over a rope bridge.

Page 11 July 2006 Beach Log

William Ruckelshaus to speak in September In an incredible coup for Whidbey Island, William Ruckelshaus will speak on “Climate Change, Water, and the Choices Ahead” on Thursday, September 28 at 7:30 p.m. The lecture will be held in Thomas Berry Hall at The Whidbey Institute/Chinook in Clinton. Ruckelshaus is the co-chair of the Puget Sound Partnership, formed to organize the cleanup of Puget Sound, and chair of the Washington Salmon Recovery Funding Board. He became the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s first administrator when

the agency was formed in December 1970. He returned as administrator from 1983-85.

Details are still being worked out, but cost for the lecture will be kept affordable. Put this on your schedule and watch for updates!

Nancy Waddell, On behalf of the Whidbey Institute

Boa Constrictor Common Iguana Brown Throated Three-toed Sloth Pink River Dolphin Common Squirrel Monkey Brown Faced Capuchin Monkey Monk Saki Monkey “Wooden Anaconda” Blue Morpho Butterfly Parides Orellane Butterfly Azufrina Butterfly Eurema Leuce Leuce Butterfly River Otter Poison Dart Frog Dwarf Caiman Jamaican Bats Fishing Bats Black Skimmer Black Vulture Turkey Vulture Saddle-backed Tamarin Greater Ani American Swallow Tailed Kite

Yellow-headed Caracara Dusky headed Parakeet Ringed Kingfisher Amazon Kingfisher Black Fronted Nunbird Striated Heron White Necked Heron Capped Heron Night Heron Whippoorwill Great Potoo Snowy Egret Large Billed Tern Ring Necked Hawk Large Horned Screamer Andean Tinamou Great Black Hawk Slate Colored Grey Hawk Black Collared Hawk (Jason) White Swallow Roadside Hawk Slate Colored Kite Laughing Falcon

Red Bellied Macaw Scarlet Macaw Blue and Yellow Macaw White Throated Toucan Chestnut-eared Acari Slate Falcon Mealy Parrot White-eyed Parrot Yellow-headed Parrot Blue and White Swallow Oropendula Bat Falcon Tropical Kingbird Oriole Blackbird Crested Oropendula Red Capped Cardinal Vermillion Flycatcher Andean Condor (captive) Great Kiskadee Blue Gray Tanager Yellow-rumped Cacique

The following is a list of our wildlife sightings in the Amazon:

Beach Log Page 12

“In the end we will conserve only what we love; We will love only what we understand;

We will understand only what we have been taught.”

~Baba Dioum, Senegalese ecologist

DEADLINE FOR NEXT BEACH LOG August 4, 2006

July 2006

THANKS! To all the Beach Watcher Volunteers who contributed articles, typed, edited, and prepared the Beach Log for mailing. Kudos to Cheryl Bradkin, Arlene Stebbins, and Kristen Cooley who help pull it all together each month.

Thanks to Joyce Terrell for providing many of our Beach

Log Illustrations

THANKS TO

OUR SPONSORS

Town of Coupeville

If you would like to learn more about the Beach Watcher Program, please contact Kristen Cooley, Program Coordinator at 360-679-7391 or kcoo-ley@wsu.edu.