Recap: March 3 Meeting & COASST Orientation

Yesterday we had our first meeting as a group, and also had our COASST orientation. Some important stuff to come from our meeting:

Please take a look at the two National Geographic articles we sent you. One of them deals with National Parks here in the US; the other, around the world. They are both good introductions to some of the ideas we'll be discussing and examining over the coming weeks.

Also, please read over the mission of the National Park Service from 1916: "To conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." Think about what this statement means to you: what parts strike you as most interesting, complex, confusing? What parts do you most identify with, in your experiences with National Parks or other outdoor areas?

Regarding COASST: we had a really awesome (and fun) orientation with Jane Dolliver from Aquatic & Fishery Science. We learned how to measure bird parts, how to use our field guide, how to fill out lab reports, and why COASST is so cool. For those of you who missed it, we'll be sure to catch you up out on the beaches! For now, take a look at the COASST website to get an overview of the project, and let us know if you have any specific questions.

I've also updated the itinerary (check out the entry before this one) with the latest plan for the week. We'll keep you guys updated as we make any more changes.

We'll be having our next meeting on Saturday, March 13. It will probably be in the afternoon/early evening, so please try to keep that time available. We'll have more details soon.

We're also working on pulling together a list of interesting sources and websites regarding Olympic, as well as a gear share list (don't run out and buy anything just yet). Stay tuned!