| This May, we have so many online opportunities for you and your children. Prepare to be inspired! | | | Octopress Online May 2020 | | | | | | Friend, It's hard to believe it was six weeks ago we sent you a letter promising the Marine Science Center will emerge from this challenging time stronger and better than ever. Thanks to your outpouring of encouragement and support, we are indeed fulfilling that promise! As you can see the full team of Staff and AmeriCorps are hard at work online and our Board is doubling down - meeting twice as often with everyone is leaning in to help. Volunteers have perhaps the hardest job of all. For our volunteers, a powerful, can-do crew, waiting is not easy. We appreciate their patience and assurance they'll be ready to dive back in when its safe to get things going again. In addition to our team working at full steam, we were successful in securing one of the elusive Payroll Protection Program forgivable loans for $100,000. A shout out to the folks at First Federal who literally worked around the clock for days to help make that happen. So while you've probably heard that Governor Inslee has taken the first step of reopening State Parks, including Fort Worden, for outdoor day-use starting May 5th, for everyone's safety our facilities will remain closed and we're continuing to follow the Stay Home Stay Safe order. In the meantime we have some really fun and interesting online resources for you at www.ptmsc.org/onlinelearning. And we have received the go ahead for our COVID-19 safe BioBlitz on May 9th - read on for more details. We miss you all and hope all the people you care about remain safe and healthy,  Janine Boire
Executive Director
Port Townsend Marine Science Center | | | | GiveBIG 2020 is HERE! Celebrate local philanthropy as we kick off another annual event of giving. This year we will host an event on Facebook Live May 6 at 2 PM! | | | | | | | | CARES Act Encourages Giving | |  | | Congress included a way to make it easier to donate to the causes you care about by including these provisions in the CARES Act: - $300 of charitable giving (cash) is deductible even if you don't itemize
- If you do itemize, the deductible limit is raised from 60% to 100% of adjusted gross income
- Finally, the government has sent out checks of $1,200 to most Americans. Many people who can afford to do so, are paying these funds forward to support organizations they love.
If you have questions, contact Liesl Slabaugh, Development and Marketing Director at lslabaugh@ptmsc.org | | | | | | PTMSC Donates PPE
To Jefferson General Hospital | | From Citizen Science Coordinator Betsy Carlson on April 14: "Today I dropped off a few boxes of PPE to the ER at Jefferson General Hospital. A friend of mine works there as a nurse and she said they could use the face shields, shoe covers and gowns that we had in storage for MMSN necropsies. So JGH now has 19 gowns, 25 face shields and a bunch of booties." | | | | | | | | BIO BLITZ 2020 Social Distancing Friendly! | |  | Saturday, May 9th, 10 am
to Sunday, May 10, 10 am
Fort Worden State Park* | | We will be conducting our third annual iNaturalist BioBlitz! The goal for this project is to document as many living species as possible within a 24-hour period in Fort Worden State Park. For this year's event, we are making the entire experience available while still following all the guidelines for social distancing. If you aren't going to be outside of your home, you can still follow along throughout the day by watching the results roll in. In order to help visitors to Fort Worden State Park maintain a safe social distance, we are requesting that all BioBlitz participants register for the event.
To register and for details, check out the full event description on our blog.
Please also visit our page on iNaturalist | | | | | | |  | Now is a great time to take up nature journaling. Grab your sketchbook (or make your own!) and get inspired by the great outdoors. Try sound mapping to document your surroundings. We’re posting prompts and ideas for journaling on Instagram-- follow along and share what you create by tagging us on Instagram: @ptmarinescictr | | | | | | ORCA ART-ICULATION A Community Project for Earth Day! | |  | In celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, PTMSC is hosting a community Orca ARTiculation! Lend us your artistic skills and help us recreate the skeleton of PTMSC’s orca (“Hope”) from the comforts of your own home (and while maintaining social distance)! This is an all-ages activity and we invite you to share it with anyone interested!
Find more information and register for the Orca ARTiculation Project here. | | | | PTMSC ONLINE
ACTIVITIES & EVENTS | | Discover PTMSC's original activities that will keep you and your child inspired to learn more about Salish Sea science! We also provide links to other K-12 online learning resources to keep you and your children engaged--the perfect antidote to cabin fever! Check out our continuously updated offerings! | | | | | | |  | We are collaborating with Jamestown S'Klallam and WDFW to monitor a light trap, built to attract dungeness crab megalopae (the toddler-esque crab life stage). We are doing daily counts of the megalopae (when they're present) to provide valuable information on where, when, and how many crab are entering the population. While we are still waiting for our first Dungeness crab of the year, the light attracts plenty of zooplankton to keep us entranced. There is an incredible amount of darling larval fish, octopus paralarvae, and so much more that comes in with the trap. We are no less than fascinated every morning, looking at what was collected. Watch our Facebook and Instagram pages for cool plankton pictures from the light trap! | | | | | | | |  | May 7th at 2 PM via ZOOM
Join us via Zoom for the May 7th installment of PT Library's Creative Kids Cafe for ages 6-11! Get a paper and pencil ready (and any other art supplies you like) and meet some invertebrates in our aquarium, then design your own creation! Tune in at 2pm via the Zoom link on PT Public Library's online events page. | | | | | | |  | We are pleased to announce the annual $1,500 Anne Murphy Ocean Stewardship scholarship for a graduating East Jefferson county senior. Check our blog post for more information on how to qualify.
To apply for the scholarship, please go to https://thewashboard.org and search for "Anne Murphy Ocean Stewards Scholarship". Questions, please contact Liesl Slabaugh, Development and Marketing Director, at lslabaugh@ptmsc.org or 385-5582 x101.
Applications are due by May 22, 2020. The winner will be selected and notified by May 30. The award will be given at the school’s award ceremony or another event TBD. | | | | | | | |  | Check out our Facebook Group! We are now offering a Facebook Group for PTMSC Volunteers! If you volunteer with us and want to be a part, check it out here. Not a volunteer? To get involved in future volunteer opportunities, check out our Volunteer page to learn about our Volunteer Information Sessions, and fill out a Volunteer Application form. | | | | PTMSC Volunteers Receive Award | | SeaDoc Awards Salish Sea Science Prize to Washington Sea Grant’s Crab Team | |  | | Check out this awesome article from the SeaDoc Society as they honor efforts to stop the spread of the damaging invasive green crab. PTMSC supports this collaborative effort, and the article even features some of PTMSC's amazing volunteers: Wendy Feltham, Lee Merrill, Katherine Jensen, Eileen Cooney and Chris Jones! | | | | | | | | |  | As featured in our Aquarium Update: Mask Limpet
Tectura persona - A professional at using Personal Protective Equipment (mask limpet... get it?)
- Usually hides in dark spaces like crevices and ledges under rocks
- Color: speckled or banded with brown, green, and tan colors
- Size: grows to 2 inches across (one of the larger limpets in this area)
- Habitat: high intertidal; frequently out of the water
- Range: widespread and common, Alaska to Monterey, California
- Reproduction: broadcast spawning, usually in March and April
- Predators: black oystercatchers, crows, other shorebirds
- Named for the dark stain on the underside of its shell; it apparently looks like a person or a mask!
Sign up for our Aquarium Update! | | PTMSC ZOOM MEETING BACKGROUNDS | | PTMSC Zoom Meeting Backgrounds Be the envy of your next Zoom meeting! We are providing these backgrounds of volunteer Wendy Feltham's amazing photography. Enjoy! | | | | | | | | PTMSC - Always available on Social Media Though our exhibits aren't open, you can always find us 24/7/365 on Facebook and Instagram. Follow us as we move through the days ahead--together we will continue to inspire conservation of the Salish Sea! | | | | | | | | Contact Us:
532 Battery Way | Port Townsend, Washington 98368
(360) 385-5582 | info@ptmsc.org | | | | | | | | | | | |
