Reading Roundup

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19 April 2021 — Collecting sand dollars from a university-owned site for a class. (Photo: James Lee)

Here’s a quick roundup of articles I’ve read recently and that I’ve found interesting:

  1. Saving California’s Kelp Forests from “Zombie” Urchins — A very visual, “scrollytelling” article from last summer about the background behind recent kelp forest declines on the West Coast and the many efforts under way to restore them by addressing different key components of the kelp forest ecosystem, from urchins to sea stars. Includes a short, 13-minute film and an appearance by Dr. Jason Hodin, who instructed me on how to raise sand dollar larvae when I was helping teach a class at Friday Harbor Labs. (EDIT: Here’s a related audio and text-based piece about the sea star research at Friday Harbor Labs, also from last summer.)

  2. Can the Ocean Save the Planet? — This article came out a few weeks ago and it’s about nature-based solutions to climate change and human impacts on the environment. It features the work of Dr. Kathy Boyer’s wetland ecology lab at the Estuary & Ocean Science Center, where I worked for a couple of years. The article is written by David Helvarg, who’s been working with other community members to protect Point Molate (and by extension, the eelgrass beds that lie just offshore) in Richmond, California.

  3. Meeting the Challenge of Climate Change: A Makah Tribal Leader Seeks Solutions to an Ocean Out of Balance — This article was published in February by NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuaries office. It describes how climate change is affecting the Makah Tribe and how researchers at Washington Sea Grant (where I used to be a Science Communications Fellow!) are working with the Tribe to Indigenize research methods and implement climate resilience initiatives that are led by Tribal priorities, values, and input.

  4. Shape Our Water: Pah-tu Pitt — An article from November featuring Pah-tu Pitt, a member of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and an instructor who teaches qualitative research and ethics at the University of Washington Tacoma. She discusses the wildfires that blazed through West Coast states in 2020 and talks about the importance of Indigenous knowledge and methods of ecosystem management.

  5. Infrastructure Matters for Wildlife Too—Here’s How Aging Culverts Are Blocking Pacific Salmon Migration — This article from November talks about how fixing aging infrastructure in Washington state will help endangered salmon populations, enhance ecosystems, and honor the treaty rights that Tribes in the area have held and reserved since time immemorial. This was written by Ashlee Abrantes, a doctoral student who served on the University of Washington’s College of the Environment Student Advisory Council with me! Always fun to see someone I know writing something so cool.