Education activities review February 6-10

Public education

Kachemak Bay Research Reserve will feature a fly-tying class with Steve Soistman (of Ulmer’s fame) next week — February 15th from 6:30pm – 8:30pm — in the AK Islands and Ocean Visitor Center’s Seminar Room. This class is free and open to the public, but enrollment is limited to the first 15 people who contact Jess. All materials are provided. Interested participants can sign up by emailing Jess at jessica.ryan@alaska.gov or calling 226-4657.

K – 12th education

This week we hosted five 3rd – 6th grade school groups from Homer – with 103 students – for our Fish On! Discovery Lab programs.

In response to an invitation by Prince William Sound Regional Citizen’s Advisory Council, Jessica flew out to Kodiak on January 27th to deliver Could it Happen Here? – an oil spill response curriculum that KBRR developed and delivered locally in April of 2011. The Discovery Lab-formatted program was presented to 6th grade students in an after-school marine science club on Friday and again to the general public on Saturday.

Monitoring program updates

Angie and Catie had been trying to get to Bear Cove in recent months to replace a temperature tidbit (a small, button-shaped devise that records water temperatures every 15 minutes and saves the data to be downloaded onto the computer when retrieved). Finally Mako’s Water Taxi, ice conditions on the Bay, the weather, and our busy office schedules all lined up – allowing us to venture forth to Bear Cove. The wind had blown from the east the day prior, which really packed in the ice on the east side of the Homer Spit. It took us nearly an hour to make our way through about a mile of ice enroute to Bear Cove. Along the way we saw shorebirds, seals, sea otters and gulls resting on the ice. Once out of the ice, the water was almost flat calm. There was a fair amount of ice in Bear Cove; but it was not around the buoy, and we easily attached the new thermometer tidbit. On the return trip the tide had moved some of the ice, so it took us half the time to get back into the harbor.

Mew Gulls on ice

Harbor Seal on ice