Thanks to funding from The Russell Family Foundation (TRFF) and a lot of hard work and coordination by regional REEF instructor, Janna Nichols, the Pacific Northwest is REEF's fastest growing region. The goals of the TRFF project were to enlist new divers into the REEF Volunteer Survey Project and provide incentive for existing surveyors to stay involved and increase their experience level. Between 1998 when REEF was launched in the Pacific Northwest and the beginning of the training program funded by TRFF, 4,101 surveys had been conducted in Washington State. During the 12 months of the project, the number of surveys increased an incredible 25% as a result of the funded project activities.
Eighty-three volunteers conducted these 1,065 surveys; 40 of the surveyors were new to the REEF Volunteer Survey Project (a total of 398 volunteers have conducted surveys in Washington since 1998). Many of these new volunteers have already become quite active and as a result of the project, 98 REEF surveyors advanced at least one level in their survey experience rating (including 10 new Expert rated surveyors!). This surge of involved and invested volunteers is invaluable to REEF capacity building efforts in the Pacific Northwest region. Another outcome of the TRFF project was the development of an advanced fish identification course for the Pacific Northwest. The course was debuted to a crowd of sixty divers at the Seattle Aquarium in May and will be available through the REEF online store later this month.
The TRFF project highlighted the importance of providing continued education for our members and opportunities for organized surveying. While the TRFF project has come to an end, REEF recently secured a grant from the Seattle Biotech Legacy Foundation (SBLF) to continue these training opportunities. The SBLF project is also supporting REEF Director of Science, Dr. Christy Pattengill-Semmens, to attend the annual Ecological Society of America conference later this summer to present a talk on the importance of citizen science for conservation and management applications.
To find out more about REEF activities in the Pacific Northwest, visit the PNW Critter Watchers webpage.