This article was written by Stevens Middle School Push Program students to reflect on their experience during a COASST beach survey. Many thanks to Dan Lieberman, Coleman Byrnes, and Heather Tanner for helping get these students outside and participating in citizen science!
Recently, on the morning of November 5th on Elwha West Beach, a beached bird survey was conducted by Stevens Middle School Push Program students. Under the supervision of Mr. Lieberman, the 12 students, COASST volunteer Coleman Byrnes, and helper Ms. Heather, walked a mile on the beach and a mile back, surveying the amount of beached birds and garbage. The bird data collected was given to the COASST beached bird program, a group whose main focus is to create a network of people along marine coasts to manage and protect their ecosystems. (by Jazlyn Shideler)
The COASST program is a citizen run program, originally stationed at the University of Washington that focuses on collecting helpful information on the beached birds, trash, and overall health of beaches along the Pacific Northwest. On these surveys, you will walk along and observe the human use of these beaches. Students here in Port Angeles, Washington, have done countless surveys at the mouth of the Elwha River Mouth since the year 2010 and contributed that data by giving it to the COASST program to collect and enter. On the Push Program field trip this past November 5th, we as a team officially collected the data of 0 birds. Although a juvenile California Gull was floating near the river bank, we couldn’t process it due to it not washing up at the river mouth. Every ounce of data collected is important for the COASST program no matter what circumstances, and we will continue to contribute data throughout our monthly beach surveys in Port Angeles. (by Aubrey Tanner)
I found that the survey was very helpful with keeping the community informed and safe. The experience of filling out the survey was super fun. Not only did I help the environment by picking up trash, I got to spend a lot of personal time with my friends and got to meet new friends. The survey is something that I’d like to do more in the future. I learned a lot of things about the environment and how to protect and study it properly. I also made new core memories and got way closer with people who I thought I’d never talk to. (by Laverna Crowell)
