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Salish Sea Institute News
Generous Gift to Create Endowed Professorship
Jerry Masters, business leader, conservationist, and lifetime resident of the Salish Sea has given a generous $500,000 gift to establish the Endowed Salish Sea Studies Professorship. Once the gift is matched to a total of $1,000,000, the endowment will establish a Salish Sea Studies Professorship. According to Director Ginny Broadhurst the endowed position will center Coast Salish Knowledge in the institute's work, and deepen partnerships with Coast Salish communities. "We're excited at the possibility of bringing a scholar with Coast Salish expertise into the institute in a leadership role to help guide curriculum, mentor students, and help shape our work."
Trust, Tension, and Action at the Border
Regional Cross-Border Collaboration in an Age of Uncertainty
The Salish Sea Institute, the Border Policy Research Institute, and the Center for Canadian-American Studies held a fascinating webinar. Listen as a panel of transboundary expert discuss how increased tensions are impacting collaborative work between BC and WA and the efforts to overcome them.
Orca Month Webinar:
Connecting Orcas, People and the Future We Share
The Salish Sea Institute hosted a webinar for Orca Month. Listen to experts from BC and WA as they talk about the current research being conducted and collaborations that are happening in the Salish Sea to better understand and recover southern resident orcas.
The Salish Sea Institute Is Accepting Applications For The Tahlequah Internship.
Do you need a part-time job for Fall, Winter, and Spring quarter? Do you need credit for Journalism 430? Do you want to grow your portfolio & gain experience working with veterans in the field? You might be interested in the Tahlequah Internship.
You are eligible to apply if you are a third or fourth year WWU student majoring in Journalism, Public Relations, Communication or Marketing; and meet the prerequisites for Journalism 430 (6 credits). More information on the internship and how to apply at the link below.
More Information
Successes, Challenges, and Maintaining Hope for Salish Sea Restoration and Protection
A Report from the Front Lines
The Salish Sea Institute brought together an amazing group of experts speaking about the programs they are involved in. Covering killer whale protection, shoreline restoration, clean boating, community outreach, and transboundary communication in the Salish Sea.
These experts will share their stories, with recognition and discussion of today's socio-political challenges.
Featuring Patti Gobin, Lovel Pratt, Julie Watson, Beatrice Frank, Chloe Robinson, and our very own Ginny Broadhurst.
A Network of Hope for the Salish Sea
The Salish Sea Institute gathered a panel of experts from BC and WA who are working on a variety of projects and programs to restore and protect the Salish Sea. Each of the speakers has also participated in one of our Hope for the Salish Sea workshops with author Elin Kelsey. Enjoy the discussion about how we're all maintaining hope and inspiration in this challenging time.
Dr. Drew Harvell Seminar & Book Signing
The Salish Sea Institute had the great pleasure of hosting Dr. Drew Harvell for a Seminar and book signing of their new book The Ocean's Menagerie. The Ocean's Menagerie is a tale of biological marvels, a story of a woman's adventurous career in science, and a call to arms to protect the world's most ancient ecosystems.
The Salish Sea
The Salish Sea bioregion is an estuarine inland sea surrounded by snow-capped mountain ranges and rich in biodiversity. Freshwater lakes and glaciers filter through temperate rainforest into rivers that meet the saltwater and tides from the Pacific Ocean, filling the Puget Sound, Georgia Basin, and Strait of Juan de Fuca. The name "Salish Sea" reflects the long history of Straits and Coast Salish peoples, who have developed deep and abiding relationships with the lands and waters of this region since time immemorial.
Over the past two centuries, the Canada-United States border and each nation's governance structures have cut across this waterscape and intersected with Indigenous nations' laws and governance systems in myriad ways. Millions of people from around the world have moved to the region's cities and rural areas. Settler colonial systems and industrial-scale population growth in the region, combined with extractive resource economies and global climate change, create challenges for the future of this region and all who live here.
The Institute
The Salish Sea Institute at Western Washington University is dedicated to the study and conservation of the Salish Sea ecosystem. We collaborate with regional universities, government agencies, Indigenous communities, and non-profit organizations to conduct scientific research, develop sustainable management strategies, and educate the public about the environmental, social, and economic importance of the Salish Sea.
Emerging Issues in the Salish Sea: Issue 6
The Salish Sea Institute has just released their 6th volume of their Emerging Issues in the Salish Sea Series: Mega-Projects, Cumulative Impacts, & Indigenous Nationhood on the Multinational Salish Sea which looks at the approved Roberts Bank Terminal 2 project and it's legal challenges over environmental and indigenous consultation issues.
Reconstructing Ancestral səl̓ilwətaɬ Diets
SSI held a webinar in October entitled: "Reconstructing Ancestral səl̓ilwətaɬ Diets-Archaeology and Ecology for Indigenous Food Sovereignty" by Dr. Meghan Efford. This talk discussed a unique research project under the leader of səl̓ilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh Nation). This research integrates archeology, ecology, historical, and archival records, and səl̓ilwətaɬ traditional, ecological, and cultural knowledge to reconstruct a best estimate of the precontact diet of səl̓ilwətaɬ communities.
Emerging Issues in the Salish Sea: Issue 7
The Salish Sea Institute has just released their 7th volume of their Emerging Issues in the Salish Sea Series: Centering Community Values in Marine Planning. Which visualizes why places are important to community members and using that data to inform decisions about ocean access and management.
Emerging Issues in the Salish Sea: Issue 8
The Salish Sea Institute just released the 8th volume of their Emerging Issues in the Salish Sea Series: Climate Change in the Salish Sea Region: Historical and Projected Future Trends in Temperature and Precipitation. This paper compares historical and projected future trends in temperature and precipitation to the Salish Sea Region.
