Stewardship on Your Schedule
Through CoastWatch’s mile program, Oregon Shores conservation program, the Coastwatch community science program, and CoastWatch in the Schools, there are multiple opportunities and ways to participate. Participants can simply walk and fill out the observation form or commit further by monitoring marine debris and bird and animal populations and/or calling attention to dumping, illegal harvesting, and wetland filling.
This information is of value to Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition in its advocacy work, as well as to resource agencies, local officials and citizens, other environmental groups, and academic researchers.
Since 1971, Oregon Shores has sought to protect the coast in land use hearings, regulatory board meetings, and courtrooms. This is necessary work, but environmental action becomes dry and abstract when it deals only with legal processes. CoastWatch is designed to root our larger purposes more firmly in the land and wildlife we are determined to protect and conserve. This program is based on volunteers learning about and becoming connected to particular places, pooling their knowledge, and sharing this personal experience with the community through education and advocacy. The goal is to create a dramatically effective means of involving citizens in deciding the shoreline’s future.
Who Are Our CoastWatchers?
People from all walks of life join CoastWatch. One of the most unique aspects of this program is how flexible it is; we want coastal stewardship to be as accessible as possible. Miles can be adopted by individuals, families, businesses, schools, clubs, or any other configuration of dedicated ocean stewards.
Some of the groups that have adopted a mile include:
Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, Lewis and Clark National Historic Park, Oregon Coast Aquarium, Eugene Hikers, Northwest Outdoor School, Wildlife Center of the North Coast, Cape Perpetua Collaborative, Friends of Otter Rock, Redfish Rocks Community Team, Shoreline Education for Awareness, Seaside Aquarium, Friends of Haystack Rock