Marine science, stewardship education field trips return to Blaine schools

Garden of the Salish Sea Curriculum (GSSC) will once again be leading Blaine students on field trips this spring to study marine life.
GSSC has been working with Blaine and Whatcom County schools since it was founded in 2012. But the nonprofit, which is an affiliate of the Pacific Shellfish Institute out of Olympia, hasn’t held in-person field trips with Blaine schools in the last three years because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
GSSC founder and director Julie Hirsch said they will be taking a group of sixth grade students on a walking tour of Drayton Harbor Oyster Company’s operations in mid-March. And in April, GSSC will take a group of 8th graders on a walking field trip to Cain Creek.
Hirsch said students develop a connection with nature on these trips that will motivate them to take action in protecting the environment. The curriculum typically varies between grade levels but overall centers around a lesson in the classroom before the field trip and a reflection piece afterward.
Blaine Primary School STEAM teacher Terre Shapiro said students will learn about the subjects of their field trips before they go. STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, arts and math.
For first grade students, it’s part of their life science unit, she said, which focuses on sea creatures and their environment. Students identify the difference between clams and oysters and learn about small fish, hermit crabs, snails, limpets, barnacles, kelp, eelgrass, plankton and sea stars, and then get to see some of them.
“This caps it off with really being able to see the things they’ve learned about in their natural habitat,” Shapiro said. “It’s really a cool experience for the kids that they wouldn’t get in the classroom.”
During the Covid-19 pandemic, GSSC put together virtual field trips for students to use while at home and in the classroom, which Hirsch said are still good resources for students who cannot get in the field. GSSC also offered Family Field Days on weekends, where students and families could take part in programs at Birch Bay State Park. Hirsch said they will continue them this spring and summer.
GSSC partnered with Friends of Birch Bay State Park in 2018 and has worked with Blaine-Birch Bay Park and Recreation District 2 more recently to lead beach explorations at Birch Bay State Park.
Last summer, Blaine High School interns worked with the organization’s citizen science team, Whatcom Harmful Algal Bloom Hunters and Drayton Harbor Oyster Company, in the field as part of a program to show such work can have a clear and demonstrable career path.
For more information, visit gardensalishsea.org. Hirsch said anyone wanting to volunteer can fill out a form at bit.ly/3YQkHkk.