WSU Cooperative Extension Island County’s Beach Watchers Program announces its 2002 Beach Watcher Volunteer Training. Since 1990 the program has trained over 220 volunteers to help others make educated choices about the use of our land and water resources. Selected individuals will receive 100 hours of training about watershed resources, with an emphasis on practical stewardship. In return for this FREE training, Beach Watchers agree to provide a minimum of 50 hours of volunteer outreach to residents of Island County for two years.

Training covers coastal and upland geology, hydrology, nearshore ecology, intertidal organisms and beach monitoring, wetlands, wildlife, forestry, nonpoint source pollution, household hazardous chemicals, interactions between people and watersheds, and much more. All of the classes are taught by experts in their fields, and one third of the course work consists of field trips to locations around Island, Snohomish and Skagit counties, including Cama Beach State Park, Padilla Bay Estuarine Reserve, Deception Pass State Park and Penn Cove Shellfish facility.

Classes start March 5 and run through April 30, 2002, meeting 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday at the Camano Center on Camano Island. In past years a number of people traveled from Camano to Whidbey to attend the training, and this year Whidbey residents are invited to do the same. This is the only Beach Watchers’ volunteer training that will be held in 2002.

For information and an application, call Jeannie at 679-7327 or 331-5111 ext. 7327; or email britts@wsu.edu; or download from www.beachwatchers.wsu.edu. Applications must be postmarked by Feb. 8, 2002.

Island County/WSU Beach Watchers program is made possible by a grant from Washington State Department of Ecology’s Shorelands and Coastal Zone Management Program.