Cove 2 Line Cleanup? Or other suggestions?

[troublesomemermaid]

Hi All,

I am looking for some info for a young soon-to-be Eagle Scout. He is a certified diver, as are a bunch of his troop members, and he wants to do an underwater project for his Eagle Scout rating. He asked me if there are any sites that need to be cleaned up/restored in the area.

Frankly, one mans trash is a another man's treasure - and I think trying to 'clean up' any of our local sites is likely to be more complicated than he imagines... so I was trying to come up with other ideas for him that might be easier to implement. It occurs to me that the Boundary line at Cove 2 might need some restoration, and that is a relatively uncontroversial project (I think), I also know there is a long history of that line, and there are certain individuals who have greatly contributed to working on it/upkeeping it..... but I don't currently remember who any of those individuals are, I wonder if any of you could point me to them so I can put them in touch with the scout?

I had also thought that perhaps I might suggest he contact Bruce Higgins, as maybe there is some work at the park he could organize his troop to do. Does anyone know how to contact Bruce Higgins or whomever is currently leading the volunteers at Edmonds UWP?

I am also going to suggest a REEF survey project to him.

If any of you have any other thoughts I can pass along as far as an underwater project that would be within the abilities of 8 - 10 relatively young certified beginner divers and their scout leaders who are not as young but still beginner divers, shout them out!

Thanks in advance!

Mermaid

[fmerkel]

Some excellent ideas.

A good contact for the line would be Randy Williams. You can reach him via Tacoma Scuba. He's a Marker Buoy member and our club has been maintaining the line for some years. We also haven't done much this year.

You can probably reach Bruce via Edmonds UW sports. He and is crew are out there every weekend.

Jana of course is THE reef contact.
http://www.pnwscuba.com/critterwatchers/

You don't need anything but a bit of fish ID skills and a tally sheet (or decent memory) to start. You do have to register on the site to submit a count.
If you want a fish ID class before embarking the Marker Buoy Club is now a REEF station and hold ID classes occasionally in the U. District at a member's office. Rhoda Green is a category 5 REEF instructor. Jana also gives classes and you can find that info on her site.

The Seattle Aquarium has a teens corps for a myriad of activities. They also have divers. You do have to pass a dive test, take a half dozen classes (all volunteers take the same classes), and make a 6 month commitment.

[LCF]

A marine biology grad student just posted on ScubaBoard (I think -- I'll have to do some searching) about needing some o. gracilis crabs (graceful decorator crabs) for a research project. Maybe going down and collecting some for him would be a good project?

[Kees]

The Seattle Aquarium has a teens corps for a myriad of activities. They also have divers. You do have to pass a dive test, take a half dozen classes (all volunteers take the same classes), and make a 6 month commitment.

It's a year now, Fritz.

[CaptnJack]

While they do have HS age volunteers in various roles, aquarium divers have to be >18yo.
http://www.seattleaquarium.org/netcommu ... px?pid=368

I don't think the line clean-up is a durable or lasting enough "project" to make a very good Eagle scout project honestly. Improved interpretive signage might be a good thing though.

[troublesomemermaid]

Thank you all for the contact info/suggestions & comments - I shall pass them along. I have many REEF contacts already :-).

CaptnJack - Given that I was never an Eagle Scout :-) - I am not sure how big the project needs to be....

Mermaid

[CaptnJack]

CaptnJack - Given that I was never an Eagle Scout :-) - I am not sure how big the project needs to be....

I wasn't either, but most projects I have seen are more lasting & durable than a kelp from the line type cleanup. I don't know what the guidelines are tho.