Our Explore the Salish Sea Curriculum is being deployed throughout the region, and recently one classroom put together their own documentary based on what they learned. Check it out!
Bringing the Salish Sea to Tacoma’s Fifth Graders
Tacoma Public School students are taking a big step into their local ecosystem.
While the pandemic has disrupted in-person schooling nationwide, Tacoma Public Schools is piloting a new Explore the Salish Sea science curriculum district-wide that adventurous fifth grade teachers at two Tacoma schools implemented last year.
Explore the Salish Sea is an education program of the SeaDoc Society — a marine science organization based on Orcas Island and a program of the Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center at the University of California, Davis. The curriculum is built on the book of the same name, authored by SeaDoc Society Science Director Joe Gaydos and board member Audrey Benedict.
VIDEO: Joe Shares SeaDoc's New Kids' Book on New Day Northwest
As you may already know, our Science Director Joe Gaydos co-wrote a kids’ book to engage the young people who will inherit the Salish Sea. He went live on KING5’s New Day Northwest Tuesday to talk about the book and the wonder of the Salish Sea as a whole. Learn more about the book and how you can help inspire the next generation at www.explorethesalishsea.com
Filled with beautiful photography and engaging stories, Explore the Salish Sea: A Nature Guide for Kids inspires children to explore the unique marine ecosystem that encompasses the coastal waters from Seattle’s Puget Sound up to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Georgia Strait of British Columbia.
Discover the Salish Sea and learn about its vibrant ecosystem in this engaging non-fiction narrative that inspires outdoor exploration. Filled with full-color photography, this book covers wildlife habitats, geodiversity, intertidal and subtidal sea life, and highlights what is unique to this Pacific Northwest ecosystem. The book was written by SeaDoc Science Director Joe Gaydos and board member Audrey Benedict.
Thank You for Giving 'Explore the Salish Sea' to Kids in Need
Thanks to all who have given copies of our new book to the young explorers who will inherit the Salish Sea! Your online contributions to our Indiegogo campaign plus a matching $5,000 donation from Karen and Phil Drayer and several generous donations that came in by mail have pushed us beyond our $20,000 goal!
We are so excited to share these books with children who might have otherwise been deprived of a chance to connect with the Salish Sea. If you haven’t had a chance to buy a book for a child in need, visit the book page on our website to see how you can support.
We promised a shout-out to all who donated five books or more. Deep thanks from all of us here at Team SeaDoc to all who got behind this campaign!
- Karen and Phillip Drayer
- Martha Kongsgaard and Peter Goldman
- Kathy Dickinson McDowell
- Wally and Susan Gudgell
- Debra Cederbaum
- Heather and Ron Rosenberg
- Betty Corbett
- Ivan Reiff
- Audrey Benedict
- Rochelle and Cory Severson
- Janice Sears
- Kerry Dyson Allen
- Susan Alter
- Brian Ehrmantraut and Moana Kutsche
- Janice D'Amato
- Kit Wright
- Ken and Mariann Carrasco
- Janet Alderton
- Markus Naugle
- Kate Janeway and H.S. Wright III
- Audrey and Dean Stupke
- Mollie and Glenn Anthony
- Valerie Rockefeller
- Nancy Liebermann
- Sound Action
- David Hall
- Colleen Broughton
- Brian Riddell
- Alissa Elderkin
- Wally and Josie Barrow
- Nicole Hehn
- Larry Soll and Nancy Maron
- Harvey Himelfarb and Alice Swan
- Kirsten and Jamie Gilardi
- Bob and Sandi Friel
- Tegan Tigani
- Trude Wright
- Jennifer and Kevin Lassahn
- Bob Dash and Ranna McNeil
- Charlotte and Joel Gaydos
- Sara Jane Johnson
- Susan and Mike Briddell
- Wendolyn Michnay
- Chris Moench and Jennifer Hahn
- Carl Johansen and Judy Chapman
- Meggen Chadsey
- Annie Jost DeKay
- Mary and Gil Masters
- Stu and Patsy Stephens
- Pam Loew and Linda Henry
- Leslie Dierauf and Jim Hurley
- Bert and Sue Webber
- Angel Braestrup
- JoAnn and Wayne English
- (Updating as donations continue to come in)
Buy SeaDoc's Kids Book for a Child in Need
The SeaDoc Society will soon publish a book for young readers titled Explore the Salish Sea: A Nature Guide for Kids. This week we launched an Indiegogo campaign that allows you to buy a copy of the book for a child who might not otherwise be able to afford it.
Our goal is to make the book available to every 5th and 6th grader in the Salish Sea regardless of their ability to pay. (SeaDoc will distribute the purchased books). It’s a great opportunity for SeaDoc supporters to invest in the next generation!
Low-income families are disproportionately affected by environmental degradation. We want to make sure every kid has the opportunity to fall in love with the Salish Sea, because its health depends on the next generation.
Please consider supporting the Indiegogo campaign today and help us spread the word! Visit the Indiegogo page: www.explorethesalishsea.com.
The book, written by SeaDoc Science Director Joe Gaydos and board member Audrey Benedict, is filled with beautiful photos and compelling stories about this unique inland sea. It will be in stores and Amazon on April 17!
In the meantime, let’s gift them to the next generation! Learn more on our Indiegogo page.
Explore the Salish Sea: A Nature Guide for Kids (2018)
Order at your local bookstore or on Amazon.
We want Explore the Salish Sea: A Nature Guide for Kids to be available to every 5th and 6th grader in the Salish Sea regardless of ability to pay. We're piloting that effort by providing the books to students at Camp Orkila on Orcas Island. To buy a book for a student, support SeaDoc on GiveOrcas.
About the book
The SeaDoc Society has published a book for the next generation. Filled with beautiful photography and engaging stories, Explore the Salish Sea: A Nature Guide for Kids inspires children to explore the unique marine ecosystem that encompasses the coastal waters from Seattle's Puget Sound up to the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Georgia Strait of British Columbia.
Discover the Salish Sea and learn about its vibrant ecosystem in this engaging non-fiction narrative that inspires outdoor exploration. Filled with full-color photography, this book covers wildlife habitats, geodiversity, intertidal and subtidal sea life, and highlights what is unique to this Pacific Northwest ecosystem. The book was written by SeaDoc Science Director Joe Gaydos and board member Audrey Benedict.
Early praise for Explore the Salish Sea
Explore the Salish Sea, a new nature guide for kids, is a lavishly illustrated exploration of the waters that connect Washington and British Columbia. The book encourages kids to get out and explore, and to think about ways to help take care of the Salish Sea every day. More than gee-whiz facts, the book is aligned with Washington state core science-learning standards to step kids through the fundamentals of the ecology of the Salish Sea.
Explore The Salish Sea is a nature guide for kids. It’s about the unique marine ecosystem that connects Puget Sound with Canada. It’s aimed at fifth and sixth graders and based on a previous edition made for adults.
Port Townsend Marine Science Center
“Joe’s new book is beautiful and, while it was primarily designed for fifth graders, it teaches us all that we can -- and must -- make a difference for the health of the Salish Sea and the living things that depend on it,” said Janine Boire, Executive Director. "He is able to connect the science for people in ways that move us to action."
Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association
#2 on the Early and Middle Grade category
#1 in the Children's Environmental & Ecology category
Catch Joe and Audrey at a local book event:
JOSEPH K. GAYDOS is chief scientist for the SeaDoc Society, a marine science and conservation program focused on the Salish Sea. He is a licensed wildlife veterinarian and has a PhD in wildlife health. For over a decade he has been studying the fish and wildlife of the Salish Sea.
AUDREY DELELLA BENEDICT is a biologist, writer, and passionate advocate for the conservation of the global ocean and Arctic and alpine environments the world over. She is founder and director of Cloud Ridge Naturalists, a nonprofit natural history educational organization now in its fourth decade. She is currently a member of the board of the SeaDoc Society and served for nearly a decade as a trustee for the Colorado chapter of The Nature Conservancy, from which she received the prestigious One Conservancy Award in 2003 for her work in Ecuador. Audrey splits her time between her home at 9,000 feet along the Colorado Front Range and her off-grid cottage on San Juan's Frost Island.
The Salish Sea: Jewel of the Pacific Northwest (2015)
Buy the book at your local bookstore or on Amazon.
SeaDoc's first book, The Salish Sea: Jewel of the Pacific Northwest by Audrey DeLella Benedict and Joseph K. Gaydos (Sasquatch Books; $24.95; March 2015), combines a scientist's inquiring mind, dramatic color photographs, and a lively narrative of compelling stories. This is the first book of its kind to describe the Salish Sea, whose name was not even officially recognized until 2008. One of the world’s largest inland seas, the Salish Sea contains 6,535 square miles of sea surface area and 4,642 miles of coastline. Fashioned by the violent volcanism of the Pacific Rim of Fire, plate tectonics, and the sculptural magic wrought by Ice Age glaciers, the Salish Sea is a unique ecosystem home to thousands of different species of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and macro-invertebrates=
Amongst breathtaking color photography, The Salish Sea takes a look at the region’s geology, fauna, and history, and ends with hope for the protection of its future. The reader is left with a sense of wonder for this intricate marine ecosystem and the life that it sustains.
