Thousands of fifth-graders will cycle through Camp Orkila on Orcas Island this summer to engage with our marine ecosystem. As we round the corner into Spring, the counselors who will guide those kids (5,800 total!) are deep in preparation and training.
Last week, our team was honored to lead a low-tide beach walk at Camp Orkila to train this year’s Orkila staff. All of the counselors received a signed copy of our best-selling (and award-winning!) book for fifth graders, Explore the Salish Sea: A Nature Guide for Kids.
As I write this, sitting in The Woods taproom where Southern Resident is brewed, Two Beers has donated more than $15,000 in support of the SeaDoc Society’s collaborative work to save Southern Residents.
Not to mention the story they’ve helped tell on thousands of boxes and cans sold throughout the Pacific Northwest over the last five years. In that initial creative design phase, their team was insistent that the whales’ story and SeaDoc’s mission be clear and prominent on the packaging.
For decades, fish-eating killer whales in the Pacific Northwest have been observed harassing and even killing porpoises without consuming them—a perplexing behavior that has long intrigued scientists.
A study published today in Marine Mammal Science, co-led by Deborah Giles of Wild Orca and Sarah Teman of the SeaDoc Society, a program of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, looked at more than 60 years of recorded interactions between Southern Resident killer whales and porpoises in the Salish Sea to better understand why they exhibit this behavior.
We are excited to welcome our new Regional Director, Leigh Ann Gilmer! She started on February 1 and has hit the ground running.
Prior to joining SeaDoc, Leigh Ann served as Executive Director of Cascadia Art Museum in Edmonds and Development Director and Chief Operating Officer at Conservation Northwest. In addition, she’s held key roles at the Museum of Pop Culture and Seattle University, where she completed her master’s degree while working full time in fund development.
Have you managed a dedicated team? Do you have demonstrated fundraising experience? Do you know how to engage a high-level Board of Directors and shepherd a team towards the big, hairy and audacious, but critical, goal of creating a healthy Salish Sea? If so, we have the opportunity for you.
The SeaDoc Society is hiring a Regional Director to provide development and management leadership for our team. This is a position within the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. The person hired will work closely with our Science Director, Dr. Joe Gaydos, our Executive Director Dr. Kirsten Gilardi, and our Board of Directors to advance SeaDoc's overall mission in the Salish Sea. She/he also will oversee and manage SeaDoc Society outreach, education and administrative staff and workloads.
Since 2016, The SeaDoc Society has grown its impact and reach, expanding not only our scientific capacity but also launching our youth education program and accelerating outreach efforts. This heady time for SeaDoc has been led by Regional Director Markus Naugle.
This month, Markus announced his resignation as Regional Director from SeaDoc Society due to recent changes in his father’s health that require Markus’ help. Please join us in wishing Markus and his family all the best in this time of need.
I had the pleasure of sitting down with Markus Naugle, SeaDoc's new Regional Director, during his recent trip to the Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center at UC Davis. We had a great conversation about his move to Orcas Island after 10 years of running an educational immersion program in Guatemala, as well as his new role at SeaDoc Society at a time when the organization is aiming to double its scientific impact in the Salish Sea. You can hear our conversation below!
By Bob Friel
SeaDoc’s mad scientists have been hard at work in the laboratory for nearly a year trying to animate someone to fill the new position of Regional Director by cobbling together cloned bits of biologists, entrepreneurs, non-profit experts, and ocean lovers. Joe “Dr. Moreau” Gaydos was just about to throw the big switch when in walked Markus Naugle with a resume that blew us away, putting an end to the experiments.
After earning his biology degree at MIT, Markus served for nearly a decade as a biotech management consultant, business analyst, and product manager for large international health care firms. He then co-founded, Magic Carpet Rides, a successful non-profit program in Guatemala dedicated to cultural immersion, service learning, and natural exploration.
Fitting with SeaDoc’s focus on fieldwork as well as lab and data studies, Markus is also an active outdoorsman, experienced world traveler, and ocean advocate. He was a scuba instructor on the Great Barrier Reef, helped restore a rainforest in New Zealand, and saved sea turtles in Costa Rica.
Topping it all off, Markus even has history in SeaDoc’s home waters. When he starts at our Orcas Island office in late November, it will be a homecoming to a place where he’s previously lived, dived, and been a valued member of the local community.
“It’s a thrill for my family and me to come home and join the SeaDoc team,” says Markus. “I am eager to use my skills and experience to help SeaDoc achieve its vital mission of healing our Salish Sea through science.”
Please join us in welcoming Markus to the SeaDoc team as we begin a new era for SeaDoc in which, thanks to your continued support, we’ll be able to greatly expand our important work.
