Harbor WildWatch

Get Ready to Get Your Feet Wet!

May 4, 2015 - Featured, People & Places - Comments: 
Text and Photography by Video by Rodika Tollefson

Leadership. Example. Educate. Stewards. Mentor.

These are words you hear over and over when talking with the staff and dozens of volunteers who make Harbor WildWatch the first-rate, local, marine environmental, nonprofit organization it has become.

In less than a decade, Harbor WildWatch has gone from one person’s dream to create awareness and sustainability of the region’s marine resources to a fully-staffed organization, providing outreach, education, programs, training and much more.

Guests carefully handle a mottled sea star
Guests carefully handle a mottled sea star

Harbor WildWatch operates programming throughout the year, but in 2014 the popular summer “Get Your Feet Wet” interpretive beach program provided more than 8,000 visitors (primarily youth) a monitored, hands-on, educational and fun opportunity to learn about the local area beaches and the range of creatures who reside there.

Harbor WildWatch G.U.E.S.T. guide

Harbor WildWatch helps the young and the young at heart learn marine stewardship with this simple guide they call GUEST:

G = Gently touch with one finger

U = Use your head (don’t turn over any rock bigger than your head)

E = Everything stays! (don’t take any souvenirs off the beach)

S = Step lightly (there are living creatures under your feet!)

T = Take your belongings (leave no trace)

The 2015 “Get Your Feet Wet” programs are free and run June — August at beaches in the Port Orchard and Gig Harbor areas (see schedule).

“Get Your Feet Wet gives experienced naturalists and trained volunteers an opportunity to lead by example and teach proper beach and creature etiquette,” said Lindsey Johnson, executive director of Harbor WildWatch. “Introducing the animals to visitors, particularly youth, in a fun and natural setting helps build awareness and respect for our marine environment.”

Want to learn more about Get Your Feet Wet or the many other programs Harbor WildWatch offers? Visit www.harborwildwatch.org and Get Your Feet Wet this summer in beautiful Puget Sound.

2015 Schedule

(Look for the Harbor WildWatch blue tent and orange-vested staff and volunteers)

  • June 14 Purdy Spit and Manchester State Park, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
  • July 1 Kopachuck State Park and Penrose Point State Park, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
  • July 2 Manchester State Park and Joemma Beach State Park, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
  • July 3 Kopachuck State Park and Penrose Point State Park, noon to 3 p.m.
  • July 4 Kopachuck State Park and Penrose Point State Park, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
  • July 5 Purdy Spit and Joemma Beach State Park, 2 to 4 p.m.
  • July 15 Kopachuck State Park and Penrose Point State Park, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
  • July 16 Purdy Spit and Kopachuck State Park, noon to 2 p.m.
  • July 17 Penrose Point State Park and Manchester State Park, noon to 2 p.m.
  • July 29 Kopachuck State Park and Penrose Point State Park, 10 a.m. to noon
  • July 30 Kopachuck State Park and Penrose Point State Park, 10 a.m. to noon
  • Aug. 1 Manchester State Park and Penrose Point State Park, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
  • Aug. 2 Kopachuck State Park and Narrows Park, noon to 2 p.m.
  • Aug. 13 Purdy Spit and DeMolay Park (Fox Island), 11 a.m. to noon
  • Aug. 28 Penrose Point State Park and Manchester State Park, 10 a.m. to noon
  • Aug. 29 Kopachuck State Park and Penrose Point State Park, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

(Note: Kopachuck, Penrose, Manchester & Joemma Beach state parks require a Discover Pass.)