Tour of the Marine Reserves:

I am about halfway through my summer experience and so far I am loving Oregon’s southern coast!

The first week of my internship entailed a two-day tour of Oregon’s Marine Reserves. The first reserve I visited was the Redfish Rocks Marine Reserve in Port Orford. My supervisor and I then visited the Cape Perpetua Marine reserve near the town of Yachats. I learned the pronunciation of Yachats is Yaa-hots with a soft a sound, you may find this handy!

After visiting Cape Perpetua we continued northward to the other reserves. At each reserve we visited with community members who worked with the reserves. It was useful meeting in person with these individuals since establishing good contacts was one of the main components of this trip. While visiting the reserves, I took photos and videos that I am using in the courses. My favorite marine reserve is the northernmost reserve – Cape Falcon.

Here is a photo for reference:

A week later I found this photogenic guy at the same place:

Marine Reserve Modules:

Good progress has been made on the modules I am creating. Soon I am hoping to test the courses so that they can be evaluated by other interns or volunteers. I am expecting to spend lots of time editing and communicating with community partners until the finishing touches are done!

All of the courses make up the Oregon Marine Reserve Training Program. This program will allow people to earn a certification after they complete the program. For now, this certification process will target people working in the guide industry and people who work directly with the reserves.

I hope to exercise some of my creative abilities to create a logo for this program that could be used on stickers, pins, and other fun things that could help increase awareness for this program. I am excited to see how these coursesl turn out!

To learn about the marine reserves you can visit this website: https://oregonmarinereserves.com/