The North Olympic Salmon Coalition mourns the passing of Katherine Baril, a founding board member of NOSC and a dedicated advocate for salmon recovery across Washington State.

Katherine helped shape the vision of our organization from its earliest days and later returned to serve on the Board of Directors from 2017–2019. Her influence on salmon recovery extended far beyond NOSC. Throughout her career, she championed collaborative conservation, helping bring together Tribes, landowners, agencies, elected officials, and local communities to solve complex watershed challenges.

Katherine believed that lasting restoration was built not only with engineering and science, but with relationships. She often reminded us that while restoration projects reconnect rivers, it is people who reconnect communities.

In her final letter to the Board, Katherine shared a hope that continues to inspire our work today: that we never lose sight of the "heart and mind" of salmon recovery, that alongside restoring rivers, we continue bringing people together across boundaries to care for the places we all share.

We are deeply grateful for Katherine's leadership, wisdom, and belief in the power of community. Her legacy lives on in every effort we make to ensure salmon and the communities that depend upon them continue to thrive.

This past June, our Washington Conservation Corps (WCC) Career Pathways training provided Olympic Peninsula Region WCC members with hands-on professional development and technical skill-building focused on careers in natural resource management, habitat restoration, and environmental stewardship. Participants gained practical knowledge that prepares them for long-term careers advancing conservation work in our region and across Washington State. This training was made possible through Habitat Strategic Initiative Lead funding provided by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), whose support is gratefully acknowledged. We want to extend a thank you to our presenters from NOSC, WA Sea Grant, Natural Systems Design, Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe, and Clarity Enterprises, Inc.

Also in June, we offered a training day for local teachers called "Educating in our Watershed: Salmon and the Elwha River" in collaboration with the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and Port Angeles School District (PASD). The training prepared teachers to apply meaningful, place/land-based learning experiences to their classrooms, connecting Tribal history and sovereignty to salmon and the Elwha River watershed. While all teachers were welcome to participate, the training was aimed towards teachers participating in the Salmon in the Schools program. Teachers had the opportunity to connect with resident experts and participate in hands-on field activities, learning about the watershed's history, restoration, monitoring, and stewards. Thank you to our partners, especially the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, who made this training possible!

Top: WCC members at Career Pathways training, photo by NOSC staff. Middle right: Carmen Watson-Charles, PASD Tribal Liaison for the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, teaching about the five species of Pacific salmon. Photo by Chelsea Korbulic. Bottom: Teachers identifying fish species along Indian Creek. Photo by NOSC staff.

During our Summer fundraising campaign every dollar you give is matched dollar for dollar until up to $20,000. Your $50 becomes $100. Your $250 becomes $500.

What does all that doubling build? A future where every elementary school on the North Olympic Peninsula can raise coho salmon from eggs and release them into a local stream, and where 7th graders keep heading into the field to do real watershed science. Kids who know this place the way wild salmon know it.

You can be the reason it happens. Give today and put twice as much behind students, salmon, and the streams they depend on.

Top right: Chum survey volunteers Janet Welch and Dave Winters collecting scale samples, photo by NOSC staff. Middle Left: Chum survey volunteers Patrick Johnson and Gail DiVincenzo recording spawner length, photo by Rob Ayer. Bottom: 2024 Chum survey team, from left to right Kelly Brietzke, Paula Walsh, Patrick Johnson, Jasmine Martin, Gabe Meyer, and David Rignguette, photo by NOSC staff.

Affordable Housing Leads

Please keep an ear out for affordable housing for AmeriCorps members. Word of mouth through our community has helped past service members find housing. If you have any leads on affordable housing options, please feel free to reach out to info@nosc.org and we will share them with our incoming Washington Service Corps members who will be starting September 1st based in Jefferson County.

Looking For Skilled Board Members

The North Olympic Salmon Coalition is seeking passionate community members to join our Board of Directors. As we continue to grow our impact across the North Olympic Peninsula, we are especially looking for individuals with experience in finance, law, or fundraising to help strengthen our organization for the future. Board members play a vital role in guiding our mission, shaping organizational policy, building community partnerships, and ensuring healthy watersheds and thriving salmon populations for generations to come. If you're looking for a meaningful way to give back and use your professional expertise to make a lasting impact in your community, we'd love to hear from you.

To learn more or express your interest, please contact Sarah Doyle, Executive Director, at sdoyle@nosc.org.

We are excited to announce great new speakers and sessions to NOSC's annual Stream Stewards Course this September! Together with local and regional partners, we will be taking deep dives in getting to know our local watersheds and learning about the challenges and opportunities to steward these special places. Through the five weekly sessions, participants will connect with over 20 different organizations and experts to learn about relevant topics in watersheds spanning from Tarboo Creek to the Elwha River, including...

Balancing Social and Environmental Issues in Urban Watersheds - learn about the challenges and opportunities with taking care of urban watersheds. We'll walk Tumwater Creek with 4PA to learn about their efforts to steward the creek, care for people, and seek solutions to these complex problems.

Managing Water Resources in a Changing Climate - this theme will span the entire course, bringing in experts looking through different lenses. Hear from Olympic National Park Physical Scientist, Bill Baccus, on glacier, climate change, and the outlook for river flows and learn about managing water resources for climate resiliency on the Dungeness from the North Olympic Land Trust.

... and many more!

Learn more and register at https://nosc.org/stream-stewards/

After 25 years of restoration work in Discovery Bay, one of the next pieces of the puzzle is falling into place. This summer, crews break ground at the Pedersen Project, located on a parcel recently acquired by Jefferson Land Trust, and you're invited to see the work up close. Join Project Manager Kevin Long on Wednesday, August 12 at 10am for a casual "hard hat"-style tour of the active construction site (we likely won't need actual hard hats). Kevin will walk you through why nearshore and estuary habitat matters so much for young salmon, how old infrastructure like bulkheads and railroad grades disrupts this zone, and what NOSC and our engineering partners plan to accomplish before the season ends. Space is limited and RSVP is required.

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