OoNee Sea Urchin Ranch aims to restore kelp forests, turn profit On the Oregon coast, Nate Parker-Jones is a commercial fisher, but he doesn’t use a crab pot, or even a hook and line.

Finally. A radio interview where I didn't cringe at the sound of my voice or anything I said. Thanks for the chance to talk urchin ranching @klccoregon.bsky.social www.klcc.org/economy-busi...

Giant sea stars are melting away — and now scientists know why Canadian scientists say they’ve finally identified what is likely causing giant colourful sea stars in the Pacific Northwest to literally waste away: It's bacterium from the same family that causes ch...

After years of work, a team of researchers with support from The Nature Conservancy have identified the causative agent of Sea Star Wasting Disease! Big implications for my work & an inspiring example of the amazing things we can do w/ science...plus I'm quoted in it ;)
www.cbc.ca/player/play/...

we did not need another reason to ❤️ #kelp but here's one anyway...

Woohoo! Congrats Bennett!

Ahhhhh amazing!!! Thank you so much for making me aware of this!

Can we crowdsource backing up this data? I'd be happy to back up a chunk of it and put it up on some public github or other kind of repository

Nice work Alyssa!

FYI Folks, for a while NOAA's Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool was down. It's back up now! Everybody go check it out and then DOWNLOAD the data so that if/when NOAA resources continue to be gutted, we can still use that data.
edgi-govdata-archiving.github.io/j40-cejst-2/...

Yup, two of my co-authored articles are in here as well :/

Natural Resource Specialist 4 (Shellfish Program Leader) Initial Posting Date: 03/13/2025 Application Deadline: 03/27/2025 Agency: Department of Fish and Wildlife Salary Range: $6,667 - $9,830 Position Type: Employee Position Title: Natural Resource Special...

Shellfish Program Leader position open at OR Dept of Fish and Wildlife. Well paid and you get to live in beautiful Newport OR. Plus you get to interface with my group, ORKA, to make management decisions about urchin removal, Pycnopodia outplanting, etc
oregon.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/SOR_Ex...

Bought it! Been following you for years and excited to read this

Did you hear? We have just launched our eco/evo mini grant! Where are our ecologist/evolutionists?!

Presenting to local high schoolers for career day. What topics do you think I should hit? So far I'm going over what my job is, what a 'day in the life' looks like, how I got to this job, and ways to have a career in marine science that don't require a PhD. Anything to add or subtract??

Share Your CFPB Story | U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts The Official U.S. Senate website of Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts

The CFPB has returned over $21 billion directly to Americans scammed by Wall Street.

If you have been personally helped by the CFPB - if you've filed a complaint, got money returned to you, or benefitted from their work, I need to hear from you.

www.warren.senate.gov/share-your-c...

Got to attend an awesome ocean trivia night at Pelican Brewery hosted by Winter Waters PNW. Proceeds from the night went to the Oregon Kelp Alliance. So grateful for the creative, passionate folks who made this happen :)

An isopod grazes the top of a bull kelp stipe.

JOB ANNOUNCEMENT: Interested in getting paid a good living wage to live on the beautiful Oregon coast and help restore and protect kelp forests? If so, check out the Oregon Kelp Alliance's new job posting! www.oregonkelp.com/opportunitie...

Visual abstract for Kelp paper

Excited to announce our work on kelp genomics is now out at Current Biology. Lead by Postdoc extraordinaire Jordan Bemmels, we sequence WGS for 600+ bull and giant kelp across BC and Washington. authors.elsevier.com/a/1kSP93QW8S...

You might look into the near-strike that happened with grad students at the University of Oregon in 2019. The uni tried to take away grads healthcare in exchange for cash, grads voted 96% to strike, university backed down at the last second. A strong anecdote of how important healthcare is to grads.

Hey folks! The Oregon Kelp Alliance recently released our 2024 Oregon Kelp Forest Status Report. It finds worrying losses over the last 15 years in OR's kelp forests but also exciting signs of resilience. Read it for yourself here and feel free to ask me any Qs!
www.oregonkelp.com/wp-content/u...

Had a lovely time at the 2024 Western Society of Naturalists meeting in Portland this weekend! So much great content on kelp forest restoration, including some talks that got me super excited for ORKA's 2025 work.... feeling hopeful :)

Photograph of an Alaskan bog with red Sphagnum and blue pools of water in the foreground and green conifer trees in the background.

Bogs are beautiful.
Bogs cool the climate.
Bogs lead to biological innovation (meat eating plants anyone?).
Bogs clean our water.
Bogs protect landscapes from drought.
We should all love and respect boglands.

Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #1,139,337!

Congrats Brooke! So deserved!

Wyden Investigation Reveals New Details About Automakers’ Sharing of Driver Information with Data Brokers; Wyden and Markey Urge FTC to Crack Down on Disclosures of Americans’ Data Without Drivers’ Co... The Official U.S. Senate website of Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon

Senator Ron Wyden (@wyden.senate.gov) thankfully continues to warn people that automakers are hoovering up vast troves of sensitive driver behavior and location data, then selling access to any nitwit with two nickels to rub together...without making any of it clear to consumers:

Oregon’s underwater forests are vanishing. Can they be saved? As marine heat waves wreak havoc on Oregon’s ocean ecosystems, the collapse of kelp forests could prove catastrophic to marine life, fisheries and tribes.

Thanks to The Oregonian for this excellent profile of Oregon's kelp forests and the Oregon Kelp Alliance!
www.oregonlive.com/environment/...

ORKA is hiring! Come work for kelp forest restoration and protection on the magnificent Oregon coast.
www.oregonkelp.com/opportunitie...

Live from NPR News, we’re now on Bluesky 👋🎙️

Wow! This is such a cool project... thanks for making me aware of it!

This timeline depicts the evolution of kelp forests and associated organisms along the Pacific Coast over the past 32 million years, along with water temperature variations. Black bars indicate members of modern, complex kelp ecosystems - sea otters, abalone, sea urchins, and, until recently, sea cows. The green bars indicate now-extinct members of early kelp beds, including demostylians and penguin-like plotopterids. Credit: Steffen Kiel and Cindy Looy

The discovery of 32-million-year-old #kelp holdfasts from the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, means that this group of marine foundation species is twice as ancient as previously thought & highlights the vastly different communities that kelps have supported over time. phys.org/news/2024-01...

It would sure be a shame if the bots/crowds got to this form that's designed to snitch on CSU faculty participating in the strike. Definitely DON'T fill it out with bogus info if you support the hardworking faculty who just want fair wages. app.smartsheet.com/b/form/c85dc...