FORKS — The programs of the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary will be the topic of the next Evening Talk, set Friday at the Olympic Natural Resources Center.
George Galasso, deputy superintendent for policy and programs for the sanctuary, will present the talk at 7 p.m. in the Hemlock Forest Room at the resources center at 1455 S. Forks Ave.
The talk is free. Refreshments will be served, and participants are encouraged to bring desserts for a potluck.
Galasso will tell of the sanctuary’s key 2016 resource protection, research and education programs.
The Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary is one of 14 marine protected areas managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, and the only one in Washington state.
Designated in 1994, it covers 3,188 square miles, has 135 miles of shoreline from Cape Flattery to the Copalis River and is adjacent to Olympic National Park, three wildlife refuges and five tribal reservations.
It is within the usual and accustomed fishing areas of the four coastal treaty tribes.
The sanctuary works closely with state and federal agencies and tribal governments, and has a 21-member advisory council, which consists of a diverse group of government and nongovernment members.
Working with the advisory council, the public, tribes and government agencies, the sanctuary revised its management plan in 2011.
Galasso has worked for NOAA, which oversees the sanctuary, since 1982 and has held his present position since 1994.
He has a bachelor’s degree in environmental resource management from the College of Environmental Science and Forestry and a master’s in marine affairs from the University of Washington.
Since joining NOAA, he has served on three NOAA vessels, piloting them through the inside passage of British Columbia and Alaska and participating in research cruises from the Arctic to the South Pacific.
He is now involved in implementing the sanctuary’s revised management plan and managing sanctuary resource protection programs.
Evening Talks are supported by the Rosmond Forestry Education Fund.
For more information about the talk, contact Frank Hanson, education and outreach facilitator at the Olympic Natural Resources Center, at 360-374-4556 or fsh2@uw.edu.
