Washington Fish and Wildlife is holding a two-hour training on April 13th at 10:30 a.m. at Fort Flagler for anyone interested in volunteering as a docent to educate visitors about protecting the wildlife on Rat Island. WFWD is preparing training materials, vests, hats and signage as well.
Friends of Fort Flagler (https://friendsoffortflagler.org/) has been working with WFWD to provide some protection to Rat Island during the Caspian Tern nesting and Harbor Seal pupping season which occurs during July and August. The goal is to have docents posted at the end of the Fort Flagler spit, across from Rat Island during extremely low tides. There will be signage discouraging folks from walking or kayaking on the island. The docents will take the opportunity to answer questions and talk about the value of protecting the habitat and wildlife, and how our presence may disturb the chicks and pups.
We are recruiting folks who may be interested in volunteering for this program. We will have to discuss the length of each shift and times. We are only looking to cover extremely low tides (-1.5' and lower). If we have enough volunteers, volunteer commitments may be as little as twice per month.
