The
Newport Blue Water Task Force continues to expand with new projects and partnerships with
OSU Extension's after school programming and the
Oregon Coast Aquarium's Youth Volunteer Program. Additionally the
central coast chapter has formed a new campaign to better framework the increased watershed management potentials which the Blue Water Task Force influences. Beginning with watershed protection ordinances forthe Big Creek resevoir, the city of Newport's culinary water source, the chapter hopes to adopt similar protection ordinances for urban watersheds. Implementing management strategies and land use planning ordinances is visioning beyond water quality problems and working toward solutions through engaging citizens, science and stakeholder interest into management decisions. This begins with the simple grassroots activities such as collecting water samples and grows into much greater possibilities for management. Learn more at
http://www.surfrider.org/centralcoastoregon/ or find out how you can get involved by visiting
http://www.surfrider.org/oregon/volunteers.html.