All of us could use some good news
these days. We were excited to see
recently that Tahlequah, a member of
the endangered Southern Resident Orca
Whales’ J-Pod, is pregnant again. Many
of you will remember Tahlequah for a
more tragic reason: her 17-day, 1,100-
mile tour of grief with her dead calf two
years ago. It’s great news to learn she’s
pregnant again. However, it’s a long road
ahead for that calf to survive and an even
longer road to recovery for the Southern
Residents. It is more important than ever
that we keep up our efforts to recover
the Southern Residents.
It was Tahlequah’s heart-wrenching
journey that motivated us to create Orca
Recovery Day two years ago to give
people a way to do something tangible
that can make a difference. In two years,
that effort has grown from 28 partner
organizations to 109, ~800 participants to
over 2,500, who helped restore 33-acres
of vital habitat last year alone. In the face
of COVID-19, we’ve been struggling to
figure out how to keep that momentum
going. Our challenge has been to find a
way for people to stay engaged in this
effort, while also staying safe. That’s why
we’re excited to be launching an Orca
Recovery Day EcoChallenge, which will
allow people to join teams, take action
in your own backyard or neighborhood,
and inspire us all with what our collective
impact can be when we take action
together.
We’re still in the process of building out
the platform, but participants will have
a series of categories to choose from
like: “Backyard Restoration” or “Daily
Actions”, and a list of actions under each
category such as: “Plant ___ number of
native plants” or “Pick up ___ pounds of
trash”. Actions are tallied as points and
teams across the region will compete to
see who can have the greatest impact.
At the end, we’ll be able to share the
collective impact of all our actions
together.
While COVID-19 has slowed some of
the pressures the Southern Residents
face, such as stormwater pollution and
boat activity, it hasn’t changed the fact
that these icons of the Pacific Northwest
are still critically endangered. There are
actions each of us can take every day
to help recover the Southern Residents
and our hope is that this year’s Orca
Recovery Day EcoChallenge will inspire
all of us to keep those actions going
through the year. Collectively, we can fix
this.
We anticipate launching the
platform in mid-September so
follow us on Facebook.com/PierceConservationDistrict to keep an
eye out for sign ups.