Stoked to protect Washington's ocean, waves, and beaches, for all people!
Spring has sprung!
It's been a long year, and it's only April 🙃 From the ongoing chaos at the federal level, to statewide legislative session speeding along, to chapter programs ramping up as we prepare for Earth Month Madness and more, it's been a busy 2025 thus far! Check out the latest and greatest updates from the first 3 months and what's coming up this spring.
~ Liz Schotman, Washington Regional Manager
Pete Steelquist, Washington Policy Manager
Fight back against federal firings
The recent wave of illegal federal firings has created uncertainty for Washington’s communities, and the intentionally chaotic actions of the current administration will impact every one of us. So many of our local and state programs rely on federal agencies for funding, staff support, critical resources, and more. To all of our volunteers and friends who have lost their jobs, we see you and we will fight for you. You can find more information on just a few of the ways NOAA is necessary for Washington in this blog post from last year. To demand your electeds protect NOAA, checking out the action alert below is a starting point. Call your leaders. Encourage your friends and family to do the same. Don't let the chaos get you down. Rest. Recharge. Organize. Activate. Do so knowing you're part of a bigger community working to change things for the better.
Thursday, February 6th was this year's Environmental Lobby Day. Despite heavy snow across the Puget Sound region, hundreds of people from Washington’s environmental community came to Olympia to demand action on several important bills. With incredible speakers, impressive youth activists, and inspirational humans of all kinds, we left feeling stoked to keep fighting for positive change in Washington and beyond. For more information on the bills we're tracking, check out our 2025 Policy Primer blog post. We are stoked to say that as of this writing, all our priority bills are alive and moving forward! But there are still the final hurdles to make it over before we can celebrate. Keep an eye out on social media and our Legislative Landing Page for ways you can help push these bills over the finish line!
Brooke has been a rock star Beach Cleanup Coordinator for the Seattle Chapter for almost 2 years. In that short time, she's been instrumental in building relationships with local businesses and groups, organizing sponsored cleanups that help fund our mission, and being just a delight of a human to work with. When she's not spending her free time protecting our ocean, waves, and beaches, she's improving lives through the Clemency Project. Check out her recent book, On Redemption, for some powerful lessons on resilience.
Surfrider is a proud member of the Outdoor Alliance (OA), which unites paddlers, mountain bikers, hikers, climbers, surfers, and backcountry skiers to conserve public lands and protect human-powered outdoor recreation. We play a key role in advocating for ocean recreation and coastal protection within the Alliance, while leveraging our political connections from coastal states. On Feb 13th, OA representatives descended upon the state capital to advocate for funding to support and manage human-powered outdoor recreation in Washington State.
Washington State is known for its breathtaking coastal ecosystems - Douglas fir and hemlock-lined shorelines, rocky intertidal zones adorned with brightly colored sea stars, adorable sea otters, and the iconic undulating leaves of bull kelp. Unfortunately, climate change, warming waters, pollution, and overgrazing by unchecked populations of sea urchins threaten Washington’s kelp forests. Over the past few decades, kelp populations have declined drastically in some areas, making conservation efforts all the more urgent. Check out our latest blog post on why we need to protect bull kelp, and how a bill to designate it as our state marine forest is a step in the right direction.
Throughout Washington (and much of the country), when it rains, our wastewater treatment facilities can get overwhelmed, spilling raw sewage into our waterways. This is due to an unfortunate combination of having old and outdated infrastructure (something we at Surfrider advocate for funding to fix at the federal level every year), as well as a changing climate, which causes more frequent and severe storms that overwhelm our outdated systems. Here in Washington, dozens of sewage spills occur every year, but few are widely reported to the general public. The Sewage Spill Right to Know bill would ensure that the public knows if there's been a spill in their area within hours, not days, so we can all make informed choices about when it's safe to swim. For more information on what this bill does and other ways you can support clean water in Washington, check out our latest blog post.
I recently had the privilege of attending the 2nd annual Navigating Coastal Hazards Workshop in Astoria, Oregon earlier this month. This event, organized by the Cascadia Coastlines & Peoples Hazards Research Hub (CoPes), brought together researchers, policymakers, and coastal advocates to discuss the most pressing issues facing our coastlines today. From sea level rise adaptation to tsunami preparedness and community resilience efforts, the workshop was an important gathering of minds dedicated to protecting our disappearing shorelines. Check out the latest blog post on why science-drive, community-led, and nature-based solutions are critical to protecting our coasts.
Washington Coastal Cleanup Day is Coming up! Sat, April 19
Coastsaver's annual Washington Coastal Cleanup is coming up fast! Saturday, April 19th, people will flock to beaches across the state to remove harmful debris and celebrate the amazing coasts we are privileged with here in Washington. Each of our chapters will be hosting a cleanup. To find one near you, and to register for this event, head to Coastsavers.org, or check your local chapter's website. See you at the beach!
