A benefit concert by environmental singer-songwriter Dana Lyons, known for his song “Cows with Guns” tops off the third annual Day for the Bay celebration at Lopez Center for Community and the Arts, May 5.  Organized by Lopez conservation research nonprofit Kwiaht and volunteers of the Fisherman Bay Marine Health Observatory, the event offers field trips, slide shows, exhibits, food and music in support of informed stewardship of the county’s largest historical estuary.

After a brief orientation at the center at 9:30 a.m., you can visit up to five field stations devoted to native plants, seabirds and geology.  There will also be a special field station for children. A light lunch and slide show at the center at 12:30 p.m., will be followed by Dana Lyons in concert. Admission is by donation of $15, which will help pay for ongoing seabird research in the bay.

A special attraction this year is Kwiaht’s new Fisherman Bay Ecosystem Atlas, a bound portfolio of original data, maps and historical photographs documenting changing conditions in the Fisherman Bay watershed, from wildlife and plants to land use patterns and shoreline development.  Donate $25 or more and take a copy of the atlas home with you.  Donate $30 or more and a Fisherman Bay seabird poster will be included.

The Fisherman Bay Marine Health Observatory (www.fishermanbaymho.org) was organized in 2009 as a joint program of Kwiaht and Washington State University Beach Watchers. Since then, Lopezians have volunteered nearly a 1,000 hours to monitoring seabird activity around the bay, identifying critical habitats and food resources for dozens of species, and establishing a baseline for detecting future trends. Volunteers have also begun marking the highest tides of the year to measure impacts of climate change.

In 2012, the monitoring program will expand to include new indicators – plankton and sediment quality – and overlap with class projects at Lopez School.

Sustaining bird diversity is a goal of the program. Diversity and abundance depends to a great extent on fish populations in the bay, which in turn are influenced by water quality and aquatic vegetation. Guiding the growth of Lopez Village to minimize harm to the bay ecosystem is a concern, as well as adapting roads and other community infrastructure to increased storminess and shoreline erosion. A detailed forecast of the effects of climate change on homes and roads in low-lying areas is included in the new Fisherman Bay Ecosystem Atlas.

For more info, visit http://www.facebook.com/Kwiaht or email kwiaht@gmail.com.