Coastal Interpretive Center

The Coastal Interpretive Center (CIC) utilizes the cultural & natural history of Washington's Pacific Coast to inspire cradle-to-career student learning across Grays Harbor County. 

Founded in 1977, in the past year we have revitalized our programs and partnerships under the formula: 

Community Education + Community Stewardship -> Community Belonging.

Working with students in-school, we then bring them out into the field, and finally, to our museum, where we develop their passion for the coast through biology, geology, ecology, and anthropology. As a non-partisan, non-advocacy institution, we also prioritize partnership, enabling the CIC to enrich student learning with varying perspectives from scientific, tribal, and historical counterparts.

When we make students proud to grow up here, they'll be proud to live here as adults. When we make adults proud to live here, they're proud to give back to our community.

As schools in our Grays Harbor – among Washington State's most deprived counties – struggle to maintain the resources they need, the CIC is ever more essential as a provider of custom designed curricula for Science, Math, English Language Arts, and Environmental Science state learning standards. Our cradle-to-career programs educate students in grades 1 through 12 and even into college. As we strive to serve ever more Grays Harbor students, the CIC is doing our part to reverse regional brain drain: in 2025, we are launching our first summer college internship (paid) and our first teacher training (free to attendees).

The CIC is hard at work becoming a more dynamic organization that leads a more dynamic region. We are fundraising for our education programs. All funds raised will enable the CIC to better serve our rural students, connected by 214 miles of highway across Grays Harbor. 

We're grateful for the support of the many partners that make our programs a success, including: NOAA, US Fish & Wildlife Service, US Forest Service, Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, Quinault Indian Nation, Maritime Washington National Heritage Area, WA Dept. of Natural Resources, WA Dept. of Fish & Wildlife, WA Dept. of Ecology, WA State Historical Society, Grays Harbor Conservation District, Grays Harbor Marine Resources Committee, Grays Harbor College, and the City of Ocean Shores.