Vashon Nature Center

Give Big 2025 for data security!

Are you anxious about the future of scientific research? This administration has gutted funding, swiped vital data and dismantled the federal departments and universities conducting and holding environmental and climate research. The Vashon Nature Center is adding a data portal to our website making our nonprofit more stable than any of our government or University partners right now. The Vashon Nature Center will hold the torch through these troubled times, providing a safe depository for all data for our Island and with ripples through the greater Salish Sea. 

Give Big for Saving Data Forever!  

Data from VNC's Biodiversity and Wildcam Projects are just some examples of community collected grassroots science data that Vashon Nature Center will be storing on our new data portal. Independent sources of data contribute to our natural heritage and foster local connection to nature while providing us with essential information for stewardship. 

Vashon Nature Center's mission is to provide transformative nature experiences through community science, research, and education for the benefit of people and nature on our island home and thru the entire Salish Sea.

Vashon Nature Center connects people to nature and to one another through active stewardship, community science and education programming for all ages and all people. Rooted on Vashon Island, in south central Puget Sound, our locally-based programs enrich our island community. Together with over 50 partners organizations across the Salish Sea we leverage our local work to create solutions for region-wide and cross border environmental challenges. With your support, we create large-scale positive cultural and ecological change through the region.

Help us awaken the world to the wonders of nature.  

Give Local for Wide-spread Impact

Your donation of any size fuels Vashon Nature Center programs! Can you help us raise $10,000 during GiveBig 2025? This will help us reach our annual goal of $75,000 in private funding to support nature programs for this fiscal year!

Volunteer, Micheal Laurie, assists Sue Velasquez from the Hakai Institute while taking a eDNA sample from Quartermaster Harbor as Bob Lane and Bob Keller observe in the distance. Advancing local and Salish Sea wide research:

•  On-going kelp research as part of the statewide kelp initiative: we are part of a core group of government, university, tribal, and nonprofit organizations working together to stem the tide of kelp loss in central and south Puget Sound. We monitoring and contribute data on 3 natural kelp beds on Vashon-Maury Islands to the network.
•  Trout Tracking a new program to compliment over 20 years of salmon data and spark focus on the lesser known salmonids- cutthroat trout, that are absolutely crucial and the most tightly tied fish to our Pacific Northwest forested creek systems.
• Using eDNA to create a baseline for biodiversity across the Salish Sea: in order to truly help our region's natural systems thrive we need to know what species live here and where they are. We have only scratched the surface! Beyond the iconic public facing species like orca whales or critically endangered species like chinook salmon we have thousands of species that support the integrity of the ecosystem needed for these iconic species to thrive.  We are partnering with Hakai Institute in Canada as the southernmost eDNA sample point in their cross boundary network. Using environmental DNA we can non-invasively census marine organisms from water samples. We take our samples monthly from Quartermaster Harbor!

LINKS Students assisting with the relocation of whale bones to Vashon Island School District campus for future student study

Engaging Public School Students: 

Each year we work with over 60% of Vashon Island School District students to deliver hands-on science investigations integrated into local community science research projects! Our latest project involves students in cataloging and articulating a 39.5 foot gray whale skeleton! We are working with local metalworkers and artisans to articulate and hang the gray whale skeleton in Vashon Center for the Arts by April 2026. This will kick off a year of joint art and science events, talks, and displays celebrating our connection to the ocean and instigating stewardship of the Salish Sea. We are looking for major donors to support this whale of a project! 

VNC Field Specialist, Santiago Ramos-Torrescano teaches crab identification to particpants from Sea Potential during an Invasive Green Crab Monitoring Survey.

Community Programs : 

We run many community nature programs open to islanders and mainland folk. We have an in depth Naturalist Training Series called Fin to Feather that runs each January-July.  We also help coordinate the Low Tide Celebration, manage beach naturalists for that event, offer customized programs for off-island and community groups including urban youth, and more.

Without your support, none of this would be possible!