VOLUNTEERS DON'T WORK FOR NOTHING
By Milos RadakovichHere in the Monterey Bay area, mention the word volunteer and it seems everyone in the room turns around. The last two decades of the 20th century have been characterized by many things, some good some bad. One of the good things has been an increase in volunteerism. Here on the Monterey peninsula, we are very fortunate to have many good organizations, with literally thousands volunteering their time and talents, many commuting great distances to do it.
Through cooperation with local agencies and funding of research grants, the Monterey bay chapter of ACS has over 20 years of supporting community education, marine conservation and the protection of marine mammal species.
In 1982, ACS members Esta Lee Albright and Milos Radakovich founded Beachwatch, a marine mammal stranding team. In the first fifteen years of activity, Beachwatch provided an early-answer coverage for beached elephant seals, sea lions, harbor seals, sea otters and dolphins. The goal of continuing Beachwatch is to help the local SPCA and the Sausalito-based Marine Mammal Center (TMMC) respond more effectively to reports of marine mammals on public beaches, where both animals and curious humans might be in danger. Notified of a stranding, a Beachwatch coordinator deploys volunteers to set up a protective perimeter around the animal until it returns to the water or, in the event of illness or injury, is picked up by the appropriate agency. The Beachwatch volunteer monitors the animal's behavior, educates curious public about the species, makes notes and photographs, and contributes to formal and informal reports. Integration with scientific and wildlife management agencies serves to give much-needed knowledge and credibility to a citizen-based volunteer program like Beachwatch. Close coordination with private and government agencies is always challenging, but our mutual goals of marine mammal protection and "land mammal" education have proved to be the unifying factor, most of the time.In that same year, the local ACS chapter participated in another community effort: to facilitate the raising of $24,000 for the purchase of "Sandy", a 25-ft. Gray whale sculpture, for the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History. Spearheaded by local ACS vice president, Milos Radakovich, the program offered to individuals and businesses a chance to buy "shares" of Sandy at $3 per pound ($24,000 / 8,000lb = $3 / lb). Within six months, they had raised over $30,000, enough to purchase Sandy from artist Larry Foster, with enough left over to build a special display pedestal. By surrounding the kid-friendly Sandy with a sand border, she was made safer to climb. Since then, the Museum has completed a cetacean wing and is currently exhibiting many of Foster's whale drawings and paintings.
An outgrowth of the Beachwatch volunteer program was Seal Watch. This was led by Kay and Bob Huettmann, two volunteers who answered many calls to newborn harbor seal pups in the Pebble Beach area. Using Beachwatch as a model, and receiving training specific to harbor seals on a nursery site, the Seal Watch volunteers provided twelve hours per day of monitoring, protection and education to the public at the nursery sites, for almost two months of the seals' pupping time each year. The program contributed to harbor seal research with the addition of a blind near a beach for long-term observation and with an annual census of harbor seal pups on the nursery beaches of Pebble Beach. After ten years of operation, Seal Watch successfully retired when Pebble Beach Company closed the nursery beaches to the public during birthing season.
The value of protection and education of both marine and human mammals on the beaches is apparent. When the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary was formed in 1992, there was added a concern for appreciation of the beauty of the area and all its complex sea life. Bay Net, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Volunteer Network, was created to provide assistance with viewing this sea life. Bay Net's docent-naturalists are stationed at selected locations along the shoreline of the MBNMS, in Monterey, Pacific Grove and Santa Cruz. They are on-site interpreters answering questions about the area's culture, history and wildlife - also the history, programs and policies of the MBNMS. Bay Net volunteers have integrated Beachwatch training and tasks into their program. In 1997-98, training was extended to the Cambria-based "Friends of the Elephant Seal" (FES) docents who help visitors to the new seal colony at Point Piedras Blancas, near Hearst Castle.
Bay Net is funded by tax-deductible contributions from individuals, organizations and agencies. Funds are channeled through the Center for Marine Conservation, a Washington D.C.-based non-profit conservation organization with offices in San Francisco, Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara. The program's director is Milos Radakovich, former ACS-Monterey Bay president and one of the originators of Beachwatch. The Bay Net web site is http://www.mbay.net/~baynet.
Illustration by Kent Zilliox