Who We Are

The Dungeness River Audubon Center at Railroad Bridge Park is an active partnership of four organizations operating under an Memorandum of Understanding.

1. River Center Foundation
2. Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society
3. Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe
4. National Audubon Society (NAS) represented by Audubon Washington, The WA State Office of NAS.

The Dungeness is the ancestral locale of the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe. The Rainshadow Foundation grew out of a natural history museum active in the 1980s and early 1990s. Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society (OPAS) has over 400 members throughout Clallam County. National Audubon is creating a network of nature centers across the United States and the River Center is the first established in Washington State.

The Dungeness River Audubon Center is governed by a River Center Board with equal representation from the four partner organizations and at-large members providing particular expertise. A full-time salaried Director and a full-time Education Coordinator are assisted by a Docent Coordinator/Office Manager, and by a strong cadre of Docents and volunteers from the boards and membership of the partners.

1. River Center Foundation

The story begins with the Sequim Natural History Museum which for nine years was an adjunct of the Sequim School District, created and maintained entirely by volunteers. In 1993 the Museum's space in the old high school building had to be relinquished for school district use, and the specimens and exhibit materials were stored. Soon thereafter, the museum took advantage of a unique opportunity to reorganize as a nonprofit corporation -- the Rainshadow Natural Science Foundation -- and to join forces with the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe in a partnership to interpret the natural history of the river, the watershed, and the Olympic Peninsula.

The Rainshadow Natural Science Foundation needed a permanent home for its displays and a facility for educational programs. The Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe has always been deeply involved with the well-being of the Dungeness River and the restoration of the salmon. The Railroad Bridge Park, dedicated in 1992, is an exceptional setting for an interpretive center. It was natural for the Foundation and the Tribe to cooperate in working toward these compatible goals by developing the River Center. It is now known as the River Center Foundation.

2. Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society

OPAS, the Clallam-County-based chapter of the National Audubon Society, has been an organizational supporter of the Rainshadow Natural Science Foundation since the foundation's beginnings, and, as might be expected, there is substantial cross-membership. OPAS members have also been active in various public-participation projects to enhance stewardship, planning and habitat restoration projects in the Dungeness watershed.

• A year-long census of birds in the River Center vicinity was an early effort by OPAS regulars that has helped to define the potential of the site. OPAS regulars have identified and catalogued the native plant and tree species at the Center to develop appropriate landscape preservation. OPAS regulars are active in the Peninsula Trails Coalition and were among the volunteers that restored the railroad bridge and trestle.
• The 15-mile-diameter "count circle" that forms the core of "Christmas Bird Count" and spring "birdathon" activities of OPAS (dating back 20+ years) is centered not far from the River Center site. The river corridor and estuary are valuable habitat and staging areas for resident and migratory birds.
• The OPAS Board committed to recognize the River Center as a primary project of the chapter, and to help further the River Center objectives. A special committee of the Board is focussed on details.
• Sponsorship and development of this Internet "virtual web site" for the River Center is an early action by OPAS that is anticipated to extend awareness of and interest in the River Center well beyond the Peninsula.
• In a "new strategy" developed over the past several years National Audubon has committed to developing "nature centers" throughout America in cooperation with other groups as well as via the well-established Audubon Sanctuaries. National intends also to further emphasize the already-important "grassroots" of the Society. An important message from OPAS is that a broad-based natural history interpretive center is already evolving here, with substantive grassroots Audubon involvement. OPAS and National Audubon have now formally joined with the Rainshadow National Science Foundation and the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe in sponsorship of the River Center as an affiliated Audubon Nature Center.

Further information about Olympic Peninsula Audubon Society can be found at: http://www.olympicpeninsulaaudubon.org

3. Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe

The Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe has enjoyed an association with the Dungeness River beginning long before other settlement. In recent years the Tribe, through its Natural Resources staff, has been active in efforts to protect and enhance the river habitat for the sake of the salmon and the people of the Peninsula, including:

• participation in the Dungeness River Management Team, convened in 1988 to focus on control of flooding, fisheries enhancement, and water utilization on the river.
• participation in a broadly-representative community process to develop the Dungeness Area Watershed Management Plan.
• serving as the coordinating entity for the Dungeness-Quilcene Water Resources Management Plan developed by a broadly-representative community process mandated by the state sponsorship.
• facilitating the efforts of a Dungeness River habitat restoration working group of fisheries and wildlife biologists and river experts.
• managing and participating in a Public Involvement and Education project of the Puget Sound Water Quality Authority focussed on " ... understanding the natural history of the Dungeness River watershed". One part of the project provided class and field-trip projects in stream monitoring for young students, and another developed interpretive materials about the watershed.

Further information about the Tribe can be found at the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe web site: http://www.jamestowntribe.org

4. National Audubon/Audubon Washington

The National Audubon Society is developing a network of Audubon affiliated Nature Centers across the country, involving partnerships with local chapters such as OPAS, civic associations, schools and other groups to enhance environmental education in local communities.

Information on the scope of National Audubon's activities across the country can be found on the NAS web site: http://www.audubon.org