Ocean Life and Environmental Policy
Winter and Spring 2002 Core Program
Enrollment: 46 Faculty: Cheri Lucas-Jennings and Erik Thuesen
Prerequisites: College preparatory science courses in high school
Faculty Signature: No
Special Expenses: Up to $150 for overnight field trips
Internship Possibilities: No
Travel Component: One-day and overnight field trips
This core
program is designed to provide legal knowledge and scientific
skills necessary to understand problems facing global ecosystems. Water
is essential to life, and the management and regulation of its resources
will provide many of the subjects for our study in this two-quarter program.
We will cover the standard topics of first year college biology, using
marine organisms as our foci. The overall objective of this component is
to gain basic familiarity with the biology and ecology of ocean life. When
combined with introductory policy components of the Pacific Northwest,
our studies of the biological, physical and chemical characteristics of
oceans will provide the valuable knowledge necessary to make intelligent
decisions about marine resources and habitats.
Focal topics in the social sciences will include the use and abuse
of decision-making authority, particularly with respect to the Endangered
Species Act and Boldt Decisions to assess how science and culture interact
to safeguard endangered biota. International markets for raw resources
and international waters for anadromous fish make state commerce issues
dependent on larger ecological components. Can we reduce these to private
entitlements or are policy impacts necessarily public?
Learning will take place through lectures, seminars and biology laboratory
exercises. Work in the field and a multi-day field trip in spring are also
planned to gain first hand exposure to various marine environments. We
will also experience Puget Sound via trips on the Evergreen sailing vessels.
Students will improve their policy research skills through field observations
and short group presentations.
