The Center of Excellence

Peninsula College offers a variety of academic and applied Associates Degrees, many of which are directly transferable to 4-year programs throughout Washington. Peninsula College also provides a Bachelor's Degree in Applied Management, as well as providing other 4 year degree programs out of the Port Angeles campus. Peninsula College has direct transfer articulations with Western Washington University’s Huxley College of the Environment, and University of Washington’s College of Forest Resources and School of Aquatic and Fisheries Science. In addition, Western Washington University has recently re-established Huxley College of the Environment-Peninsulas, offering BS and BA degrees in Environmental Studies to students on the Olympic and Kitsap Peninsulas.

Peninsula College

Natural Resource Management combines courses in Freshwater Ecology, Forest Ecology, and Geographic Information Science for application in the management of forest ecosystems.

Marine Services is dedicated to matching training programs to the
needs of local businesses in the shipping, construction, and aquaculture industries.

Geographic Information Science is an essential ingredient in the study of environmental science and natural resources, particularly through the use of GIS and GPS technologies.

Fisheries Technologies provides extensive academic and practical learning experiences, including field trips that assess habitat quality and the use of aquaculture facilities, a marine laboratory, research vessels, and fishing gear.

For application and registration information, go to http://pc.ctc.edu/prospective/admissions/default.asp

Earn your BA or BS degree in Environmental Studies while studying and living in the Olympic Peninsula and Puget Sound region at Huxley College's program on the Kitsap and Olympic Peninsulas. We offer a BS in Environmental Science and a BA in Environmental Policy through evening and weekend classes at Peninsula College in Port Angeles and at the Poulsbo and Bremerton branches of Olympic College. Some courses are taught via interactive TV, while others are presented face-to-face. Faculty for all courses meet Western Washington University’s rigorous standards for scholarship and teaching excellence. Participants who are able to devote full time to their studies can complete the program within two years.

Huxley's curriculum is upper-division. Students complete the required prerequisite courses before applying to the College; Peninsula College students must complete their associate of arts/science degree or DTA with prerequisites before they can enter Huxley. Admission is selective and based upon preparation and prior academic performance. To be considered for application to Huxley College students must apply to, and be accepted by, Western Washington University admissions, in the winter or spring before the fall they wish to start. For more information, please contact Huxley on the Peninsulas: Nancy Bluestein-Johnson, Program Coordinator (360.417.6521, Nancy.Bluestein-Johnson@wwu.edu).

Undergraduate Research

Undergraduate students at Peninsula College and WWU’s Huxley College-Olympic/Kitsap have access to a wide variety of research opportunities, from forestry internships to ecosystem asses

sment projects.These experiences (which are largely unavailable to freshmen and sophomores elsewhere) allow our students to acquire advanced skills and experience with scientific methods and ecological-based research.Thisprovides them an advantage over their peers at other academic institutions, as they will have had job- and knowledge-based hands-on experience in the field before graduation. It also helps develop significant networking connections with a wide range of academic, state, federal and tribal scientists for future career or graduate school opportunities. Click here for a list of recent publications and presentations by recent REUers.

Elwha River Restoration Project

Many of our students experience the world’s largest dam removal / river restoration project and play an important scientific role in an internationally-significant environmental management issue: the Elwha Restoration Project. Science majors can work alongside mentor scientists, studying the ecological conditions in the watershed throughout the year.

Costa Rica

Experience science first hand as part of a National Science Foundation Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program studying the rainforests of the Pacific Northwest and Costa Rica.

Nine students will be selected each year to participate in an intensive 12-week research program in the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State (6 weeks) and in Costa Rica (6 weeks) to study the characteristics of different habitats—from pristine to heavily managed—examining parameters from different trophic levels; determine how these values may change between different and related habitats; assess the impact of land management strategies on these habitats; and identify the effects of that various land management strategies have had on the forests of both regions.

It is our vision that the students weave the two projects together as a single whole, with a more global perspective to see how habitats vary; how land management affects both temperate and tropical rainforests; and to be able to look for the global commonalities. The initial focus for the first year or so will be to understand the soil microbial community structure and function, and carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus nutrient dynamics in these tropical and temperate forests. This information will provide the baseline information to which we will be able to compare vegetation characteristics in the future. Projects will take place in various forested areas of the Olympic Peninsula, and in Costa Rica we will conduct projects in the Northern Zone forests and the cloud forests of Monteverde.

During time off, ride horses through the jungle, walk miles of trails, canoe on the lagoons, boat down the Rio San Juan to visit a quaint Nicaraguan village, or just relax on your deck and take in the scenery.

Class meets in August/September, dates to be announced. The Course Page for 2006 and Photos from 2005 can be found here.

costa rica 2

Contact:
Dr. Brian Hauge
Director of Undergraduate Research
360.417.6587
brianh@pcadmin.ctc.edu

Forest Stand Structure and the Development of Biodiversity: A Wildlife Study in Olympic National Forest

Beginning in the summer of 2005, Dr. Underwood assembled a team of undergraduates to assist in the establishment of permanent sampling plots in a 220 acre forest slated for experimental forest thinning. The objective of the thinning is to alter successional processes to hasten development of a complex foodweb capable of supporting the small mammal prey base which, in turn will assist in recovery of the

Northern Spotted Owl. This on-going project brings together the resources of Peninsula College, Olympic National Forest, and the Pacific Northwest Research Station. In addition, faculty from the College of Forest Resources at the University of Washington – Drs. Jerry Franklin, Bob Edmonds and Eric Turnblum – have assisted in the design phase of the investigation.

The project affords an outstanding opportunity for students to discover the physical and biological attributes of the Olympic National Forest while contributing to an ongoing and significant study in applied forest ecology. Working as members of research teams, students help establish permanent sampling plots using Global Positioning Systems and Geographic Information Systems, in many respects the

technological cornerstone of natural resource science. Dataloggers are used in conjunction with laser rangefinders and other mensuration tools to estimate forest structure, the data later used in the Landscape Management System to simulate forest development over time. They sample soil and conduct laboratory analysis to estimate soil chemistry, soil biodiversity, soil productivity and soil structure. Other activities include sampling the flora to determine the productivity and biodiversity of understory ecosystems; and invertebrate and small mammal trapping. All told, their work will make possible the testing of hypotheses regarding the effectiveness of forest restoration efforts to propagate biodiversity values in our National Forests.

Other Recent Programs

Archaeology Field School

In the summer of 2005, Peninsula College participated in an archaeological field school funded by the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary; other participants included Pacific Lutheran University and the Makah Cultural and Research Center, and Wesson and Associates, a private archaeological contracting firm.

Peninsula College students received five credits for two intensive weeks of participation. The purpose of the field school was to date past sea level stands through archaeological excavation. To accomplish this, a site on the Makah Reservation was selected and tested.

Participants were involved in excavation, documentation, and laboratory work associated with the project. An eight foot deep test pit was excavated that still did not reach the bottom of cultural deposits in the site. Bone and stone artifacts were recovered from the pit as well as a large sample of animal bones and shell, representing food remains from the former inhabitants. Material for radiocarbon dating was also recovered and one of these samples yielded at date of about 4300 years ago, the second oldest C14 date from the outer coast of Washington state.

For more information on Undergraduate Research opportunities at Peninsula College and WWU-Peninsulas, please contact

Dr. Brian Hauge
Director of Undergraduate Research
360.417.6587
brianh@pcadmin.ctc.edu

Education and Research Programs

What do the students say about our programs? Read their blogs from the ElwhaREU site at Protopage.com or...

check out their recent publications and presentations, or...

... scroll down for some podcasts of their work!

Peninsula College

Undergraduate Research

Costa Rica