Coos Bay middle school students recently took part in a little show and tell, showing off their hometown and the the South Slough Estuary in Coos Bay to thousands of kids around the world without leaving the south coast.  The webcast Estuary Live! about the South Slough was watched live in schools as far away as England.

 

A group of Sunset Middle School 7th graders were part of the live webcast called Alien Invaders to Empire, focusing on non-native species and what they're doing to local plants and animals. Sunset 7th grader Amy Kress said that being on the live webcast kinda freaked me out, I was a little nervous. The middle schoolers found different kinds of native and non-native species in the Empire District of Coos Bay, where the webcast took place, and showed them off for the camera. Magnolia Miller found a crab. It was very interesting trying to hold the crab without it pinching me. Classmate Ashley Trollinger found a native ghost shrimp and explained that it was becoming rare because there are invader parasites killing these. The students are now interested in finding ways to get rid of the non-native species. We can do something about it by finding them, studying them, and then figuring out what to do with them, said Quentin Kirk. The manager of the South Slough Estuary, Mike Graybill, said that while the webcast was meant for middle school students, this is designed to be an informative program about estuaries for people of any age. The South Slough's Estuary Live! webcast isn't archived yet, but ones from previous years are up at estuaries.gov.