2025 Marine Naturalist Training Program opens registration

The Whale Museum has opened registration for the 2025 spring and summer sessions of the Marine Naturalist Training Program! This hybrid program is an intensive multiday overview of the natural history of the San Juan Islands and Salish Sea, and leaves graduates qualified as a regional professional or volunteer naturalist.

The primary focus of the training is the ecology, current status and conservation of Southern Resident killer whales and other local marine species. The course also includes presentations on cetaceans, pinnipeds, otters, intertidal invertebrates, seabirds and a variety of other topics. Both the spring and summer sessions feature five full days of virtual learning.

Participants will also have the opportunity to sign up for exclusive guided field trips. The field trip portion will include excursions such as a marine wildlife boat trip; birding; a geology hike; tide-pooling; visits to San Juan County Land Bank/False Bay/West side areas and Lime Kiln Point State Park; as well as tours of The Whale Museum and Lime Kiln Point State Park Lighthouse. They are optional and not required for certification. Field trips are only open to those who have completed a Marine Naturalist Training Program session.

The spring session’s virtual classes are April 8 to April 12, with the optional field trips April 25-27 on San Juan. The summer session’s virtual classes are July 8 to July 12, with field trips on San Juan Island on July 25-27. The virtual portion costs $450 for Whale Museum members and $500 for non-members. The field trips are an additional fee. For the virtual portion, a limited number of scholarships are available. To register, visit www.whalemuseum.org.