Science Café

When: 6:30 p.m. Oct. 13

Where: Paradise Restaurant, 703 N. Sequim Ave., Sequim

Presentation: “Critical Nearshore Habitat: Restoring Eelgrass in the Salish Sea” with John Vavrinec, Ph.D.

Admission: Free

More info: www.sequimed.org

Eelgrass meadows are important nearshore areas that provide complex habitat and fundamental resources for much of the Puget Sound ecosystem.

John Vavrinec, PhD. a research scientist and dive officer at the Sequim Marine Sciences Laboratory at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, talks about this and more when he presents “Critical Nearshore Habitat: Restoring Eelgrass in the Salish Sea” at the next Science Café.

Presented by the Sequim Education Foundation, the event is set for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13, at the Paradise Restaurant, 703 N. Sequim Ave.

Efforts are under way in the state to increase the cover of these eelgrass meadows by 20 percent by 2020, but the path is difficult, experts say. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has been partnering with the Department of Natural Resources in working toward this goal and has developed a process for increasing the probability for successful restoration around the sound.

The Science Café is a community service of the Sequim Education Foundation. Programs present expert speakers for adult and young adult audiences interested in current developments in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Science Café events are held on the second Tuesday of the month at the Paradise Restaurant. Admission is free and food and beverages are available for purchase.

Upcoming Science Café events include Nov. 10, “Observing and Monitoring the Cascadia Subduction Zone” with Ken Austin of the Earthscope Plate Boundary Observatory, and Dec. 8, “Biochar: Production and Applications” with engineer and entrepreneur Francesco Tortorici of Jofran Enterprises in Port Townsend.

For more information about the foundation, see www.sequimed.org.