Reducing Fish and Wildlife Impacts
Event Details
When:
Tue, Jun 2, 2026, 4pm - 5:15pm
Location:
Online: Zoom
In-Person at WWU
Science Lecture, Room 150
Price:
Free
Brought to you by:
Institute for Energy Studies, The Foundation for WWU & Alumni
Description
We need to add marine-power production to our alternative-energy portfolio, in the face of climate change and the extractive nature of fossil fuels and nuclear power. Although hydropower dams provide “green” energy, there are major fisheries impacts that might be better served by employing more marine-hydrokinetic (MHK) power, which the Biden administration thought might contribute 20% of future American energy production, when also including inland (river) hydrokinetic (RHK) devices. Together, MHK and RHK devices work underwater, in contrast to offshore windfarms. There are many different types of MHK devices that operate based on tides, waves, offshore-current, or thermal or salinity gradients.
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Featuring:
Dr. Vadas is a Research Scientist with WDFW-Habitat on biophysical issues for riparian/wetland, instream-flow, dam, fish-passage, overwater-structure, and marine-hydrokinetic topics for western > eastern Washington. Bob has over four decades of field experience on the habitat and ecohydrologic needs of freshwater and estuarine fishes, over half of it for western North America (the rest is for the East Coast). This includes sampling and modeling fish habitat across spatial scales, but also research at other trophic levels: wildlife, invertebrates, and plants of riparian and aquatic status.
Questions and Accommodations
- Contact The Foundation for WWU & Alumni for this event if you have questions or need disability accommodations by calling (360) 650-3353 or emailing Alumni@wwu.edu.
- Advance notice for disability accommodations and special needs is greatly appreciated. Please indicate your special needs on the registration form.
- There will be auto-captions available for the Zoom webinar.
Visitor Parking at WWU on Weekdays
- Mon-Fri, 7:00am-4:30pm: limited paid parking is available at the south C lots and north 6V and 7G lots.
- Purchase your permit at the lot pay stations or use the Parkmobile app.
- More parking details for campus visitors are available online.
Parking at WWU on Weekdays for Visitors with Disabilities
- Mon-Fri, 7:00am-4:30pm: both a WWU permit and state disability placard are needed.
- Purchase your permit at the pay stations in lot C or 6V or use the Parkmobile app (use Zone 1200). This allows parking in any disability space. If these are full, you can use a non-reserved space nearby.
- More parking details for campus visitors with disabilities are available online.
The views expressed by our speaker do not necessarily reflect those of Western Washington University.
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