What orcas teach us: the southern residents' battle against extinction and the state of our watersheds

May 19, 2020

Lynda Mapes, Award Winning Journalist, Seattle Times

Over 18 months, the Seattle Times took a deep look at the southern resident orca extinction crisis to explore and expose the roots of why these animals, the top predator in our marine waters, are struggling to survive. Lynda Mapes, the lead journalist on the newspaper's award-winning series Hostile Waters will explain what the newspaper learned and solutions that will benefit people and orca alike. Lynda Mapes is the environment reporter at the Seattle Times. She has won numerous international and national awards for her work covering environmental topics, and is the author of five books, including Orca forthcoming from the Mountaineers Books in Spring, 2021. She was a Knight Fellow in Science Journalism at MIT and a Bullard Fellow in forest research at the Harvard Forest, where she wrote her most recent book, Witness Tree, (UW Press, 2019) that looks at the story of climate change through the life of a single, 100-year old oak.

Education Materials

Presentation Slides

Be Whale Wise

Marine Life Viewing Guidelines

Killer Whale Overview