Marine outreach specialist hangs up his hat

Alan Rammer gives his final educational beach walk at Purdy

Susan Schell

of the Gateway

Saturday’s beach walk at Purdy Beach was the swan song after many years of teaching for marine education and outreach specialist Alan Rammer. The educator announced his plans to retire.

A crowd gathered around Rammer as he passed on his knowledge with humorous imagery and stories designed to bring home the importance of protecting Puget Sound’s wildlife.

Rammer said his job is to promote conservation and stewardship of the ocean’s inhabitants.

“People have to know what the rules are,” he said. “Some rules seem like they don’t make any sense, but once you learn them, you find that they make perfect sense.”

Rammer told the crowd that, when people come to the beach, they are visitors to the homes of the animals that live there, and they should respect that.

“These animals can’t talk,” he said. “But everything here belongs to them. If you visit someone’s home, you’re expected to behave a certain way. You can’t just go and start moving someone’s furniture around.

“When you come here and start collecting rocks and shells, it would be like taking a bag or a bucket into someone’s home and taking things off their shelves.”

Rammer said students often didn’t understand why they couldn’t take just one shell home. He gestured to the crowd of about 150 people and said that, even if everyone standing on the beach that day took home one shell, the numbers would add up.

“Hermit crabs look for empty shells to live in,” he said. “Each shell to them has a little invisible sign that says, ‘House for rent.’ If I took home all the shells, they wouldn’t have anywhere to live.”

Rammer said he’s noticed a marked drop in the abundance of wildlife since he was a child, and he attributes that to human activity. He remembered a fourth-grade girl who asked him why he performed his job, and why he cared so much about the environment.

“I said, ‘Because I had all this when I was a child, and I want this to be here when you grow up,’ ” he told the crowd. “Common animals are disappearing. We’re losing really badly right now. This is an exciting place, if you take care of it.”

Barb Bourscheidt of Harbor Wildwatch said Rammer was instrumental in developing programs to teach immigrants about stewardship of ocean life. It was particularly valuable because newcomers may not understand the concept of conservation, she said.

“When you’re raised in an environment where there’s never enough, and then they come somewhere where there’s plenty, it’s hard for them to not want to take all that they can,” Bourscheidt said.

As Rammer moved along the beach, tiny crabs scurried to avoid crushing footsteps and countless sand dollars blanketed the sand. A little bit of digging produced a moon snail, which seemed quite relaxed in Rammer’s gentle hands. The teacher told his students to wet their hands before touching the snail, as its skin is very tender.

Rammer brought clear plastic bins to put wildlife in, so people could pass them around and get a close view before returning them to the beach.

Rammer said when someone finds a crab, they should put it back where it was found.

“The rocks they live in is their neighborhood,” he said. “If you move them, you put them where they don’t belong.”

Rammer said young children sometimes don’t understand that concept, so he used a story to help it sink in.

“Suppose a big giant came around your neighborhood lifting up rooftops, looking for the kid that has the nicest jammies,” he said. “And he liked your jammies, so he plucked you out of your bed. But when he went to put you back, he forgot where you lived, so he put you in someone else’s house.

“You wouldn’t like that very much, would you?”

Rammer said that, when people lift up heavy rocks to see what’s there, they often crush the creatures underneath when they lower the rock back into place. He demonstrated “shimming,” the process of placing a series of smaller rocks around the base of a stone to ease the pressure when it’s replaced.

“Chances are, you’re not going to put the rock back the exact same way,” he said. “So you end up killing what’s down there.”

Brothers Zack and Chris Bishop, 10 and 12, respectively, were enjoying their second beach walk with Rammer.

“I didn’t know sand dollars were a different color when they’re alive than when they’re dead,” Zack said. “And I didn’t know female crabs were a different color on their belly when they’re pregnant.”

“The beach walks are really fun — you find a lot of things down here,” said Jason Hoheisel, who came all they way from Olympia to take the beach walk with his mom, Nanette Baker. The pair also was familiar with Rammer and his teachings.

“I can listen to Alan all day,” Baker said. “I’m sad to hear that he’s leaving.”

Rammer said he’s been asked to act as a consultant by Hollywood film makers who have purchased the movie rights to Jim Lynch’s book, “The Highest Tide.” A character in the book was based on Rammer’s life.

Reach reporter Susan Schell at 253-853-9240 or by e-mail at susan.schell@gateline.com.