Tom Murdoch is an ecologist who has been roaming around Northwest streams for the last 30 years. Along the way, he founded and became the executive director of the Adopt-A-Stream Foundation…its mission is “to teach people how to become stewards of their watersheds.”
Over the years, Tom and his team of ecologist, technicians and many volunteer Streamkeeper Academy instructors taught thousands of students (young and old) from throughout the Pacific Northwest how to become streamkeepers. He co-authored the popular book Streamkeeper’s Field Guide: Watershed Inventory and Stream Monitoring Methods that is in use by stream and river groups across the U.S. and Canada; was the chief script writer of the PBS-TV show called the streamkeeper that starred Bill Nye, “the Science Guy;” and editor of Adopting A Stream: A Northwest Handbook and Adopting A Wetland: A Northwest Guide. Tom also directed over 200 community based stream and wetland restoration projects and the mapping of fish and wildlife habitat in several watersheds around Puget Sound. In 2007, the Cascade Land Conservancy recognized those efforts with its Land Stewardship Award.
In addition to his non-profit work, Tom served Snohomish County in water resource management capacities in both its Public Works and Planning departments. He is responsible for drafting the county’s first Drainage Regulation, the Storm Water Utility Rate Ordinance, and the Aquatic Resource Protection Program that preceded the county’s Critical Areas Ordinance. Now, he serves the Parks and Recreation Department as its first naturalist developing interpretive programs designed to provide the public with a greater appreciation for our natural resources.
Under Tom’s direction, the Adopt-A-Stream Foundation established a partnership with the Snohomish County Parks and Recreation Department, the Tulalip Tribes, and 40 local businesses from the construction industry to build the Northwest Stream Center in Mc Collum Park. It will become the first regional environmental learning facility in the Pacific Northwest with stream and wetland ecology and fish and wildlife habitat restoration as its central themes. It is a place where 45,000 people a year will learn how to become stewards of their watersheds. You are invited to join this partnership.