“Restoring Sunflower Sea Stars: Reviving a Keystone of the Kelp Forest” is the topic of the latest presentation in the Edmonds Environmental Speaker Series hosted by Annie Crawley Thursday, Nov. 20 at the Edmonds Waterfront Center. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the presentation begins at 6:30 p.m.

The featured speaker is Jason Hodin, senior research scientist at the University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Laboratories. He is at the forefront of efforts to understand and restore the sunflower sea star (Pycnopodia helianthoides). It’s a massive, brightly colored echinoderm once abundant along the Pacific Coast, and now listed as critically endangered after being devastated by sea star wasting disease. As an apex predator, sunflower stars keep purple urchin populations in check Without them, urchins overgraze kelp forests, unraveling entire coastal ecosystems.

Prior to the presentation at 6:30 p.m., four Hazelwood Elementary students will be honored with the President’s Environmental Youth Award (PEYA), which recognizes outstanding K–12 environmental stewardship across the nation. Their award-winning project centers on our underwater backyard — the Edmonds Underwater Park. Guided by 4th-5th grade teacher Barbara Bromley and host Annie Crawley, the students — Kaleb Wolde, Malia Nymeyer, Takumi Tanimura and Avery Poisal — created a documentary film and collaborative artwork celebrating the park’s biodiversity and conservation community.