The Pacific Northwest once grew an oyster so delicious that California gold miners saved it for their celebrations when they struck paydirt. The native oyster has been almost completely replaced by an import from Asia, so much so that most people wouldn’t recognize the original oyster today if its salty flesh slapped them in the face.
This episode of The Wild is on the effort to restore the ‘Oly’ – or Olympia oyster – to the region’s coves and beaches. You’ll meet the venerable ‘Grand Dame of Oly Oysters,’ a man who helped save them by growing oysters on the sides of his swimming pool, and a salty fish tech who wears her hair in a mohawk mullet as she toils to restore habitat. We shared a lot of laughs putting this episode together.
Welcome back to The Wild. It is my honor to introduce you to the Olympia oyster.
