Education

The Friends of Colorado Lagoon have been involved with the Lagoon on all levels. Historically FOCL has organized community clean-ups, nature walks and a variety of other service learning activities at the Lagoon. In 2007, FOCL began investing time and resources into education at the Lagoon by contracting a local naturalist, The Lagoon Explorer, to keep the doors of the Wetlands And Marine Science Education Center (WAMSEC) open to the public throughout the year.

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Our educational program is a four-pronged approach dealing with the four events we host every year, our monthly public nature walks and beach cleanups, our school and summer activities and our Colorado Lagoon Champions Curriculum that deals with the exciting restoration.

Summer 2007 was our experiment and the results were positive. Summer 2008 is turning out to be even better. We have seen many more people at the WAMSEC and have had a lot more fun! With materials purchased from our Whale Tail grant we have been able to more effectively interact with the public.

Last year our School year programming was highly successful with an average of at least one group a week since Labor Day. A multitude of groups from around the habitat, including Roger’s Middle School, Fremont Elementary and Wilson High School, have come down to explore with us and we are especially grateful to the many Home-school kids that have utilized the WAMSEC.

This School year we are planning to work Long Beach Unified School District to make the Colorado Lagoon a field trip destination for all curriculum environmentally-based.

In addition to all of the continued educational efforts we are working closely with the City of Long Beach and their contractors to monitor different biotic and abiotic factors. If you would like more information to help out please contact us.

FOCL established an Educational Committee to work with Education Director to make all of this possible. This committee has coordinated FOCL’s programs with the City of Long Beach and other groups that use the WAMSEC. Most importantly, the committee will actively pursue the involvement of the community at the Lagoon. Another function of this committee will be to consistently develop partnerships with City entities and seek opportunities to mold the programming around public needs.

The Colorado Lagoon is an incredibly dynamic site with the ability to host multiple educational events. If you or your group is interested in organizing an educational adventure at the Lagoon, please contact our educational committee at: education@coloradolagoon.org

FOCL was recently awarded two grants to help our Educational Program. One from the Coastal Commission’s Whale Tail Grant Program (http://www.coastal.ca.gov/publiced/plate/plgrant.html) and another from Southern California Wetland Recovery Project (http://www.scwrp.org/). We are very thankful to both these organizations and their continued support of our efforts.

Some of our goals include the following but all are focused upon the community and understanding the Lagoon as a crucial part of our neighborhood.

Champions Calendar: Colorado Lagoon Champions Curriculum! Through the Colorado Lagoon Champions Curriculum, volunteers will experience hands-on participation in both iceplant removal and plant salvaging. This project will be the first work done for the Lagoon restoration!  Volunteers will learn the difference between native and non-native plant species and will gain an appreciation for the special adaptations of native salt marsh plants.  We will instruct students about plant morphology and taxonomy, salt marsh community ecology, and invasive weed science.  Most importantly, instituting community and youth involvement at an early stage in this large-scale restoration project will reinforce public support as the larger restoration project ensues.  Once the Lagoon’s EIR is approved in the fall of 2008, FOCL will commence a 3-pronged plan.  First, we will organize 3 regularly-scheduled public restoration events per month (perfect for Service Learning Hours!).  One of our monthly public restoration events will be offered during after-school hours to focus on high school student involvement, whereas the other two events will be on weekends to attract nearby residents and daily visitors, as well as students. Secondly, we will host exclusive restoration events for volunteer and/or educational organizations that show an interest in being involved with the project, but want to have a special experience outside of our public events.  Lastly, all of these events will be concurrent with high school field trips focused on eradicating iceplant from around the perimeter of the lagoon.  FOCL was awarded a grant from the Southern California Wetlands Recovery Project (SCWRP) in July to get this project off the ground. We are very thankful to SCWRP for all of their assistance and continued support through our restoration.