Bolsa Chica Land Trust

Bolsa Chica Stewards

The Bolsa Chica Stewards is the habitat restoration team of the Bolsa Chica Land Trust. The Stewards began working on the mesa portion of the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in 1996. Volunteers of all ages are welcome to join in our habitat restoration project! Together, we have planted more than 100,000 native plants with 35,000 community volunteers. BCLT works in cooperation with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife who manage the Reserve. The focus is the establishment of healthy California Coastal Sage scrub and native grassland habitats on the Mesa portion of the Reserve. Additionally, the Stewards have increased the habitat and numbers of a rare wildflower species, Southern tarplant. The Stewards operate an on-site nursery facility called the Growing Space which grows thousands of plants for the restoration project each year. For more information regarding this project please contact our Program and Volunteer Coordinator, Beverley Hansen at Beverley@BCLandTrust.org.

Miracles of the Marsh

Miracles of the Marsh is BCLT’s 3rd grade Next Generation standards-based science curriculum program which is offered at no cost to participating schools. The Miracles program began in 2003 and educates students about the ecology, history/archaeology, and water quality of the Bolsa Chica wetlands and mesa. Miracles is comprised of an in-class presentation, student workbook, 2-hour docent-led tour with 4 educational break-out sessions, and follow up educational materials. The program highlights the Disciplinary Core Ideas and Environmental Principals and Concepts dimensions of the Next Generation Science Standards. Under the Disciplinary Core Ideas concept, the Miracles program addresses the Life Science domain: LS1.B: Growth and Development of Organisms, LS2.D: Social Interactions and Group Behavior, LS2.C Ecosystem Dynamics, Functioning and Resilience, and LS4.C: Adaptation. Under Environmental Principals and Concepts the Miracles curriculum addresses: Principle I, II, III, and V which focus on the human needs and impacts on natural systems. During the course of the 21-year history of the program, our 25 trained docents have taught 33,000 third-grade students and have led 650 tours. The schools that have participated have come from twelve neighboring cities within Orange and Los Angeles County, 80% of the participating schools are Title 1. The goal of the Miracles program is to consistently offer the most engaging educational tool possible, to the benefit of the thousands of school children the program reaches. The Miracles program brings students to one of the most bio-diverse wetlands in California, where the students stand over a point where the Santa Ana watershed reaches the ocean and walk on the land where 9,000 years ago the first community formed in North America. Our job is to bring each student who participates in the program a wonderful and educational journey that is both soundly curriculum-based and memorable. The program is open to all schools within driving distance of the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve. The majority of participating schools are from Orange County. BCLT provides the presentations, tours, and materials free of charge to the schools, and provides funding for bus transportation.