OUR BLOG
Image featured in San Mateo County Office of Education Newsletter
Check out the article featured in the San Mateo County Office of Education newsletter featuring the Junior Land Stewards and their connection to the Half Moon Bay High School Agriscience students.
Enjoy the recording from Stephanie Frischie, of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, as she discusses soil health, and the ecology and role of soil invertebrates. Frischie also discusses management strategies to support soil life.
Check out the resource lists provided by our presenter:
Recommended Plants for Pollinators and Beneficial Insects: California Central Coast Region
Donate to support the Coastside Land Trust free webinar programs and the critical protection and stewardship of our shared open spaces.
Photograph by Bruno Pereira
Join us next Saturday at 10:00 am PST for our free community webinar in which Stephanie Frischie, of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, discusses soil health, and the ecology and role of soil invertebrates. Frischie will also discuss management strategies to increase beneficial microbial populations. All are welcome.
Thanks to Lynn from Half Moon Flowers, the Junior Land Stewards got to take part in their class flower dissections and learn all about the structure and functions of a flower. Lynn continues to be a generous flower donor to the JLS program, and we are thankful to her for it! Haley Peterson, JLS program manager is pretty happy amidst all of those blooms. Here are a few pics of the kids in action…
Donate to support the Junior Land Stewards and the critical protection and stewardship of our shared open spaces.
Check out what the Junior Land Stewards Program has been doing in the classroom, while their own plants are establishing themselves out in the open space lands. Program manager, Haley Peterson leads this flower dissection for the Hatch and El Granada elementary school fourth graders.
Donate to support the Junior Land Stewards and the critical protection and stewardship of our shared open spaces.
Thanks to the continued support of our donors, the Junior Land Stewards of El Granada Elementary are working hard and learning a lot. Click the picture above to read their January update.
Donate to support the Junior Land Stewards and the critical protection and stewardship of our shared open spaces.
Enjoy the recording, as Sarah Caso and Dr. Gordon Frankie of the UC Berkeley Urban Bee Lab join the Coastside Land Trust webinar series to share about the general biology and ecology of native bees and their communities, efforts to help in population growth, and gardening for bees. Dr. Frankie is also co-author of California Bees & Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists. This presentation is followed by a Q and A session.
Donate to support the Coastside Land Trust free webinar programs and the critical protection and stewardship of our shared open spaces.
Photo credit: Haley Peterson
Junior Land Stewards Program Manager, Haley Peterson found the JLS student seedlings well guarded by this Pacific Chorus Frog. These indigenous plants include Blue eyed grass, Yarrow, Lizards tail, Phacelia, Buckwheat, Clarkia, Gum Plant, and Monkey flower. They are looking pretty good, thanks to the work of Mrs. Peterson and Barbara Lohman. Also a humongous thanks to Joseph Centoni (Half Moon Bay High School Science Department Chair) and Hannah Carney (Half Moon Bay High School Agriculture Department chair) for the use of the HMBHS Greenhouse, and care they have taken in helping to keep these plants watered and well cared for.
The Junior Land Stewards have been busy! They have planted California endemic seeds for their habitat restoration project and gone on another successful field trip. On field trip two the fourth grade explorers investigated the coastal environment through sound mapping, nature journaling, and ecosystem inspections.
There are always exciting discoveries and observations and this was no exception. From owl pellets and newts, to slime molds and beautiful feathers, these students are well on their way to becoming stewards of our coastal lands.
See an overview of the planned trail extension of the California Coastal Trail, through Wavecrest Open Space.
Donate to support this project, and the preservation and protection of our shared open spaces.
Check out our video recording, as we celebrate all of our shared properties and accomplishments of this year. Check out the work being done, the programs being offered, the recent acquisitions, trail construction, the people who are making a difference, and the importance of our local open spaces.
These webinars are made possible by the generosity of donors. Donate to keep these free community webinars going and to help protect and steward our shared open spaces.
Please enjoy the recording of Wild Cats of the Coast. Zara McDonald, founder of Felidae Conservation Fund, joins the Coastside Land Trust community webinar series to talk about the wildcats of Coastal San Mateo. Within this talk, we explore their biology, physiology, and the ecological niche they fill. We also learn about the impacts of habitat fragmentation, and about current research and conservation efforts. To find out more about the Felidae Conservation Fund, and the critical wildlife conservation work they are doing, go to http://www.felidaefund.org.
These webinars are made possible by the generosity of donors. Donate to keep these free community webinars going and to help protect and steward our shared open spaces.
Photograph provided by Felidae Conservation Fund
Check out some recent pictures of the Junior Land Stewards of Hatch Elementary School out in the field- tarping their plots at Wavecrest Open Space and taking time to do some nature journaling…
Photo credit : Boone Smith
Don’t forget to join the Coastside Land Trust and Felidae Conservation Fund this Saturday, 11/13. at 10:00 am PST for this month’s free community webinar, as we learn all about the local wildcats of coastal San Mateo. We will examine their biology, physiology, and the ecological niche they fill. We will also talk about the impacts of habitat fragmentation, and learn about current research and conservation efforts. All are welcome. Register at: https://www.coastsidelandtrust.org/webinars
The Junior Land Stewards are back in the field, now including both the Hatch elementary and El Granada elementary fourth grade students. Both schools have participated in naturalist scavenger hunts to learn more about their local environment, and they have prepared their garden areas. The first field trips with El Granada Elementary were a huge success. High school students from the HMBHS agricultural department led small groups in weeding invasive species and sheet mulching. This process of sheet mulching keeps weeds and invasive species at bay until it’s time to plant their California endemic plants. The Hatch elementary students returned to the Wavecrest Open Space and prepared their plots with solarization tarps, also a process intended to make weed removal easier for the students, and prepare the land in a more remote region. The Hatch students were led by the HMBHS Environmental Science students.
The fourth graders of both schools identified many invasive plants and those endemic to CA, which they had studied in their weekly class lessons. They also looked for signs of wildlife and of the autumn season. Students have been working on the fundamentals of nature journaling, and have been putting great effort into the detail of their drawings and observations.
While working and observing in the field, the students also delighted in the discovery of many critters that will benefit greatly from having the land around them restored into a thriving habitat. These animals included a praying mantis, a Pacific tree frog, and a breadth of other insects and spiders.
Enjoy the recording of this month’s free community webinar. Coastside Land Trust and Nat Goodby, of Bat Conservation International explore the ecology of bats in California, with an emphasis upon the bats of the San Mateo coastal region, and the vital niche they fill. Goodby is an engaging speaker shares research being done with the North American Bat Monitoring Program (NABat), and the opportunities to become engaged in monitoring bats to inform conservation science.
If you are curious to learn more, check out these resources:
Bat Conservation International: https://www.batcon.org/
Bat Boxes: https://www.batcon.org/about-bats/bat-houses/
Bat Species Profiles: https://www.batcon.org/about-bats/bat-profiles/
California Department of Fish and Wildlife "Report a Bat Colony": https://wildlife.ca.gov/Conservation/Mammals/Bats/Report-Colony
North American Bat Monitoring Program: https://www.nabatmonitoring.org/
Photograph provided by Michael Durham/Minden Pictures, Bat Conservation International
These webinars are made possible by the generosity of donors. Donate to keep these free community webinars going, to protect public lands, and to support all our vital CLT programs.
Half Moon Bay High School docents in training, at Wavecrest Open Space
The Coastside Land Trust is able to facilitate the Junior Land Stewards (JLS) Program where local 4th graders develop a passion and the skills for protecting and stewarding open spaces in their communities due to the generosity of our community. In previous years the JLS program has shown great success at Cabrillo Unified School District's Alvin Hatch Elementary. Thanks to the Granada Community Services District and other generous donors, we're thrilled to announce the expansion to El Granada Elementary this year. On Friday, Oct. 1, to kick off the Junior Land Stewards Program, CLT held a field trip for high school students from the HMBHS AP Environmental Science and Agricultural programs. These amazing students will be acting as docents for JLS field trips throughout the year. The purpose of this orientation to Wavecrest is to give these students working knowledge of the open space so they can feel comfortable leading local 4th graders in hands-on environmental science activities, nature journaling, and habitat restoration projects. Having the high school students involved truly makes this program richer and brings it full circle.
Donate to help us continue these programs, and to support important land conservation on the coast.
Join the Coastside Land Trust and coastal geomorphologist, Dr. David Revell, for this free community webinar recording. We will discuss sea level rise and the South San Mateo Coast. Dr. Revell will share research being done by the County of San Mateo to study the impacts of sea level rise. He will talk about what is at risk, adaptation strategies and tradeoffs, and the work that is being done by the San Mateo Resource Conservation District and Integral Consulting.
Learn more about this project at seachangesmc.org
Valuable additional resources:
These webinars are made possible by the generosity of donors. Donate to keep these free community webinars going, to protect public lands, and to support all our vital CLT programs.
“We humans share the same genetics with all life on our planet. Now when I’m outside I look at the living world as my family, and hold it even closer.” Jo Chamberlain, Executive Director
Please take a peek at what we accomplished last year. We are grateful to our loyal supporters who have helped the Coastside Land Trust to protect the valuable shared open spaces that have provided both physical and mental opportunities for all during the COVID 19 Pandemic. This support has also allowed us to provide opportunities for shared community learning in our free monthly community webinars, as well as to continue the virtual Junior Land Stewards program for all Cabrillo Unified School District (CUSD) fourth and fifth graders.
Renowned international bird guide, Alvaro Jaramillo, returns to share more about our local raptor population, living at the Wavecrest Open Space. Wavecrest is the single most important site on the San Mateo Coast for wintering raptors, which can be seen hunting in the property’s broad fields. Raptors and other species rely on its expansive grasslands, wetland areas and roosting sites, all of which are an integral part of the coast’s ecological health. Famous for its variety and numbers of resident and migratory raptors, Wavecrest is the place to see them all, including White-tailed Kites, Northern Harriers, Turkey Vultures, Sharp-shinned/Cooper’s/Red-shouldered/Red-tailed/Rough-legged Hawks, American Kestrels and Falcons.
Learn more about Alvaro Jaramillo at Alvaro’s Adventures.
Also check out Sequoia Audubon’s San Mateo County Birding Guide to learn more about the details and location of Wavecrest Open Space, and other key birding areas.
These webinars are made possible by the generosity of donors. Donate to keep these free community webinars going, to protect public lands, and to support vital CLT programs.
