Digging In - Engaging Your Community in Coastal Restoration

Digging In - Engaging Your Community in Coastal Restoration

CLICK HERE for flyer                    

WHEN:    Friday, July 30, 9am – 2pm

WHAT:  A workshop on the basics of restoration and how to start volunteer-based projects, based on the California Coastal Commission’s how-to manual, Digging In: A Guide to Community-Based Habitat Restoration.

WHERE:  Newport Beach’s Upper Newport Bay Ecological Preserve, at the Back Bay Science Center on Shellmaker Road

Development of coastal restoration projects and community engagement strategies-- as well as common pitfalls-- will be discussed.  Attendants receive a free copy of Digging In.

Our workshop host, Community-Based Restoration and Education Program, will provide a field tour from 12:30-2pm. 

Space is limited. To reserve a space, email Matt Yurko at myurko@coastal.ca.gov.  Include your name, email and the organization with which you are affiliated (if applicable).

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Community-based habitat restoration is a relatively new and growing field that gives concerned citizens the opportunity to get their hands dirty while helping to improve our environment’s future.  Based on our experience at Upper Newport Bay, Digging In describes how to develop community-based coastal restoration projects with the help of government agencies, non-profit groups, community stakeholders, and most importantly, volunteers.  The guide walks you through each step of a volunteer restoration project – from getting permission, to collecting seeds, to alerting the media about the restoration event you have designed.

Digging In is a delightful, clearly written and resource-rich read. It is an invaluable tool for ecological restorationists working in any habitat. I liked it so much I used it as an online text in my restoration ecology class at University of California, Irvine.

--excerpt from book review by Dr. Peter Bowler,

   UC Irvine, in Ecological Restoration, Dec 09

For more information, please visit the Coastal Commission's Public Education website at www.coastforyou.org