MSRP Awarded Outreach Funds to Local Youth Agencies
 MSRP provided funds to three youth organizations focused on environmental education to initiate or continue programs focused on safe fishing practices. Each organization is approaching this topic in a unique way and presenting hands-on experiences to the youth. Two of these organizations, Redondo SEA Lab, and United Anglers of Southern California, take children fishing and explain which species are safe to eat, which are not, and how to safely filet and cook the fish. The Asian Youth Center is holding afterschool workshops for students using hands-on activities to demonstrate these same concepts. Each organization will also convey the complexities of environmental contamination issues to the students. The link below will take you to our website which provides more information on each individual project.
Fishing Outreach Projects |
| Huntington Beach Wetlands Receives Stimulus Funds
Huntington Beach, California
 Huntington Beach Wetlands has been in the spotlight recently after receiving $3M for restoration from the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. NOAA selected fifty projects nationwide to receive funding for habitat restoration. The Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy is using the funds to restore Magnolia Marsh which is the third coastal marsh segment in this system to be restored. In 2008 and 2009, MSRP provided some of the funding for Brookhurst and Talbert marshes, the other two marsh segments in this system.
Ocean water will flow into Magnolia Marsh by early 2010. Restoration of the Huntington Beach Wetlands area is a great example of how different government agencies, private industries, and non-profit organizations can work together to provide funding and resources to preserve valuable fish habitat.
Stay tuned for a special earth day event at the Huntington Beach Wetlands area in April 2010! |
Project Highlight: Volunteer Planting to Benefit Seabird Habitat Restoration
Santa Barbara Island, California
 In fall of 2009, MSRP biologists and volunteers placed 2,000 plants in the ground within a ½ acre plot on the cliffs above Elephant Seal Cove on Santa Barbara Island in the Channel Islands National Park. Biologists chose this area as a suitable restoration site because of the habitat type and the existing small Cassin's Auklet colony adjacent to the site. In the past, volunteers and staff would carry five gallon tanks of water down to the cliffs which is a 40 minute hike from the main staging area. This year, biologists hired a helicopter to place 17,000 pounds of water (1375 gallons) and plants in the area to be restored to make it easier for volunteers to help. Volunteers were very successful at planting during seven days of hard work. In December 2009, biologists will also place artificial burrow nests in the restored area along the cliff to create immediately available habitat. This also allows an easy way for biologists to monitor usage of the area by seabirds for nesting. MSRP future restoration goals for Elephant Seal Cove include planting another ½ acre area with native plants and placing a Cassin's Auklet broadcast sound system to attract seabirds to the restoration site. It is estimated that it takes at least five years for newly planted areas to become suitable seabird nesting habitat.  For more information about restoration activities, visit the Santa Barbara Island page on the MSRP website.
Email msrp@noaa.gov if you are interested in volunteering on future planting trips!
|
