Students Restoring Coastal Wetlands

In order to enhance its educational programming, the San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy (SELC) will combine the efforts of existing educational programs to maximize the overall learning experience of students and restore native wetland habitat in the San Elijo Lagoon. The “Students Restoring Coastal Wetlands” project will target K-12 students from at least six North County San Diego schools. SELC will work with partner conservation education programs to provide hands-on work events that give students the opportunity to learn about wetlands and watersheds, while restoring wetland habitats. Students will be able to connect classroom lessons such as water resources, biodiversity, and habitat loss to an activity that directly benefits their coastal wetlands. All students will first learn about the ecology of the San Elijo Lagoon Reserve (Reserve) and its habitats, followed by a hands-on lesson on the methods and processes of habitat restoration. Several classes will be visiting twice giving them the opportunity for more engagement.

The students will be working at three different sites with the Reserve footprint gaining exposure to the different habitats present at the San Elijo Lagoon: coastal salt marsh, coastal sage scrub and alkali marsh. With this project students will be conducting every step in the habitat restoration process. These activities include: identifying and removing invasive plant species, collecting seeds and propagules from the reserve, propagating native plants, and planting native plants.