Eco-Oakland Program

• Began in 1999

• Year-long, watershed-wide curriculum

– Four in-class lessons– Two weekday field trips– Weekend family trips

• Partners with at least 8 schools in East Oakland each year

• 18-20 teachers each year. Two teacher training s annually.

• Approximately 400 students each year

• Has served over 15,000 community members

• Since fiscal year 2007, the program has reached approximately 1,600 students and 4,000 family members and trained 50 OUSD teachers.

Lesson 1: Schoolyard Ecology

• Introduction to basic ecological concepts

• Assessing their schoolyard as a suitable habitat for wildlife

• Trash collection and recycling

Stormwater Education

• Eco-Oakland Students learn the major stormwater contaminants

• Students learn the corresponding solution (s) for each contaminant

• Students are empowered to be watershed stewards and teach their family members

Lesson 2: The Effects of Stormwater Pollution and Habitat Lesson Bay Food Chains

• In- class lesson to prepare students for their field trip to the MLK, Jr. Regional Shoreline

• Food chain bingo

• Food chain drawing and acting

Field Trip to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline

• Water quality assessment and plankton survey

• Bird census

• Habitat restoration: native plants, extracting invasives and trash removal

Family Ocean Trips

Family Trips to Alcatraz and Aquarium of the Bay

California Native Education Program

• Taught by three Native American instructors, one of which is and Ohlone descendent

• Employing overhead slides, cultural artifacts, and hands-on activities, the presenters compare and contrast the traditional life of California native peoples with the conditions of modern society. Children learn that maintaining the health of the watershed was crucial for the survival for native people, such as the Ohlone in Alameda County.

• After the presentations, children determine changes that have occurred since the arrival of Europeans and how they impacted the health of the local watershed. They learn that because fresh water is extracted from a distant source and that the dependence on local fresh water is negligible, our local creeks have in many cases become a receptacle for storm water.

Monthly Public Restoration Programs

Watershed Awareness Lesson

• Watershed model on loan from the City of Oakland

• The children make predictions about how the colors (contaminants) would behave once the model was sprayed with water (rain).

• The watershed model emphasizes the concept that cities are covered by non-permeable surfaces and that contaminant easily “run-off” into connecting storm drain systems affecting the health of creeks and the bay.

Field Trip to Lion Creek and Arroyo Viejo Creek

• Watershed mapping

• Water quality assessment: testing and aquatic invertebrate surveys

• Wildlife observation

• Native plant study and restoration

The Eco-Richmond Program

• In 2007 we conducted a through needs assessment of the communities adjacent to the North Richmond Shoreline.

• In 2008 we piloted the Eco-Richmond Program in North Richmond elementary schools, following our successful place-based Eco-Oakland Program model.

• Our outreach has expanded by providing year-long environmental education to 5 classes between 2 schools.

Field trips to the Point Pinole Regional Shoreline

Wildcat Creek Field Trip in Alvarado Park

Program EvaluationUnderstood how trash travels through the watershed (N = 93)

96%

66%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

Post Program Pre Program

Series1

• Eighty-one percent of the students reported caring more about protecting the environment after the Eco-Oakland program than before the program (17% not sure).

• When asked if they will change the things they do and tell others to help the environment because of the things they learned in the Eco-Oakland Program, 86% agreed (72% said they agree a lot).

• Pre- and post-program surveys (for up to 6 classes)

• Community advisory groups

• Mountain Light Consulting in FY10

Accomplishments from FY07-10In the past four years, we have provided year round programming to

approximately 1,600 elementary school students and 4,000 community members in East Oakland. Among our program’s students’ and family participants’ accomplishments are:

Successfully restoring restored roughly an acre of critical habitat for the federally endangered California clapper rail.

Receiving feedback from East Bay Regional Park District and USGS representatives that the clapper rails are using the plants that Eco-Oakland Program participants have planted over the years for shelter.

Collecting roughly 300 13-gallon bags of trash from the shoreline and wetland areas during field trips, Coastal Clean-up and Earth Day events and community workdays.

Since its needs assessment in 2007, the Eco-Richmond Program has served over 750 children and community members.

Collecting roughly 50 13-gallon bags of trash from the shoreline and wetland areas during field trips.

Helping in the effort to raise awareness about the illegal littering of shotgun shell wadding along the North Richmond Shoreline. In 2009, the fourth-graders from Bayview Elementary wrote letters to the CA Department of Fish and Game, calling for the ban of non-degradable shotgun wadding near water. Their story was featured on Bay Area NBC.

After I told her about all the field trips, class visits, family trips we have taken over the past 2 years, I was truly amazed again myself about the magnitude and significance of the program and grateful for your ability in bringing it to us so effectively. Not only did you bring us content that was worthwhile, you personally reminded me each time how effective communication with second language learners should look.

The fact that your program involved student interns, Native Americans, specialist volunteers with knowledge about the flora and fauna, and assistant teachers (like Reuben) increased the scope and impact by showing kids that there is a wide community of people interested in taking care of our environment, not just a sole teacher trying to impart a message.  No other program has had an equivalent impact on my students during the 11 years I have been a teacher.

--Patricia Guardado, Third – grade Teacher at Markham Elementary, in response to news of receiving the Governor's Environmental and Economic Leadership Award