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Is grocery packaging necessary? Not for these shops

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Is grocery packaging necessary? Not for these shops

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Master Gardener Association of San Diego County - UCCE San Diego County Master Gardener Program

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Copyright - Master Gardener Association of San Diego County

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Pages - Metropolitan Water District of Southern California

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Enjoy San Diego's one-of-a-kind natural wonders, from marshlands to a famous slot canyon. Convenient to America's Finest City, you can explore nature anytime.

Nature Collective connects lands and hiking trails, provides experiences for people to fall in love with nature, and protects the beauty all around us. We're a nonprofit that stewards lands like the San Elijo Lagoon - and offers engaging events for one and all.

We think inclusively and diversely when serving those growing up devoid of nature, those who remember nature and want to connect back to it, and those who already have an affinity with nature. We envision a world where everyone experiences, connects with, and protects nature.

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Formerly San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy | Home | Nature Collective

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Nature Collective connects lands and hiking trails, provides experiences for people to fall in love with nature, and protects the beauty all around us. We're a nonprofit that stewards lands like the San Elijo Lagoon - and offers engaging events for one and all.

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Try to make 2019 the year you and your family use less plastic

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Try to make 2019 the year you and your family use less plastic

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Tons of Plastic Wrappers End up Polluting The World's Beaches

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Tons of Plastic Wrappers End up Polluting The World's Beaches

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Clean Energy: Power from the Sun and Wind

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Clean Energy: Power from the Sun and Wind

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At Schools

Since 1996, the National Wildlife Federation has worked to assist schools in the creation of Schoolyard Habitats®, which create and restore wildlife habitat on school grounds while providing outdoor classrooms for learning across the curriculum. There are currently over 10,000 schools and counting that have been certified through this program.

Schools can participate in the National Wildlife Federation's Schoolyard Habitats® program as follows:

Two Ways to Design, Build, Certify, and Use Wildlife Habitats at School

To help reconnect today's children to the outdoors, the National Wildlife Federation assists schools in developing outdoor classrooms called Schoolyard Habitats®, where educators and students learn how to attract and support local wildlife.

The National Wildlife Federation's K-12, Nature Play, and Campus Ecology programs provide steps for creating habitat and outdoor classrooms at your place of learning, as well as showcasing how the habitat can be used for cross disciplinary learning.

Children in day care centers and preschools, nature centers, and thousands of students in grades K-12, along with parents, university students, teachers, administrators, community members, and volunteers have created unique habitat gardens and living learning laboratories nationwide.

These wildlife habitats become places where students not only learn about wildlife species and ecosystems, but also outdoor classrooms where they hone their academic skills and nurture their innate curiosity and creativity.

How Schoolyard Habitats® Got Its Start

The National Wildlife Federation has encouraged individuals and communities to create and conserve wildlife habitat since 1973, when the Backyard Wildlife Habitat™ program (now called the Certified Wildlife Habitat® program) began.

In 1996, the Schoolyard Habitats® program was created to meet the growing interest and distinct needs of schools and school districts in creating and restoring wildlife habitat on school grounds. The program focuses specifically on assisting school communities in the use of school grounds as learning sites for wildlife conservation and cross-curricular learning.

Basic Steps to Creating a Schoolyard Habitat

1. Start a Habitat Team

The Habitat Team is composed of educators, students, parents, maintenance personnel, administrators, and community volunteers. Every member of the team brings their own skills. Some will focus on how to garden, others might figure out what parts of the curriculum can be served by the wildlife habitat, or what animal visitors to expect.

2. Choose a Site

Let's get students and other team members to study and map out the potential garden. Everyone can participate by either writing or drawing:

Physical elements (soil, topography, water sources, drainage patterns, sun and wind exposure)

Ecological components (plants and animals, including insects)

Human influences (buildings, sidewalks, playing fields, utility right-of-ways and asphalt areas)

Boundaries (including nearby habitats)

It's also fun to learn about the history of your site. How was the land used before your students arrived? Students might interview long-time community residents and conduct other research.

When you choose your site, make sure it's great for wildlife and people. All wildlife requires, water, cover, and places to reproduce and raise their young. Make it accessible for classes to use and for community members to visit.

3. Create a Work Plan

Careful planning will help your habitat project run smoothly. Elements like goals, task assignment, resource inventory, and tracking progress will divide and organize the workload into manageable steps.

4. Involve the Community

The creation of a schoolyard habitat is an excellent opportunity to reach out to the community members and invite their participation. To build support for your project, introduce your community to the contributions that the habitat site can make to enrich the school's educational offerings. The schoolyard habitat can be a benefit to the entire community as a public place for all to visit and enjoy.

You may find assistance in your community from a wide variety of sources:

Landscape architects ready for a new challenge

Local businesses willing to donate plants, landscape materials, and expertise

Garden and civic clubs excited to offer their knowledge and hands-on involvement

5. Certify Your Schoolyard Habitat

When you're ready, complete our online application and add your habitat to the thousands of backyards, parks, businesses, and other schools that provide habitat for wildlife through the National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat® program.

These are but a few suggestions for making the link between your project and the community-be creative and don't be afraid to ask! The material contributions, in-kind support, and resource connections will be invaluable to your project and will help strengthen school-community ties. Learn more about installing, using, and maintaining a schoolyard garden.

Schoolyard Habitats® is a registered trademark of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Chesapeake Office. National Wildlife Federation has permission to use the trademark Schoolyard Habitats® for its program.

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Schoolyard Habitats - Garden for Wildlife | National Wildlife Federation

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Since 1996, the National Wildlife Federation has worked to assist schools in the creation of Schoolyard Habitats®, which create and restore wildlife habitat on school grounds while providing outdoor classrooms for learning across the curriculum. There are currently over 10,000 schools and counting that have been certified through this program.

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Kiddle is a safe search engine, offering a safe web, image, and video search. Results are vetted by editors.

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Students learn how much food, plastic, products are in garbage

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Students learn how much food, plastic, products are in garbage

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Rincon Del Diablo Municipal Water District

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Rincon Del Diablo Municipal Water District

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Rincon del Diablo Municipal Water District

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Rincon del Diablo Municipal Water District Copyright © 2020

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Britannica School and Image Quest - EUSD STUDENT RESOURCES

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Recycling and Conservation: Recycling-How It Works?

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Recycling and Conservation: Recycling-How It Works?

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We believe in the power of birds to ignite discovery and inspire action.Join us on a lifelong journey to enjoy, understand, and protect birds and the natural world.

Visitor Center Hours

Visitor Center currently closed in response
to COVID-19 pandemic.
Trails open dawn to dusk.
Plan Your Visit

Science & InnovationWe reveal how nature works

We bring together scientists, students, and people from all walks of life in the quest to generate new knowledge and conserve our shared natural world. You can help.
More About Science

What you can do Lifelong Learning and Citizen Science

Begin your journey here. Choose a project to match your interests.

EducationWe open doors to the natural world

Help us foster inquiry and learning, starting with the earliest ages and lasting a lifetime. We're dedicated to inspiring new science and conservation leaders.

Our K-12 program partners with educators in Central America to connect kids with birds.
More About Education

ConservationWe transform science into action

In service to the natural world, we work with communities around the globe to inspire and inform conservation. Your support helps us find solutions for a sustainable planet alive with the beauty of birds-where together humans and wildlife can thrive.

See Your Impact

Make a Difference

Let's work together to protect birds and habitats

Join as a Member
Get the beautiful Living Bird magazine right in your mailbox

Living Bird Latest stories from our award-winning magazine

Macaulay Library
Browse More Photos

Photo Credits:

Barn Swallow by Johanna Beam/Macaulay Library; Golden-fronted Woodpecker by Marcy Barbosa/BirdSpotter; Tree Swallow by Marie Read; Calliope Hummingbird by Marya Moosman/Macaulay Library; Cornell Botanical Gardens by Justin Muir; Gunnison Sage-Grouse by Gerrit Vyn.

Don't miss a thing! Join our email list

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We believe in the power of birds to ignite discovery and inspire action.Join us on a lifelong journey to enjoy, understand, and protect birds and the natural world. Visitor Center Hours Visitor Center currently closed in response to COVID-19 pandemic. Trails open dawn to dusk.

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Don't Take a Holiday from Recycling: A Guide for Eco-Friendly Tips This Gifting Season

Schedule a Presentation

Request a presentation that meets the needs of your classroom! Presentation topics include: watersheds, recycling basics, zero waste, and more!

Read our Blog

Passion fuels our staff and our blog, ecoBlogic! We cover everything from recycling basics and composting to water conservation.

Corporate CleanBuilding Opportunities

I Love A Clean San Diego County hosts impact-driven, team building cleanup activities for your businesses virtually

Help us achieve a waste free lifestyle for all communities in San Diego County.

100% of your gift stays local and supports environmental education and pollution prevention activities for youth and adults throughout San Diego County. I Love A Clean San Diego empowers people to improve the health and beauty of our local environment through community programs, education and a regional recycling resources.
Donate Today All gifts are tax-deductible.

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Home | I Love A Clean San Diego | A Zero Waste Mission for SD County

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Don't Take a Holiday from Recycling: A Guide for Eco-Friendly Tips This Gifting Season Schedule a Presentation Request a presentation that meets the needs of your classroom! Presentation topics include: watersheds, recycling basics, zero waste, and more! Read our Blog Passion fuels our staff and our blog, ecoBlogic!

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Recycling and Conservation: Why Recycle?

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Recycling and Conservation: Why Recycle?

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Celebrate Endangered Species Day on May 18th, 2018

Endangered Species Day is an opportunity for people of all ages to learn about the importance of protecting endangered species and everyday actions they can take to help protect them. Check back often to learn more about the 13th annual Endangered Species Day on May 18, 2018.

The toolkit includes materials for Endangered Species Day events and activities, a step-by-step guide to planning an event, sample lesson plans and other materials to make your event fun and successful.

Endangered Species Day Bird Note Show

Listen to an Endangered Species Day show from Bird Note about the Palila:

http://www.endangered.org/cms/assets/uploads/2016/05/SotB-hawaii-03b.mp3

Saving Endangered Species Youth Art Contest

The semifinalist and winning entries have been announced in the 2018 Saving Endangered Species Youth Art Contest! Read more...

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Celebrate Endangered Species Day on May 18th, 2018 Endangered Species Day is an opportunity for people of all ages to learn about the importance of protecting endangered species and everyday actions they can take to help protect them. Check back often to learn more about the 13th annual Endangered