California Coastal Commission: Restoring and Reopening the Intertidal Lab
Since opening in 2007, the Intertidal Lab at NatureBridge Golden Gate has been a student and staff favorite. The lab’s “touch tank” aquarium and the experiential learning it offers draw young people and adults alike to its waters for a hands-on exploration of Northern California marine life. It is a space unique to the Golden Gate campus, and it never fails to inspire questions and observations from visiting student groups. As a tool for developing young people’s scientific inquiry skills and passion for the marine environment, the Intertidal Lab is second to none. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic’s temporary closure of the lab represented a heartbreaking but necessary decision in 2020.
The intertidal zone [on a coast line] can be a difficult place to explore for many of our students who don’t have frequent access to coastal areas or are physically prevented from reaching the rocky shoreline. The touch tanks at NatureBridge allow accessibility for all of our students to discover and learn.Lillian Pearson, Lab Steward
Due to our inability to provide in-person programming to students during the pandemic, the Golden Gate campus temporarily closed. As a result, all of our Intertidal Lab tanks were drained and our animals were donated to another educational organization that could care for them. However, after laying dormant for two years, the lab received a new lease on life from the California Coastal Commission’s WHALE TAIL® Grants Program. The WHALE TAIL® Grant provided NatureBridge with the necessary funds to repair, refresh and restart our Intertidal Lab program.
Awarded in 2022, the WHALE TAIL® Grant provided $50,000 toward the restoration of NatureBridge’s Intertidal Lab, including $15,000 in scholarship support for underserved young people to engage with the tank once it was functioning and resupplied with marine life. Since the Intertidal Lab is the most popular and most frequently-requested activity at our Golden Gate campus, we were thrilled to complete the needed repairs and refurbishments with the help of the California Coastal Commission’s generous grant and reopen the lab to students.
When we first opened the campus back up in 2021, program groups were frequently disappointed to hear that our Intertidal Lab had yet to open. It is super exciting to get our tanks back up and running and open the doors to students.Lillian Pearson, Lab Steward
Since reopening for the 2022-2023 school year, the Intertidal Lab has hosted over 2,400 students and over 1,000 summer campers (through Golden Gate’s Coastal Camp program). As Lab Steward Lillian Pearson notes, the most frequently asked question about the Intertidal Lab this year has been, “Can I go in there?”
“Kids always want to walk right into the lab when they see it,” Lillian remarks with a smile. “I frequently have kids knocking on the door when I close it to do maintenance work and have to turn them away until their checked-out lab time. There’s something that draws kids in and fills them with a desire to explore the tanks and see what kind of animals they contain.”
Because of the support of the WHALE TAIL® Grant, thousands of students every year will continue to experience the wonder and science of nature within the Intertidal Lab at Golden Gate. It’s an experience that will inspire and equip these young people to better understand, celebrate and protect the natural world—including the California coast and intertidal zone—and it’s one we’re grateful to be able to offer once again, thanks to the generosity of California Coastal Commission’s WHALE TAIL® Grants Program.
Stories
Staff Spotlight: Dylan Meek
“I don’t know if I’d have such a keen interest in what I do now” without experiencing NatureBridge programs as a middle schooler, says current NatureBridge staff member Dylan Meek. As a seventh grader, Dylan and her classmates from Southern California attended an environmental science program at Yosemite Institute (known today as NatureBridge Yosemite). That trip represented Dylan’s first visit to a national park and her first exposure to the field of outdoor education. Now on staff as the Lab Steward at NatureBridge Golden Gate, Dylan ensures that the environmental science educators have everything they need “to get the most out of the lab spaces” on campus.
2024 Student of the Year: Kai Diaz
At NatureBridge, we celebrate the stewards of today and foster the development of the stewards of tomorrow, working to inspire environmental stewardship in all our participants. Our goal is to motivate our students to make waves and be changemakers in their communities and for our planet.
Each year, NatureBridge honors a student who has demonstrated leadership, growth and a commitment to protecting our natural world as a result of their participation in a NatureBridge program. This year’s honoree will be recognized and will speak at An Evening Outside with NatureBridge on Thursday, May 16 at our Golden Gate campus.
We are thrilled to announce our 2024 Student of the Year: Kai Diaz.
An Interview with Evening Outside Keynote Speaker Dr. Britt Wray
The minute we found out about the work of Dr. Britt Wray, we knew we wanted to learn more about her. A well-respected author and scientist, Dr. Wray possesses expertise in an area of research we talk about a lot at NatureBridge—specifically how we can be resilient, hopeful, and actionable amid a changing world, including the climate crisis. We’re thrilled that Dr. Wray will be joining us on May 16 for An Evening Outside with NatureBridge as our Featured Speaker. Ahead of the event, we had the chance to ask her a few questions relating to her work and her connection to the mission of NatureBridge.