{"id":3773,"date":"2015-12-13T02:25:37","date_gmt":"2015-12-13T02:25:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/debbieintheoc.com\/?p=3773"},"modified":"2015-12-14T19:52:34","modified_gmt":"2015-12-14T19:52:34","slug":"rock-the-title-of-citizen-scientist-crystal-cove-alliance-lets-oc-get-hands-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debbieintheoc.com\/orange-county\/rock-the-title-of-citizen-scientist-crystal-cove-alliance-lets-oc-get-hands-on","title":{"rendered":"Rock the title of Citizen Scientist. Crystal Cove Alliance lets OC get hands on."},"content":{"rendered":"

With the scent of sage in the canyon, the sun on our backs and crisp breeze blowing amongst us, we set out to become Citizen Scientists\u2014what an epic title, right? It’s\u00a0not our average Saturday, for a family who normally kills time at the mall. But we’re total Econerds now that we’ve done\u00a0it, as it was quite a compelling\u00a0experience<\/p>\n

You may know\u00a0Crystal Cove Alliance<\/a>, CCA, for their part\u00a0in restoring\u00a0the vintage beach cottages in Crystal Cove (seen below) to reflect life of the\u00a01930’s-50’s, but did you know they’re also all about\u00a0hands-on environmental research for 2015 and long into the future? And they want your help?<\/p>\n

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CCA just started\u00a0Field Science Saturdays<\/a> to give those in OC\u00a0a chance to do worthy work. We explored Crystal Cove\u2019s Moro Canyon and collected data (think\u00a0soil samples, water studies, plant life ) to help save the environment. Uh, are they crazy? Trusting a motley crew like my brood with science? Fear not, the CCA pros supervise all, but they let you\u00a0do the work. We saw people in their teens, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, you get the idea.<\/p>\n

How empowering is it to be called a Citizen Scientist and have people ask you to\u00a0document important facts to help save earth as we know it\u2014okay, that’s a little dramatic, but you really are doing iconic\u00a0work. My sixth grader parlayed\u00a0the experience into a\u00a0volunteer school project, but I saw UCI biology students out there too and people who just love the canyons of California.<\/p>\n

Now is a a classic\u00a0time to being doing this work with the elements that California is facing (drought, climate change, fires, etc. ). So while it’s a day of some play, it’s also the real deal.<\/p>\n

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My family and I\u00a0investigated the health of Moro Canyon\u2019s ecosystem, as we calculated\u00a0decomposition rates, looked at transpiration in plants, discussed water table levels\u00a0and talked fire ecology\u2014regular things we always talk about (uh, sure). It was fun to see the kids brains turning, eyebrows raised, and\u00a0challenge on their faces, as they scribbled measurements, erased, and adjusted their findings. It felt a little like Indiana Jones\u2014and like someday they might find themselves on a far away dig in some lost\u00a0land (which all started because of\u00a0their CCA time incessantly shaking a leaf Porometer\u2014and yes, I now know what that is.)<\/p>\n

We’re lucky to have this program in OC, and have it run by fun nature lovers like Kaitlyn and Sara, who run the trips. The concept of Citizen Scientists is still very\u00a0new. Field Science Saturdays become a monthly program for 2016, and are offered at no cost to the community. So invite family and friends to enjoy a day overlooking the water while helping to advance research to preserve OC’s legendary beachfront jewel.<\/p>\n

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The real-science data that is collected is\u00a0shared with local researchers and fed into a new environmental dashboard for Crystal Cove State Park.<\/p>\n

It’s really a great chance for anyone to get out there and take in some spectacular views. And they welcome families who are ready to explore! You never know what you’ll find either\u2014we came across a rattlesnake skeleton and coyote bones (that the kids thought were the “coolest”).\"IMG_1060\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Expect to see an array of wildlife, so keep your eyes peeled.<\/p>\n

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If you’re interested in being a Citizen Scientist, meet at\u00a0Bern\u2019s Environmental Loop at\u00a0Crystal Cove (#5 Crystal Cove,\u00a0Newport Coast, CA 92657). Trips happen the second\u00a0Saturday\u00a0of each month (usually 8:30 to 10:30 a.m., but check the site for sure).<\/strong> Directions\/map:\u00a0http:\/\/bit.ly\/1RAmwed<\/a><\/p>\n

Don’t miss Crystal Cove Alliance’s upcoming Ocean Cruise in February too, where they set out on the sea to be a Citizen Scientist on the Pacific.<\/p>\n

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So get to know Crystal Cove alliance through their education programs, or you can reserve\u00a0one of\u00a0their lovely, restored Beach Cottages (which rent in seconds when up for availability; CCA\u00a0kept rates incredibly low, so everyone could enjoy the beautiful oceanview seen below).\u00a0Each year, over 25,000 guests take a trip back in time to stay in California\u2019s last surviving intact beach community –\u00a0Crystal Cove Beach Cottages<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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With the scent of sage in the canyon, the sun on our backs and crisp breeze blowing amongst us, we set out to become Citizen Scientists\u2014what an epic title, right? It’s\u00a0not our average Saturday, for a family who normally kills time at the mall. But we’re total Econerds now that we’ve done\u00a0it, as it was quite a compelling\u00a0experience You may…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":154,"featured_media":3800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[72,1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/debbieintheoc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2015\/12\/FullSizeRender-3-boost.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p714E2-YR","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/debbieintheoc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3773"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/debbieintheoc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/debbieintheoc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debbieintheoc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/154"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debbieintheoc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3773"}],"version-history":[{"count":45,"href":"https:\/\/debbieintheoc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3838,"href":"https:\/\/debbieintheoc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3773\/revisions\/3838"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debbieintheoc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/debbieintheoc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debbieintheoc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/debbieintheoc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}