Our Celebrate the Coast event at Tomales Bay State Park at the end of September was a HUGE success. Hundreds of people convened on Hearts Desire Beach for a day of exploring and connecting with nature.

“We hope to see this event become an annual celebration, growing organically each year as people are excited to return to this magical cove,” said Catie Clune, Turtle Island Restoration Network’s Education Specialist.

We’ve created this photo gallery for you. Please scroll through!

This event was the culmination of a UC California Naturalist Certification course for educators. The graduating naturalists are required to complete a capstone project. For this course, the different elements of programming throughout the day were these recently certified naturalist’s capstone projects.

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^ A huge thank you to the California Coastal Commission Whale Tail grants program for sponsoring our UC California Naturalist training for educators and transportation for this coastal event. Without this support the three busses that chartered students and families from Oakland, Sacramento and San Rafael, would not have been possible.

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^ Students from Oakland Unity High and neighboring schools joined the coastal event and two of the four high school poetry slam finalists were connected through this community.

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^ Turtle Island Restoration Network had a lot to share from scholarships to shark research expeditions to free sharable resources for teachers. People got their photos taken as the coho Salmon Super Hero!

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^ These wonderful ladies form the leadership of our local state parks, which paints a lot of hope for the future. Their capstone project was to collaboratively develop a Jr. Ranger program for young kids or for anyone visiting Tomales Bay State Park in the future.

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^ Jose and Alicia are just two of the five amazing leaders from Latino Outdoors that joined our training and helped to host this coastal event. They bussed families from San Rafael, so that they could join in the festivities.

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^ Students and other participants learned all about the participating organizations through the Nature Loteria game. They completed different activities at different stations and earned tickets for a raffle of sustainable products donated by ethical companies. These products demonstrate how we can change many of our day to day choices and actually shift production chains. Sandra Corzantes was the superstar that lead an investigation of companies’ practices and secured donations that truly embodied our events mission.

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^ Alicia Cruz and Jennifer Adams led a hike for families and students that integrated grounding practices while stimulating curiosity. In the future we will have to schedule multiple walks with Latino Outdoors to better manage the crowds of people that were excited for this opportunity.

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Jeff Caplan brought his flaming friend Ariel to help tell stories of the sea. Ariel’s mom always made her favorite peanut butter and jellyfish sandwich . One day she bites down and chips a tooth, only to find that there was no jellyfish on her sandwich! Can you guess what she found?

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^ We had a booth where people made coastal pledges, which included a board to tally the whole groups pledges, a small card for each pledge that is strung along a necklace to start conversations, and a wallet card to remind us of our pledge in the future. Our amazing naturalists even had the research and data to back it up! They were on call all day to answer questions and dispel myths.

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^ Archie Smith and Peter Flom hosted a passionate high school spoken word poetry competition as their capstone project. Our theme of climate and environment didn’t seem to inhibit the students creativity.

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All of the sponsoring companies donated prizes for our finalists, and they all received gift certificates to take their families and friends kayaking on Tomales Bay.

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Everyone felt like a winner at the end of the day. A clean beach, some slight sunburns and a ton of smiles marked the end of a successful day.

We hope you will join us to Celebrate the Coast next September. Stay tuned for details.

 

Thanks again to all of our sponsors:
@429artcollective (On Instagram) – 2 Handmade planter boxes from a community space supporting local artists

Aardvark Paper Drinking Straws – Made from renewable resources, Aardvark Straws are a sustainable product that is fully biodegradable, compost-friendly and 100% chlorine free

Albatross Designs – Albatross Stainless Steel Double Edge Safety Razors

Ambatalia- for a non-disposable life. – Reusable Bento Bags – Ambatalia is a modern textile company. Pioneering in sustainable, multi-use, every day linens for a non – disposable life.

Back to the Roots – Grow your own mushrooms from the box in 10 days!

Cornell Lab of Ornithology – A Master Set of over 700 bird songs and calls

COYUCHI – Airweight Bath Towels from a company that focuses on sustainability, minimally processed organic & natural fibers and a truly human commitment to the hands that touch each product

Dental Lace, Inc – The first fashionable refillable dental floss
Gneiss Spice – Magnetic Spice Jars & Organic Spice Kits Personalized to Your Pantry.

GoPure Pod – Portable Water Purifier that is good for 6 months/2000 uses

The Grecian Soap Company – Quality natural skin products
Hipcamp – Gift certificate to use towards a camping expedition anywhere in the US

Kooshoo – Plastic Free Hair-ties and more, creates the finest lifestyle accessories on the planet, for the planet.

Life Without Plastic – Gift certificate from the one-stop shop for safe, high quality, ethically-sourced, Earth-friendly alternatives to plastic products for everyday life

Lunette Menstrual Cup – Innovative and life changing Menstrual Cups

MANDA – Organic Sunpaste SPF with Thanaka, the first sunscreen ever to introduce the use of this timeless curative

Meow Meow Tweet – ??? A vegan apothecary offering personal care products handcrafted from whole, natural and organic ingredients.

Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District – Twenty-four District preserves are open to the public free of charge, 365 days a year from dawn until one-half hour after sunset.

Patagonia– Quality gear from a company that causes no unnecessary harm and uses business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.

REI – Quality gear from a company that provides the knowledge and confidence to explore and discover new adventures

U Konserve – A complete line of safe and reusable food-storage solutions for the whole family. Products include stainless steel containers, insulated tumblers, stainless steel straws, glass bottles, recycled lunch totes, reusable food wraps and waste-free accessories.

Gneiss Spice— Magnetic spice rack!

Hipcamp— Find yourself outside. Includes camping reservations on private sites!