Environmental Nature Center

Monday, March 8, 2010

Early Season Wildflowers at the ENC!

Wildflower season has started here at the ENC. While we do not have a large display of annual wildflowers, our shrubs and trees are putting on quite a show - especially the Ceanothus!

Island snapdragon glows in the late afternoon sunset and columbine flowers nod in the cool late Winter breeze.

Manzanita flowers reward those patient enough to seek them out, and the western redbud blooms entice fuzzy native bees with their sweet scent and tasty nectar - in exchange for a little pollination action, of course!

Join us for a Wildflower Walk on 4-10 at 1PM. RSVP to 949-645-8489 or lori(at)encenter.org

Population Connection Workshop at the ENC!

Helen delaMaza represented Population Connection in February and provided training to ENC staff and visiting teachers. Population Education’s lesson plans are all about people–how the human race has grown and shaped the world around us. World population has quadrupled in the past century, changing the way we use natural resources and function as societies. Population education is the ultimate multidisciplinary field; it is ecology, human geography, anthropology, economics, biology, public health, sociology, environmental studies, history and civics all rolled into one.

ENC Naturalists Mark & Leslie help pollute the "Potamic."

All of Population Connection curriculum materials are classroom-tested, rigorously evaluated and frequently updated to be leaders in their content and approach. All lessons are interdisciplinary and well suited for a cooperative learning environment. Population Connection has correlated their lessons with California’s standards which can be found on their website at www.populationeducation.org under “Content Standards by State”.

Population Connection’s Education Program is the only national, population education program with a strong emphasis on teacher training for educators of grades pre-K through 12. Since 1975, the program has developed age-appropriate curricula to complement students’ instruction about human population trends and their impacts on natural resources, environmental quality and human well-being.

Teachers are introducing important population concepts to their students using these outstanding resources and students are benefiting from them. With an emphasis on hands-on learning and balanced discussion of different viewpoints, this program has earned a reputation for educational excellence.

Chaparral, Fire, and Grizzly Bears: A different way to view Orange County Nature

A presentation by Richard W. Halsey

Thursday, February 25, 2010

The Laguna Canyon Foundation and the Environmental Nature Center presented writer, naturalist, and director of The California Chaparral Institute for this indoor “trailside chat.” Of all the distinct, natural communities in California, only one is found throughout and only one can be said to represent the state's most characteristic wilderness: the chaparral, an association of remarkable plants and animals shaped by summer drought, winter rain and an extremely fragile relationship with wildfire. Guests explored the chaparral's unique natural history, its importance to Orange County, and why it represents such a vital link to nature for all Californians.