Join us at the Back Bay Science Center for a fascinating evening of lectures and demonstrations. 22 May 2013, 6 pm – 9:30 pm.  The speakers at this workshop are experts in their fields.  This event promises to be extremely informative to all everyone who is interested in conserving the Upper Newport Bay.  Click here to read more and make your Paypal reservations.

Symposium: Plants and their Pollinators, Interactions for a Healthy Planet

The Third Annual Newport Bay Symposium is planned for Saturday, June 22, 2013.    This program will bring together some of our foremost local experts on native plants and their vitally important partners, the insect pollinators.   The talks will be followed by a native plant sale during lunchtime, and the day will conclude with a series of informal field trips to local trails where some of these plants and insects are found.  Click here to read more and make your reservation.

6:00-6:45 pm: “Impacts of contaminants on water and sediment quality in Southern California coastal waters: status and new directions”
Steven Bay, Principal Scientist, Toxicology Department, Southern California Coastal Water Research Project. Costa Mesa, CA

6:45-7:30 pm: “The role of wetlands in the transformation of urban water contaminants in the Upper Newport Bay”
Robert Hamersley, Assistant Professor of Environmental Microbiology, Soka University of America

7:30-8:00 pm: Break – Water Testing Demonstration
Joe Guzman, Supervisor, OC Health Care Agency Water Quality Laboratory

8:00-8:45 pm “Bacteria and Viruses in Newport Bay”
Sunny Jiang, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Ecology and Evolutionary Biology,
University of California, Irvine

8:45 pm-9:30 pm “Understanding the Effects of Macroalgal Blooms on Estuaries: Newport Bay in Perspective”
Martha Sutula, Principal Scientist, Biogeochemistry Department, Southern California Coastal Water Research Project. Costa Mesa, CA

Admission $10. Space is limited. Advance registration is advised.

• The Third Annual Newport Bay Symposium is planned for Saturday, June 22, 2013.    This program will bring together some of our foremost local experts on native plants and their vitally important partners, the insect pollinators.   The talks will be followed by a native plant sale during lunchtime, and the day will conclude with a series of informal field trips to local trails where some of these plants and insects are found.  Click here to read more and make your reservation.

Peter and Mary Muth Interpretive Center, Newport Bay Nature Preserve, Newport Beach, CA

Saturday June 22, 2013, 9am – 3pm
Learn about the plants and insects that we all depend on!

Timed to coincide with National Pollinator week, this program will bring together some of our foremost local experts on native plants and their vitally important partners, the insect pollinators. Jutta Burger will discuss recent volunteer programs conducted by the Irvine Ranch Conservancy to survey our local butterfly populations on a continuing, monthly basis. Our Keynote speaker will be the well-known local expert on both plants AND insects, “Bug-Bob” Allen, who will talk about some of the more unusual pollination mechanisms. He will be followed by Richard Minnich from UC Riverside who will discuss our declining Wildflower populations, and Scott Hoffman Black, the Executive Director of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, who will talk about what we can all do to help prevent further losses.

The talks will be followed by a native plant sale during lunchtime, and the day will conclude with a series of informal field trips to local trails where some of these plants and insects are found.

***On-line registration required: $40 for non-members; $20 for NBC members and students. Includes a light lunch***

SPECIAL Non-member registration includes the following:

• $50 includes symposium, lunch and individual annual NBC membership
• This is a $65 value; includes $10 kayak tours, reduced prices to events such as this, gift shop discount and more!

The last time we went to Big Canyon for some clamming action we were in for a surprise.  There was a crow lurking in the bushes near the kiosk.  When the clam hit the pavement the crow came rushing out to steal the goodies.  Unfortunately for the crow the gull was so fast and aggressive the effort proved fruitless.  When we left,  the crow was still hanging around, waiting for another shot at stealing the gull’s dinner.

Gulls must have been harvesting clams in this manner for millions of years.  One has to wonder how they learned to break clams in the first place.  Perhaps a gull dropped a clam accidently and saw it break open.

Refer to this site for more information.

Jay was proud of his parents and helped in the effort to build a memorial to his parents on what has remained the Upper Newport Bay natural preserve.   This memorial is formally called Vista Point (located at the corner of Back Bay Drive and Eastbluff Drive) but is known informally among long time Naturalists as Robinson Point.  Jay enjoyed a successful career as an attorney.  Although he did not live near the bay, he remained committed to the Bay and was a generous donor year after year.  He will be very much missed at the Bay.