There are many groups that work with us at the Bay performing habitat restoration and other stewardship activities such as trash removal and trail maintenance. These groups range from high school classes to homeowner associations to corporate service teams. The following are some of our fellow stewards:

Early College High School
Early College High School, located in Costa Mesa, is an innovative approach to providing students with a defined and focused path to community college enrollment by overlapping high school and community college classes, and engaging students in real world experiences. Students have adopted Upper Newport Bay, and their teachers work extensively with the California Coastal Commission, OC Parks and NBC to develop and conduct customized stewardship and other programs here. A particularly important collaboration is the annual Environmental Fair we host at which biology students from ECHS present their perspectives on various environmental issues and possible solutions.

Volcom
Volcom plays a major part in the promotion of environmental stewardship among today’s youth. Its Leaders of Environmental Action Films (LEAF) initiative is an example of this. The recognition and screening of winning entries in the 2010 LEAF Ecommercial contest was an important part of the Upper Newport Bay Earth Day celebration. Volcom was also an important partner in the 2010 Upper Newport Bay Cleanup Day, generously underwriting and providing 1,200 tee-shirts handed out to the volunteers who participated. We are very grateful too for their 1% For The Planet partnership. An outrigger canoe tour is a favorite with the Volcom U. and we look forward to hosting them again soon.

REI
REI is a regular partner in our cleanup activities. Most recently 60 REI community volunteers joined us at Upper Newport Bay to remove trash from some of the marsh areas. After a quick orientation on kayaking from the REI Outdoor School,  participants headed out on the water to collect trash. REI also helps underwrite NBC’s High School Outrigger Canoe Program.

Pimco Partners
PIMCO Partners is the firm’s employee volunteer and community outreach program, providing a way for colleagues to support and enhance lives and communities. We were thrilled to have them join us for an on-the-water cleanup in January 2010. They collected 38 bags of trash weighing roughly 400 lbs!

Orange County Society of Conservation Biology
The Orange County Chapter of the Society of Conservation Biology seeks to increase the involvement of Orange County citizens in local conservation-based science. OC-SCB facilitates this involvement through guest lectures, outdoor activities, hands-on habitat restoration and research opportunities. OC-SCB is a member of the UNB Restoration Team, with an important restoration project ongoing at Bayview. They are also a NBC mini grant recipient.

Newport Sea Base
The Newport Sea Base, has provided fun and valuable educational maritime-based programs to all youth for over 70 years. They are an important partner in the Annual UNB Cleanup Event, as well as Estuary Awareness Day at the Back Bay Science Center. We also conduct twilight canoe tours with the Sea Base