SOCALPAPA Paints the Back Bay and OC Parks

This new exhibition opens at the Peter and Mary Muth Interpretive Center Saturday, July 17 to July 25, 2021. Southern California Plein Air Painters Association (SOCALPAPA) artists have submitted 61 original paintings inspired by the beauty and natural heritage of the...

Ask-A-Naturalist: Why is there so much trash in the bay now?

Winter is the rainy season in Southern California.  When it rains, trash and debris from the city streets wash down the storm drains into the Upper Newport Bay. The bay collects water and refuse from a 154 square mile watershed encompassing seven cities.  Waste from...

Ask-A-Naturalist: Why do birds migrate?

Many (but not all) species of birds pack up and leave one part of the hemisphere and fly thousands of miles to arrive at another.  Upper Newport Bay, one of the few remaining protected wetlands on the California coast, hosts thousands of migrants from the north during...

Ask-A-Naturalist: How was the Back Bay created?

The Back Bay was carved out relatively recently on geological timescales. During a time period called the “Pleistocene” from 2.6 million years ago to 10,000 years ago, the Earth experienced many cooler periods when ice and snow extended much further south than they do...

Coastal Cleanup Day at the Bay

Be one of the 1,000 people to help remove 20,000 lbs. of trash and recyclables from our waterway! Coastal Cleanup Day at the Upper Newport Bay will be held on Saturday, September 26, 2020 from 9 a.m. to noon. More information on how to signup will be available spring...