Educating the public about the value of Back Bay and its watershed is vital to our mission. We are proud of our tradition of innovative and meaningful environmental education beginning over 50 YEARS AGO with the Friends Tours which enlisted broad support for the protection of the Bay and helped create the protection of the Bay in 1975.
Though Upper Newport Bay is protected, it is constantly threatened by various human impacts that are inevitable given its location in a dense urban environment. While many of the threats arise from activities such as littering miles inland within our watershed, even some recreational uses by local residents who care about the Bay may be harmful to the habitat and wildlife of the Bay.
We offer a variety of education programs from child to adult that serve over 50,000 people each year. We conduct our own programs, and provide volunteer support for programs organized by our partners at the Interpretive Center and the Back Bay Science Center. The Interpretive Center, which is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday, offers programs primarily for an elementary school and family audience. The Back Bay Science Center with its teaching and water quality labs couples education and research, and offers programs primarily for a middle school through college audience.
