By SFBBO Director of Plover and Tern Science Maddy Schwarz
This month, SFBBO staff went on a tour of the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito! This exciting and informative outing was made possible by a collaboration with the Center that SFBBO participated in last fall.
The Marine Mammal Center runs an environmental education program, Stewardship Saturday, where high school students from around the Bay Area sign up to spend a Saturday learning about a marine ecosystem and then take action to help that ecosystem.
This free program features rotating events along the Center’s 600-mile range exploring the science of the Center, learning more about ocean conservation, and connecting with local conservation communities.
In March 2025, the Center reached out to SFBBO to ask us to partner with them to educate youth about birds and conservation science. Together we developed a Stewardship Saturday curriculum that teaches students about Snowy Plovers, Least Terns, and other migratory seabirds. On Oct. 25 last year kids from several different high schools helped SFBBO manage a plover and tern breeding pond at Eden Landing Ecological Reserve in Hayward by collecting chick shelters and putting them in storage for the winter.
After a successful event, the Marine Mammal Center offered SFBBO a tour of their facilities, which we gratefully accepted! To learn more about the Marine Mammal Center’s high school education program, please visit their website. To get involved in SFBBO’s volunteer and outreach programs, please visit our events page.
The above photo of SFBBO Director of Plover and Tern Science Maddy Schwarz and a student participant was taken by Marine Mammal Center Marine Science Educator Kyra Kawamoto.