Coastal Cleanup Day 2009 - Los Cerritos Wetlands

Greetings!

OK, I know this is the Colorado Lagoon blog but I thought I could use the venue to tell you about another cleanup that took place on California Coastal Cleanup Day 2009. We all spent the morning at the Lagoon but at 1pm we headed over to 4th Annual Zedler Marsh Cleanup which is located within the Los Cerritos Wetlands. This also marked the launching of the Los Cerritos Wetlands Stewardship program. How exciting is that!?

Nearly 100 people showed up to this yearly event...

We all spent a couple hours roaming the area for trash BIG and small, everything got picked up.

There were people EVERYWHERE! It was so fun to see everyone excited about cleaning up the area, it really needed it.

More people....

And still more...

We scoured the bushes and found all sorts of things. I found some drywall, another person a rug which weighed 36lbs.

Jenny taking out the trash

'Hey, I think I see a bottle cap over there!'

Friends spent the afternoon together making a difference.

Adrienne has been working with the Los Cerritos Wetlands for several years now.Mister Taylor Parker extraordinaire

Until next year everyone, Thanks for the help!

To find out more about whats going on, go to www.LCWStewards.org

~Timothy

Coastal Cleanup Day 2009 - Colorado Lagoon

Hey There!

Well this last weekend was a busy one to say the least. Saturday marked -

National Coastal Cleanup Day 2009

which takes place every year on the third Saturday of September (mark you calenders for next year). The day started at the Colorado Lagoon with Taylor, Eric and Adrienne showing up early to get things set up (thanks guys!). From 9-12pm we saw roughly 50 volunteers filter through!!! It was SO great to see people from around the neighborhoods coming down to do their part at their local wetland!

Those 50 volunteers collected about 150lbs of trash from in and around the area. Thanks to the weekly Trash Cleanups on Mondays from 9-11am the Lagoon's overall trash levels were pretty manageable. All the areas got cleaned up several times by the numerous people we had volunteering.

The East bank where we just completed our Ice Plant removal looks amazing! The site is ready for planting in October and we can't wait to get started on that project. Be sure to come down and participate in that exciting event.

October 24th is 350 Day, a day to help bring awareness to Global climate change. In honor of this day, the community here at the Colorado Lagoon is planting 350 plants. How awesome is that!?!

Ok so here are some great photos from the Coastal Cleanup Day

The bridge. I always love this shot

Ravuth and Sokanary working together as always :)

Kelli is making the rounds and marking down.

Laurel doing her part!

Jenny, Adrienne and Mark holding down the fort

Jenny helping out at the sign-in table

Pick up trash- pick up trash- try to take a picture- pick up trash

Tim and his two kids who live in the area came down to help out for the day

Taylor and Huy pointing to various things around the Lagoon...not sure what though

Future Ecologist

It was a start to a great day. Thanks to everyone who came out and those who helped put it together. I can't wait til next year!

~Timothy

Acoustic Tidal Artwalk VIDEO!!!

Check it out!!!

Tim Neilsen of Flicker Films Production came on down to the event and caught some video of the evening! I think this short film captures the essence of a grass roots, community event. We had so much fun putting this together. Whats better than having planning meetings on the beach at the Lagoon?!

The Friends of Colorado Lagoon board members came down in strong numbers to help host the evening. Thanks again to all who contributed in one way or another. Artists, bakers, painters, bike valet'ers, hands on education folks, musicians, board members and other great volunteers all came down and made the evening beautiful!

Enjoy...

Colorado Lagoon Acoustic Tidal Artwalk 09 from Flicker Films on Vimeo.

Thank you Tim Neilsen

~Timothy

Acoustic Tidal Artwalk!

Wow, this summer just blew right by. It is hard to think that a only 2 months ago the Colorado Lagoon played host to the First Annual

ACOUSTIC TIDAL ARTWALK:

A night a music Art and Music in the Sand

It was a beautiful collaboration of people of the community coming together to help bring awareness to the Colorado Lagoon. The night was in full display of beautiful Art, some great local musicians, live graffiti artist, hands on art for kids and education tables that got a lot of attention. We had the great folks from LB Cyclist.org providing Valet bike parking for everyone. There was food to munch on and refreshments to enjoy.

The night went off without a hitch with upwards of 300 people stopping by throughout the evening. There were people from the immediate surrounding community and folks from other cities. Everyone was welcome and seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Take a look....

The day started at 9am with The Crew digging 38 holes along the evening tide line.

It was a lot of work but it paid off beautifully!

Mike Dees a Wilson H.S. art teacher showed his latest works. Thanks Mike!

Timothy Dunham had his latest work on display from a trip he recently took to Argentina

Story boards told of some of great adventures that took place while in the Patagonia region of Argentina.

A nice little crowd gathered to listen to some of the local musicians playing

Eric Zahn and Mike Peck

(Left to Right) Erik Elstad, Eric Zahn, Taylor Parker, Timothy Dunham

Taylor Parker, FOCL's Education Director handling the swarm of kids a the Hands on Education table.

Kayla from Color Sensations in Long Beach provided supplies and help kids paint there own work of art. Thanks Kayla!

Paul Alverez came down and put on some great Live Graffiti. He started with a sheet of plywood and turned into a piece of work. Check it out..

SAVE OUR WETLANDS!

The evening ambiance was perfect with all the lights and sounds
From the bridge
The crew! Thanks to everyone who volunteered that night, it was a great success! Things can happen in a community because of people who take the time to get involved. It was a blast!

~Timothy