Crystal Cove State Park

www.CrystalCoveStatePark.com

Organization Type:
Government Agency

Mission:
The mission of the California Department of Parks and Recreation is to provide for the health, inspiration, and education of the people of California by helping to preserve the state’s extraordinary biological diversity, protecting its most valued natural and cultural resources, and creating opportunities for high-quality outdoor recreation.

Contact:
Winter Bonnin, State Park Interpreter II
Crystal Cove State Park
8471 North Coast Highway
Laguna Beach, CA 92651
Phone: (949) 494-3539 (Main Line)
Phone: (949) 497-7647 (Interpretive Line)
Fax: (949) 497-1177
wbonnin@parks.ca.gov

Geographical Focus:
Local, Regional, State

Counties Served:
Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino

Activities:
Research, Education, Conservation, Recreation, Restoration, Water Monitoring, Resource Management

Topic:
Cultural History, Beaches, Rocky Intertidal, Wildlife, Habitat Restoration, Endangered Species, Water Quality/Storm Water Runoff, Open Ocean/Oceanography

Educational Resources:
Outreach Programs, On-Site Programs, Guided Walks, Field Trips, Nature Trails, Brochures, Exhibits/Displays

Education Programs:
"Parks as Classrooms"

• Marine Mammals: Students learn about marine mammal adaptations, feeding strategies, migration of whales and effects of marine pollution through hands-on demonstrations.

• Unhuggables: This program helps to eliminate the negative stereotypes placed on valuable animals like skunks, sharks, spiders, and rattlesnakes.

• Native Americans: Join us on a guided backcountry hike to touch, smell, and even taste some of the plants used by the local native people for food, medicine, clothing, tools, and recreational items.

• Watersheds and Marine Debris: The beach is not a giant ashtray! What goes up must come down! This program focuses on the devastation of the marine environment due to pollution, including trash, oil spills and household chemicals.

• Endangered Species: In this program we discuss the major threats facing animals and plants due to human activities such as habitat destruction, pollution, and overharvesting.

• Migration: Gray whales swim nearly 12,000 miles to mate and have their babies. Some monarch butterflies travel 4,000 miles to the forest near Mexico City to spend their winter. This program enlightens students about how these two animals make the longest migrations known in the mammal and insect worlds.

• Tidepools: Gentle exploration of the tidepools allows children to learn about the magnificent invertebrates that rely on the rise and fall of the tides to provide them with food, shelter, and space.

• Nocturnal Creatures: Hear the howl of a coyote, the hoot of an owl, and the purr of a bobcat. We'll discuss how bats find food in the dark of the night through echolocation, how mountain lions silently stalk their prey, and what might cause a skunk to spray.

• Adaptations: Learn fascinating facts about how some of our local animals have learned to survive in their environment. We use costumes, taxidermed animals, skulls and pelts.

• Historic District Walk: Tour this colorful community of 46 cottages built in the 1920s and 1930s to learn the area's history of filmaking, Japanese truck farming, and the tent camping era.

• Critters of Crystal Cove: Children love this program in which taxidermed animals, pelts, puppets, and bones are used to discuss food chains, biodiversity, defense mechanisms, and conservation.

• Birds: We implement a fun interactive game to explain bird beaks and feeding strategies. Survival and defense mechanisms are also discussed by displaying bones, feathers, and taxidermed animals.

Disabled Access:
On the ocean side of the park, there is a 3-mile paved trail that is wheelchair accessible. There is also a boardwalk that allows access to an ocean overlook.