Heal the Bay Awarded $18K Grant by Coastal Commission

Heal the Bay, the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, and Malibu Foundation and Audubon California received more than $90,000 in grants from the California Coastal Commission this month.

The grants, which are funded by sales of the popular Whale Tail License Plate, are meant to boost marine education projects.

Here are the organizations and allocations in Los Angeles County as provided by Coastal Commission staff:

• Heal the Bay for continuing the Adopt-A-Beach Program in Los Angeles County ($30,000). Activities will include arranging cleanups for volunteers who adopt beaches, holding large monthly public cleanup events, and transporting students from underserved inland schools for a beach cleanup and educational presentation.     
  

• Malibu Foundation for Environmental Education for the Kids’ Adopt-A-Beach Assembly Program and Beach Cleanup in Los Angeles County ($18,000). The program will educate students at 12 underserved elementary schools about the harmful effects of ocean pollution, and will host a beach cleanup event for 1,200 students.      

• Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority for the Junior Rangers program ($9,993). A new Oceans unit will be developed for the Junior Rangers program serving urban youth from the Los Angeles area.  The program will include ocean and watershed topics, environmental impacts, and a family camping trip to the  coast.
  

• Audubon California for “Sharing our Shores in the Urban Environment” ($33,310). Audubon chapters in San Diego and Los Angeles will teach 300 underserved schoolchildren about shorebirds through science and art. The students will learn about and observe threatened snowy plovers and least terns and design beach signs alerting the public not to disturb nesting sites.