Eco-Ed kids find beauty (and tadpoles) at Oakland creek
By Sharon Beals
It could have been the El-Nino-green willows billowing in the bird-songed breeze, or the buckeyes, their branches still full of stunning white blooms. Or maybe it was simply being out of school, and instead, standing on a tall-grassed path alongside a pooling creek, that inspired a round-faced eight-year-old boy to lower his binos and beam at me: “This is just so BEAUTIFUL!”
I’m still replaying this shared moment of joy in my mind, along with many others collected during two recent field trips to Arroyo Viejo Creek in Oakland with Golden Gate Bird Alliance’s Eco-Education program.
The children – third graders from the Korematsu Discovery Academy — were there to learn about their local watershed, and I was there to document what might be some of GGBA’s most important work: providing environmental education to children in the underserved communities of East Oakland, North Richmond, and Southeast San Francisco where funding for science education in schools often falls short.

GGBA collaborates with teachers to introduce third, fourth, and fifth graders to the ecology of their local environments, first in their classrooms and schoolyards and then on field trips to nearby creeks, wetlands, and finally the Pacific Ocean. Students’ families are also invited on the trips to the ocean, and for many it is a first-time experience. Over the course of the year, the children get hands-on experience with habitat restoration. Since its start in 1999, the program has served over 15,000 students, plus thousands of family members.
Marissa Ortega-Welch, who has been leading Eco-Ed field trips for six years, was our teacher and guide for the day. She arrived with an eager tribe of children, teachers, aides, and a few parents via city bus. (GGBA’s tight budget can’t afford chartered buses.) In clearly enunciated Spanish and English, she introduced the Audubon volunteers who would aid and abet their curiosity that day and prescribed a few ground rules. Both of these outings were great lessons in science and nature vocabulary for this lapsed Spanish student!
The students were sorted into two groups that would rotate between the day’s activities. The nature walkers were shown how to use binoculars (find the bird first, then raise the binos to your eyes). They clustered around folding field guides showing local birds with the same fascination they might have given a new video game.…