OCWD Online | Press Release | 09.10.01 - Anaheim's Oak Canyon Nature Center Receives $500 from Blue Planet Foundation

ANAHEIM’S OAK CANYON NATURE CENTER RECEIVES $500 FROM THE BLUE PLANET FOUNDATION

ANAHEIM, Calif. – The Blue Planet Foundation recently presented a water education mini-grant for $500 to the Oak Canyon Nature Center in Anaheim. The Center will use the grant for a year-long program for children to study the importance of watersheds for a healthy environment. The study will begin on October 11, 2001 at Walnut Creek in Oak Canyon Nature Center and will continue for one year to gain a full spectrum of different conditions during different seasons of the year. Approximately sixty children, ages 7–12 years-old, will participate in the study.

The goal of Blue Planet’s Water Education Mini-Grant Program is to build a better understanding of local water issues among Orange County youth by funding water-related education projects. Projects will give participants the opportunity to examine local water and environmental issues. The grant program is designed to supplement classroom and community service education by providing additional funding for creative projects. This program is funded by a Disneyland Cast Member Community Fund Grant awarded to the Blue Planet Foundation.

The Oak Canyon Nature Center proposed a project entitled "Walnut Creek Watershed Study." The project will teach the children to make specific field observations using testing equipment to monitor varying water conditions. The children will learn how humans and urban development affect watersheds and water quality; the process and formation of erosion and its affects; how to identify both microscopic and macroscopic stream life and the complexity of stream ecosystems, including life cycles, food webs and the affects of physical change over time.

An added benefit for the recipients of the mini-grant is that they have the opportunity to present their project at Orange County Water District Groundwater Guardian Team’s Children’s Water Education Festival – the largest event of its kind in the nation – on May 7 and 8, 2002 in Irvine, Calif. Orange County children attending the Festival will have a first-hand opportunity to observe and gain an appreciation for a valuable natural watershed environment.

Mini-grants are still available from the Blue Planet Foundation. To be selected for funding, a mini-grant project should meet the following criteria:
1) Further the understanding of water and the important role it plays in Orange County; 2) Actively engage the project participants in the learning process; 3) Be adaptable to an educational activity to be presented at the Children’s Water Education Festival; and 4) The budget must clearly support the project activities.

Projects submitted for funding must focus on water or water-related environmental issues and can involve sources of water – surface and groundwater – water conservation, water recycling, water treatment or water quality, or water issues related to politics or the economy.

For more information about the Blue Planet Foundation and its programs, or to apply for a mini-grant, contact Sharon Lien at (714) 378-3362 or visit www.blueplanetfoundation.com .

The Orange County Water District is a special water agency created by the California Legislature in l933 to maintain and manage the huge groundwater basin under northern Orange County. The groundwater basin managed by OCWD supplies 75% of the water needs to more than 2 million residents in the cities of Anaheim, Buena Park, Cypress, Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington and Newport Beach, Irvine, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Orange, Placentia, Santa Ana, Seal Beach, Stanton, Tustin, Villa Park, Westminster and Yorba Linda.