Colorful Guide Helps Locals Learn About Beach Ecology
USC Sea Grant focuses on supporting impactful and innovative research on coastal and ocean resources that has application to our Urban Ocean landscape, and it is always exciting to hear about the impact the work of our funded researchers is having on the community.
USC Sea Grant-funded team, Dr. Karin Martin of Pepperdine University and local illustrator and publisher Dawn Ericson, recently shared the publication of their Pacific Coast: Sea Shores Science Guide. It is one in a series of NATURE UNFOLDING Science Guides aimed to support education and outreach about the local beach ecology of Southern California. This water resistant and compact booklet consists of vivid illustrations, photos, and diagrams by the talented Dawn Ericson to provide current and relevant information to identify 80 ocean species.
Martin and Ericson distributed over 5,400 of these guides to the 2024 class of Los Angeles Junior Lifeguards (LA-JLGS) and the Wishtoyo Foundation and shared the impact of these guides to the students and families in the thoughtful letter below:
Transcription of the letter is provided below:
May we express our gratitude for enabling last years distribution of the Pacific Coast SEA SHORES-NATURE UNFOLDING science guides to the 2024 class of Los Angeles Junior Lifeguards and their instructors.
We presented 5,200 science guides to LA-JLGS: our future stewards for beach ecology and conservation.
Additionally, in 2024 we distributed 250 science guides to the WISHTOYO Foundation for their summer beach programs, including Ventura’s JLG class.
Every years these Junior Lifeguard programs grow. This provides us a rare opportunity – the most effective and expansive education outreach program possible for beach ecology. And these FREE guides don’t stay at the beach…they are carried home for sharing with parents, siblings and friends. During the summer months our JLG students become active leaders with beach clean-ups and conservation. And they LOVE all of this attention as they have beach science knowledge to share.
We hope you are pleased with our use of your most valued funding. We had other support, too: The City of Malibu and the Santa Monica Audubon Society participated. Together, we utilized all the funds for such an expansive printing and ambitious distribution program.
Thank you again,
Dave N. Ericson and Karen Martin
The guides were designed by local Southern California artist Dawn Navarro Ericson with Manta Publications; you can view these guides and more of her work on this website. The guides are also available for purchase on Amazon.