Los Angeles Coastal California Naturalist Training

Core topics of the course include:

• Wildlife: animals
• California bioregions
• California native plants, natural and urban communities
• Algae and introduced species
• Watersheds and water resources
• Energy and global environmental issues
• The ocean, changing coastline, weather and climate
• Soils, sediments, geology, earthquakes, topography and underwater terrain
• Ecosystems: forest, wetlands, desert, kelp forest and coastal sage
• Our Planet: citizen science, scientific methods, and data collection

The Los Angeles Coastal California Naturalist Training will engage adult stewards in interactive learning. Goals of the course are to:

• Achieve greater environmental and scientific literacy including critical thinking skills and effective interpretation strategies
• Foster a committed community of volunteer naturalists and citizen scientists trained and ready to take an active role in natural resource conservation, education, and restoration. 

By the end of the course participants will be able to: 

1. Understand the role and approach of a Naturalist.
2. Integrate knowledge about the interconnectedness of abiotic, biotic, and cultural factors and their influence on the natural history of the coastline of the Southern California Bight.
3. Demonstrate the observation and recording skills of natural history observations through a field notebook and data contributions.
4. Apply knowledge of the Southern California ecosystems to understanding both local and global environmental issues.

Participants who complete all course requirements will be certified as California Naturalists through the University of California California Naturalist Program, and will receive a certificate of completion and a pin. Credit is available from UC Davis Extension for an additonal fee.

To learn more about UC California Naturalist visit: calnat.ucanr.edu