By Megan Roy
Below you will find detailed instructions and photographs to help you install plants properly. Using this method will give your plants the best chance of survival. To practice this method, join us at Los Cerritos Wetlands on October 5th for our monthly habitat restoration! See flyer for details.

By Jade Dean

After perusing the Long Beach Public Library's Photo Archive, I discovered photos of both Los Cerritos Wetlands and the Colorado Lagoon I had never seen before. Let us know which one is your favorite in the comments!

By Megan Roy

By Jade Dean

By Megan Roy
The Los Cerritos Wetlands Stewardship Program is based on learning from hands-on experience immersed in nature. The people involved with the program are fortunate enough to be exposed to a wide range of plants and animals all of which present opportunities to learn lessons daily. Great egrets, snowy egrets, great blue herons, belding-savannah sparrows, osprey, long billed curlews, terns and more fly, nest on-site and expose viewers to fascinating bird behavior. Osprey along with several other bird species perform a "kiting" behavior in which they fly above the water about 15-20 ft in the air and stay in one spot. When they find a fish they swoop down, they do this so fast that their feathers do not get wet. Snowy egrets have orange skinny feet that resemble worms. A fish will attempt to eat a "worm" but instead it is eaten by the egret.
Each of the plants also unveil botany and adaptation secrets and can be arguably more interesting than the animals sometimes. The most dominant species found in the salt marsh is common pickleweed (Salicornis pacifica). This plant has a remarkable adaptation to tolerate salt exposure. The succulent plant excretes all of the salt into the tip turning it red and that tip will fall off. Each plant in the Mediterranean chaparral also exhibits drought-tolerant adaptations such as leathery leaves to survive in warm weather coastal-sage scrub communities.


This is only a taste of the wealth of knowledge nature provides. 
 

By Megan Roy
What has rhizomes, stems, distichous growth and colonizes the low marsh? Pacific Cordgrass (Spartina foliosa) of course! Spartina means cord in Latin and foliosa means leafy at the top. Distichous is a botany term meaning "two-ranked leaf arrangement." Lastly, the flowering part of the plant is called inflorescence, which is defined as a cluster of flowers on a stem. 

Not only does this native plant dominate the entire low marsh zone of salt marshes, but it is also necessary for endangered light-footed clapper rail nesting. According to restoration ecologist, Joy Zedler, Pacific Cordgrass must grow to be over 90cm or 3 feet to support the light-footed clapper rail. 
Currently, Cordgrass is a propagation priority so that it may be installed during planting season at the Colorado Lagoon.

By Megan Roy
The endangered green sea turtle can be found not only in the tropics but in our very own San Gabriel River. Researchers have a theory that they are attracted to the warm water expelled into the river by the Haynes Generating Station.To learn more about our local turtles join us for Turtle Trek at 8am this Saturday at 1st and PCH, Seal Beach.

By Jade Dean
What on earth is a diurnal raptor? It is a raptor (the bird, not the dinosaur) that is active during the day. Chances are, you have seen these birds around your neighborhood soaring above the treeline or perching on a telephone pole. Diurnal raptors include 34 species, such as the Bald Eagle, Peregrine Falcon, and Northern Goshawk. Some of the species found at the Los Cerritos Wetlands and Colorado Lagoon include:

• Turkey Vulture
• Cooper's Hawk
• White-Tailed Kite
• Northern Harrier
• American Kestrel
• Osprey
• Red-Tailed Hawk