Sustainability: Cultivating Volunteers


The Los Osos program couldn’t manage without their special volunteers, both for curriculum and for help with the students. Partnerships and volunteers have helped create and sustain the program.

Volunteers Susie Bernstein and John Chestnut from the CA Native Plant Society and other volunteers first taught the science teacher about the dune ecosystem about 7 years ago.  Susie is the education outreach coordinator with the California Native Plant Society.  She worked on a grant for this restoration project through Moro Estuary Greenbelt Alliance—that’s how they met 7 years ago and she still volunteers at the school. 

Ms. Stoneman worked with the CA State Parks, Bureau of Land Management, Trust for Public land and a lot of environmental organizations to acquire the piece of property that is between the school and the MoroBayState Park.

Ms. Stoneman explains how, working with partners, the students become a part of a larger ecological effort:

”The grant acquired the property on the stipulation that lessons would be taught in the classroom (the land is the buffer).  Kids could understand stewardship of this coastal habitat. These lessons are part of the real field biology, a career path and appreciate and understand the local ecosystem and importance of their watershed.

“The school is positioned in between the two creeks that drain into the MoroBay, so from here, they can see their watershed,” says Stoneman.  ”We can have a huge impact on our federally protected estuary, Moro Bay Estuary. It’s only one of 12 estuaries in the country.  We work with the Moro Bay National Estuary Program.  They give me resources, we all work together to give the kids a sense of stewardship.  This is a unique and precious environment.”

“In the spring we raise trout in the classroom through the Central Coast Salmon Enhancement, and focus on the steelhead that are coming back that time of year.  This is for both 7th and 8th grade.  In 8th grade we look at water quality issues, the Los Osos sewer problems how it affects the fish population and all the wildlife in the estuary.  We do water testing and monitoring using chemistry.  In 7th grade, we discuss population—protecting the habitat and the environment, so that these populations can exist here.

“It is important for kids to get outside and see how relevant this is to all of their lives and to understand what is going on in their community.  This is life science and life science is outside, they need to look around and have an awareness of what they are looking at.  They need to be outside to see the connection. To grasp the amazing quality of life, they need to experience it to experience, like today this little tiny seed will grow into one of these plants.”

Volunteer Recruitment

The school works with an extraordinary group of volunteers including parents and AmeriCorps volunteers, who were instrumental in getting this project off the ground. “Volunteers are invaluable.” says Stoneman.  The CA Native Plant Society has been the most reliable and dedicated. John and Susie gather the seeds, water plants, get the flax bleached, start-up all the cups of the seeds and do a majority of the prep work.  To help recruit, Stoneman depends on her administration to call for volunteers and publish the program in the school newsletter.

”This community has a strong environmental ethic. We live in an amazingly beautiful environment and this community values that.  We have no problem at back to school night getting parents to sign-up to come in every year. Each.parent comes in two or three times a semester for extra supervision when we are outside. That way I can focus on my classroom lesson, they help me with the outside laboratory….I have great supportive environment.” Annie Stoneman

Annie Stoneman uses a curriculum co-developed with Susie Bernstein based on what Susie does has a field biologist.   The grant that originally funded this work has expired and Annie is sustaining the program with the help of her volunteers.