Nature Center Hailed

As a longtime wetlands educator and birder, I was pleased to be present at the grand opening of the beautiful Chula Vista Nature Interpretive Center. For years, I have been visiting San Diego’s various coastal wetlands with my students. We have seen much degradation but also serious attempts at restoration of many of them. We have also heard of numerous plans for nature centers at each of them, which, because of lack of funding, have never been built.

At last, we now have a facility that people can visit to be introduced to the organisms and plants that make a coastal wetland important in nature’s plan. The exhibits are exciting and interactive. There are no stuffed birds, just hundreds of living ones to be enjoyed from the viewing decks.

I want to thank the City of Chula Vista for giving me the opportunity to make my teaching more meaningful and for giving the public a firsthand look at one of the habitats my fellow environmentalists are so concerned about protecting. Surely now, every concerned citizen can see for himself what a coastal wetland is and make better informed decisions about their use.

BARBARA COFFIN MOORE

Instructor, Scripps Aquarium