Overview: A Commitment to Environmental Education for All
Morro Coast Audubon Society has a rich history of being a leading environmental education organization on the Central Coast dating back to our founding in 1966. We believe that getting students outdoors and helping them foster a relationship with nature spells a richer life experience and a more environmentally literate populace. We prioritize working within disadvantaged and underserved communities, communities of color, and other areas of the Central Coast that have historically received little attention from environmental education organizations. Increasing environmental awareness and accessibility is one of our main goals, and we are committed to fostering a diverse, inclusive, and safe environmental experience for all the students with whom we work.
If you are interested in bringing one of Morro Coast Audubon’s environmental education programs to your classroom, please reach out to our Program Director at programdirector@morrocoastaudubon.org.
FEATHER
Fostering Environmental Awareness Through High School Education and Research, or FEATHER, is our one-of-a-kind transdisciplinary environmental education program for high school students. FEATHER combines research, science, environmental education, college-readiness skills, and (of course) birds into a program that provides real-world citizen science research opportunities, fosters relationships with nature, helps prepare students for college, and informs about local birds and conservation issues.
Learn more about FEATHER.
Birds In Your Neighborhood (BIYN) For Elementary Schools
Our super team of environmental educators makes annual visits to 40+ classrooms in 11 SLO County elementary schools. We educate around 1,300 students per school year. We provide the students with a classroom presentation and a bird walk around their schoolyard. Our BIYN program is primarily for 3rd- and 4th-grades.
Learn more about BIYN For Elementary Schools.
Active Community Engagement (ACE) Classes
ACE Classes are our community education programs that are open to all members of our Central Coast community. Our ACE Classes are taught by Central Coast environmental experts, and cover a wide variety of topics including but not limited to birds, botany, and natural history. ACE Classes almost always have a tuition associated with them, which supports costs of our free environmental education programs for primary, secondary, and higher education level students. Since we are passionate about making environmental education as accessible as possible, 25% of all spots in ACE Classes are reserved as scholarship spots. If you’re interested in being a part of our ACE Classes, please join or renew your membership, or fill out the MCAS ALERT EMAIL LIST sign up form in the website's footer to receive email alerts from us.
Learn more about ACE Classes. (under development)
Youth And Community Outreach
The Elementary Education team participates in outreach family-day programs as part of other events throughout SLO County such as: Morro Bay Bird Festival, SLO Library Family programs, the Morro Bay Maritime Fun Day, and others.
Learn more about Youth and Community Outreach.
Middle School Programs
This program is under development. Check back for updates.
Higher Education
We partner closely with local higher education institutions such as Cal Poly, Cuesta, and Allan Hancock College. This involves our collaboration with the Cal Poly Biological Sciences department and Cal Poly University Honors Program through Bird Friendly Campus, and our involvement with the #CaliforniansForAll College Corps program with Cuesta College, Cal Poly and Allan Hancock College.
Learn more about Higher Education.
