San Ysidro Girl Scouts Help Protect Our Oceans

Since the implementation of San Diego County’s Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), Girl Scout Troop 5912 from San Ysidro, CA has worked hard to help protect their local underwater parks.  These amazing Girl Scouts have done beach cleanups at the Tijuana River Mouth MPA to make sure trash doesn’t reach the ocean. They have also stenciled storm drains around the city of San Ysidro (an inland community a few minutes from the Tijuana River Mouth MPA) to educate community members about the importance of preventing storm water pollution from reaching their MPA. Most recently they have joined WILDCOAST’s MPA Watch citizen-science volunteer team by conducting surveys at the Tijuana River Mouth MPA. The girls are collecting data on marine recreational activities to better understand how people are using the MPAs.

The girls have been working very hard to provide accurate data of the Tijuana River Mouth MPA and it’s because of volunteers like them that we can ensure our MPAs will be successful.

As a THANK YOU, we took the girls out to explore one of San Diego’s most successful MPA, La Jolla’s Matlahuayl State Marine Reserve. This is truly the highlight of our work – to see the girls explore their underwater park and see their faces filled with excitement as they see marine life in their natural habitat. It makes protecting these special places so rewarding!