Community Partnerships

The Port works with a number of local agencies to help protect our unique environment.

Follow the link below to learn more about our environmental partnerships.

San Diego Maritime Museum's "Pilot Program" teaches students about the Bay's economic and environmental history and takes them aboard the Pilot boat for a cruise around the Bay in order to conduct water quality tests. Sponsorship of this program is made available to students within the San Diego Bay watershed.Pesticides such as diazinon cause major pollution in Chollas Creek due to urban runoff.

San Diego County Office of Education's "Green Machine" outreach van targets this issue by visiting classrooms throughout the Creek's watershed. Sponsorship of this outreach effort teaches kids to be aware of the effects of dangerous chemicals such as pesticides on the environment.

The Chula Vista Nature Center is located on Sweetwater Marsh, one of the last wetland habitats left in San Diego Bay. Students throughout the San Diego Bay watershed are given the opportunity to tour the Chula Vista Nature Center's exhibits and nature trails, and their teachers are sponsored to participate in the Center's teacher-training program.

Wildcoast, a local sea turtle research and conservation organization, is sponsored to provide educational presentations to students throughout San Diego County about the population of endangered Green sea turtles that inhabit South San Diego Bay. Students are taught how to protect the turtles' environment by properly disposing of trash and litter.

Resource Conservation District of Greater San Diego County utilizes a unique tool called The EnviroScape®, a portable watershed model that demonstrates how urban runoff flows into waterways. RCD is sponsored to visit schools throughout the San Diego Bay watershed, allowing students get a bird's eye view of the causes and effects of water pollution.

Aquatic Adventures is a non-profit science education organization providing educational programs that connect underserved youth to science, inspire environmental action, and increase exposure to marine habitats. The Port sponsors a wetland education programs for fourth graders within the Port's School Partnership Program schools.

The Port is working in partnership with Pro Peninsula, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Grupo Tortuguero and LS Power to bring a unique field-based education program to 6th grade students from Kimball, Harborside and Bayside Elementary Schools. These students are given the opportunity to observe NOAA scientists in action as they study the sea turtles that live in San Diego Bay at the Duke Energy research site. Using South San Diego Bay and its endangered green sea turtles as a case study, the students are exposed to an international conservation effort and learn why scientific research and community activism go hand-in-hand when protecting natural resources, wildlife and habitats.

The Port is a financial contributor to Project SWELL, which stands for "Stewardship: Watershed Education Learning & Leadership". This local watershed-based curriculum is being designed in collaboration with San Diego City Schools, San Diego Coastkeeper, and several other organizations and sponsors.

The Port contributes to High Tech High's "Integrated Urban Ecology Study of San Diego Bay" program. The students study the complexity and fragility of urban bay ecosystems and conduct year-long studies which result in an annual book. Please visit www.sdbayguide.com to learn more about this unique program or to order a book.

The Port's School Partnership Program is formed with seven elementary schools from the Port's member cities. Field trips concerning environmental issues in San Diego Bay are coordinated by the Port and provided to students from each grade level. The current schools within the School Partnership Program are: Kimball Elementary School in National City; Logan Elementary School; Silvergate Elementary School; Perkins Elementary in San Diego; Harborside Elementary School in Chula Vista; Bayside Elementary School in Imperial Beach, and Silver Strand Elementary in Coronado.