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Lodi Lake Nature Area Docents
If you love nature and children, and can walk a mile or two without problems, then consider joining the Lodi Lake Nature Area Docents, a group of volunteer naturalists.
This volunteer group has been serving Lodi since 1986. You don’t need to know much about science, just have some time to donate and a willingness to learn about the area.
Our mission: To stimulate people of all ages to learn about and appreciate the 58-acre Lodi Lake Nature Area because of its unique riparian woodland ecosystem, which borders the Lower Mokelumne River at Lodi Lake Park.
Our goal: Our goal is two-fold:
- We strive to educate “young-at-heart docents” through monthly meetings that equip and stimulate volunteers to lead tours
- We strive to reach our community’s students of all ages through nature tours of the Lodi Lake Nature Area.
Through engaging interpretive techniques, docents encourage students "to see, to understand, to love and protect" our local "island of plant and animal diversity” found at Lodi Lake Nature Area, a remnant of the rapidly vanishing riparian forests of the San Joaquin Valley.
What Does it Take? Please contact us for an interview if you are interested. Once you have been interviewed and accepted, you must pass a fingerprint and background check. A self-study natural history of the Mokelumne River and Lodi Lake binder prepares you with needed information. Pass a take-home test and you are ready! As a new docent, you will typically accompany some tours being led by more experienced docents till you are ready to lead your own. Qualified docents must then be willing to lead at least two tours monthly during the school year.
Docent meetings occur on the second Thursday of every month and take place at the Lodi Police Department’s Community Room. Monthly programs focus on topics related to nature and the river area and help provide ongoing education. College students seeking community service may also be interested in applying.
Contact: kgrant@lodi.gov for more information.
California Inland Coastal Cleanup
Lodi Lake Park and Mokelumne River
Next cleanup: 9 a.m. to noon, Saturday, September 19, 2009.
Since 1985, a worldwide volunteer cleanup event occurs on the third Saturday of each September. Since 2003, the City of Lodi has hosted a California Coastal (Inland) Cleanup at Lodi Lake Park and on the Mokelumne River, within city boundaries. This annual park and river cleanup is an attempt to involve citizens in keeping their rivers and oceans free of inland trash.
In Lodi, much of the rain that falls on or flows to streets is discharged to the Mokelumne River. On the work day, volunteers are divided into teams that then pick up trash at Lodi Lake Park and along the Mokelumne River. Trash is then sorted, counted, documented and the data is sent to the California Coastal Commission. Students needing community service hours are encouraged to attend. Certificates are given to all participants.
Interested? Contact City of Lodi Public Works Department for more details: (209) 333-6740.
Clean-A-Park
Community Service Groups! Opportunities abound for civic minded service groups, school groups, scouts and families to lend a hand and spend a day helping keep our Lodi Parks clean. Bags, borrowed gloves, tarps and grapplers provided.
Interested? Call the Parks office for more information: (209) 333-6800, ext. 2454.
Clean-A-Curb
Protect our local waterways! Did you know that school playground litter can end up in our waterways?
Many of the City of Lodi’s parks also act as stormwater basins to hold street runoff before it is discharged into other waterways. This stormwater is not treated! Take action on your school’s campus by organizing a “Clean-A-Curb” for students to participate in after school.
As a practical way for students to celebrate Earth Day, earn community service hours, or for environmental clubs or After-School Programs to host a school wide community service project, contact the Public Works Department to learn how environmental stewardship can be taught through action. Stormwater education programs are also available for school or club presentations.
Interested? Call the City of Lodi Public Works Department for more info: (209) 333-6740. Gloves, bags, tarps, and grapplers are provided for borrowing.
Storm Drain Detectives
High school-aged students are welcome to join the water-quality monitoring teams that test Lodi Lake and the Mokelumne River twice a month.
Interested? Go to: http://www.lodi.gov/Storm_Drain_Detectives/index.html for more information or call City of Lodi, Public Works, (209) 333-6740. Look for their May, year-end “Water Quality Report Card to the Public”, a public presentation at the Lodi Lake Nature Area Docent meeting, on the second Thursday of the month, Hutchins Street Square, Cottage Room, 125 S. Hutchins St., Lodi.
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