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The City of Berkeley Marina Experience and Adventure Playground Programs  delight over 75,000 adults and children each year.

Children of all ages can come to play in the Adventure Playground. Come visit the Shorebird Park Nature Center. our Strawbale building  shows how beautiful "Green materials" can be for your home and how good they are for the environment. Inside we have a Bay Aquarium, a fresh water tank, fish, birds, and exhibits. The new Classroom area is used to teach docents, teachers, and school children about the ecology of their estuary, watershed, and the Bay.

Volunteers are encouraged to:
1. "Adopt a beach" and join our Shoreline Clean-Ups.
2. Help us teach our education programs. We provide a Volunteer Bay Interpretive Training Program for interested adults to help provide teachers and students with high quality environmental education programs.  
3. Help in the Adventure Playground passing out tools and paint and making it safe.

Please go to the sub-pages of these sites below for more information. Please feel free to contact us. 

What's New? 

  Berkeley Bay Festival is April 13th- 11-4p.m.
 Enjoy this Earthday Event in Shorebird Park with your friends and family. Activities, music and food for all ages for more details please follow this link. 
   Earthday Shoreline clean-up April 20th.  sign up at the Shorebird Park Nature Center starting at 9a.m. . and ending at 12p.m. Bring your own gloves and buckets if you have them. To register, please email us your name and names of others in your party. at  Naturecenter@cityofberkeley.info by 5:00 on the 19th. So we can get a count for materials and sites, Thank-you.

 Summer Program information about our Marine Biology Classes and boating programs. Registration started March 16th and will continue until classes are full.  

Now interviewing for Adventure playground jobs.  Adventure Playground Recreation Leader  Part-time (24 hrs/wk)   $12.17-17.33/hour (depending on experience).  Application and QuestionaireDo you love working outdoors with kids? Like to build, paint and get really dirty? Come work at the Adventure Playground this
summer! The Adventure Playground is a one-of-a-kind facility where staff encourage children to play and build creatively using
tools and donated materials. We are looking for hard working people who enjoy helping children to use their imaginations to play
and create projects using a variety of tools and techniques in a safe, resourceful and creative way. We are looking for people
with sharp eyes, a willingness to take initiative, positive communication skills, and a great attitude.   

Qualifications:  Must be at least 18 years of age.   Must have at least two years of progressively responsible experience in
recreation, education, child development or related field.  One year of college education can be substituted for one year of work
experience.                                                                                                                                                                  

School Year Programs

 Teachers, the lottery for the school year 2012 & 2013 is closed. You can download the lottery form information from  this link   for the programs November-June.Join us for what has been called the "Best Field trip Ever!": Fish, birds, marine mammals, bay scientist and intertidal  and boat programs.   

Volunteer Bay Interpretive Training Program.    Click on this link to find out the most asked questions and download an application. We  instruct you how to help us, as we teach the classes. or specialize and help with the burrowing owls, saturday hands on docent led programs,  Pier walks and more. Your minimum commitment is 14 hrs a months- including the trainings. A PDF flier with  the program description for the 2012 -2013 trainings Or Call 510-981-6720 and a form and brochure will be mailed to you 

Shorebird Nature Center &  Classroom

New Classroom!. Here is information about this green portable. Our tanks are up and running with Native Bay and lake fish and invertebrates.The microscope lab offers an inside look for classes who participate in the Bay Scientist program.

Shorebird Nature Center
Open to visitors Tuesday - Saturday, 9am-5pm. Unless we are teaching, then we are open 1-5pm. 

If you would like to schedule or plan to visit us to take a self guided tour, please call 510 981-6720. Inside our Strawbale building, we have a Bay aquarium, a fresh water tank, a fish and bird exhibits and more.  For more info see this link. STRAW BALE BUILDING. This environmentally sensitive building is our  office and visitors center. Check this link for information and pictures. The full photo documentary and green items are available to see inside the  building, or see our new Wind turbine generator working outside. For a guided  tour of our straw bale building and the "green" components and to see the DVD of how it was made, Call us let us know how we can design the talk to meet your needs.$62. for an hour program and tour.

Shoreline Clean-ups

  The next international clean-up event will be Sept 21th, 2013.  It is  the largest research project in the world. The data collected  will help change the law about marine dumping. Please join us and get details by watching two videos by clicking on the link. 80% of the debris we clean-up comes from off our streets. We need you and your groups  to help  pick it up. Plastic is impacting the oceans globally. Learn how you can help the marine mammals, birds  and turtles who are affected by this. Come help us with this international event.

Earthday Shoreline clean-up is Sat. April 20th.  From 9-12 p.m.You may preregister by email to Naturecenter@cityofberkeley.info  and we will send you information about the day and what to bring. Show up between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. for the safety talk and to get supplies. Groups of 5 or more please call or email ahead so we can accomodate you. 510 981-6720

Shoreline Clean-up Year round: We offer an educational program for your group's service learning project.  We will provide you or your group with a viewing of Synthetic Sea's DVD, and a discussion about plastic impact on the environment. For your clean-up we encourage you to bring your own bags and reusable buckets but if you don't have them  we can supply bags, and gloves. Bring your own personal non disposable water bottle. Call  us if you or your family or group is interested. The Third Saturday of each month. All of us ( animals) need your help!

Berkeley Bay Festival

 Berkeley Bay Festival- April 13th- 11am-4pm. Music, food, environmental education, green products and more information here

Adventure Playground

 
Adventure Playground -   is open 11-5 pm on weekends.Please leave your cell phone in your pocket and come and play with your child. Adults have fun too! Closed when raining. Groups of 5 or more need to make reservations at least a month in advance. Come join the fun! Want to drop your child and his friend off? Fill out the registration form for children 7 yrs and older who "drop in" the Adventure Playground for three hours only without a parent- For $10.00. Pick up is at 4:30. Have their parents fill out the form and sign the waiver which you need to bring when you come- No waiver, no drop off. If you signed one in the summer, we require a new one filled every summer. "Playment" cards are available in the Nature Center Tues.- Sat. for drop-ins for 5 visits each card. Helpful for  Sundays when the Nature Center is closed.

Registration for summer 2013   SUMMER Marine Biology & Boating programs started March 16th.  Check for spaces that are still availaCome to the Shorebird Park Nature Center, 160 University Ave. Berkeley, CA 94710. Sign up for the full day option of using Adventure Playground after the class. You must register your own child only and the legal guardian needs to sign the waiver. Bring your emergancy contact numbers for our forms. We take checks or exact change only.

Who We Are

 The Marina Experience Programs are under the City of Berkeleys' Recreation Division of the Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Department. The programs are run by two full-time staff, Patty Donald, Coordinator, and Naturalist,Tomas Flores, a graduate of our Bay Interpretive Training program and long time credentialed teacher. Loren Rasmussen, recent UCSC graduate and Adventure Playground staff.

Patty Donald, Naturalist Coordinator and creator of these programs was awarded the 2008 Jefferson Award and the Coastal Hero Award in 2009. 
Tigger- our service dog for the past 15 years passed away on Feb. 21. He worked with over 25,000 children during his time here. We will miss him.