Land conservation, education, and outreach are the missions of the Trinidad Coastal Land Trust. They cover coastal access from Little River to Big Lagoon. One way they do this is to partner with other nonprofits and volunteers for work days. Recently, they hosted a bilingual event with translators and they want to do it again.
“That bilingual element is something that we need partnership and support for,” said Claire Nasr, the Executive Director of the Trinidad Coastal Land Trust. “And not only just partnership and support but money. So that’s another reason that we’re here today is to actually solicit potential donations from people. Because it’s the end of the year and if we want to do these types of programs, we need fiscal support for that.”
A work day for this stewardship program may include native plant restoration and invasive plant removal, maintaining public trail systems, and cleaning up coastal debris. This happens every first Saturday of each month. The Trinidad Coastal Land Trust has an event calendar on its website for people interested to view.
“As a Spanish speaker myself, I would really love to connect my Latin community with nature and just help give people the opportunity to come out here and like learn about the coastline, learn about our ecosystems, and just connect the Latin community and get more of a diverse outreach,” said Elizabeth Hinojosa, the Coastal Stewardship Coordinator.
The organization’s recent bilingual stewardship work day was a collaboration between Our Wilderness Now non-profit. The group of volunteers centered their work around the native plant garden in Houda Point, volunteers pulled weeds and planted a variety of native plants.
“Elizabeth and I, like you mentioned, are both new,” Nasr said. “I came into this role as someone who really cares about this community. I received my master’s degree from Cal Poly Humboldt. And actually, my master’s is on these coastal rocks and islands, which is part of the California Coastal National Monument and we’re really interested in preserving and conserving this ecosystem.”
The two representatives from the Trinidad Coastal Land Trust have recently been appointed to their roles. Nasr became the Executive Director about two months ago and Hinojosa has been the Coastal Stewardship Coordinator for two weeks. The new staff are excited to connect people with our coast.
The next stewardship work day is January 6. To participate or donate, click here.
