Turtle Conservancy News and Program Updates
Our conservation center is at the heart of the small, tightly knit, town of Ojai, CA. Since 1917, Ojai has hosted a yearly Ojai Day featuring local vendors, non profits, and artists. The TC was happy to host yet another booth at Ojai Day where we had the opportunity to engage with the community and inspire care for turtle conservation…
Turtle Conservancy hosted a booth at two events in the month of April to celebrate Earth Day, one for the Ventura Earth Day Eco Fest hosted by Ventura Charter School (April 16th) and the other at Ojai Community Farmer’s Market (April 20th).
In many countries around the world, turtles are seen as guardians of our Mother Earth, so we were elated to celebrate Earth Week with our community members as a way to share our mission and the importance of turtles and their conservation.
On July 14th, the Turtle Conservancy was invited to present to Nordhoff High School’s College and Career Foundations course. This summer the class is instructed by Peter Deneen, an Ojai local turned environmental writer and educator bringing inspiration to the public high school. Deneen had an innovative approach that included inviting professionals from diverse fields to come and speak to his students. He shared with us that his goal for the class was to “create a container of self-exploration for 10-12th graders living in our current chaotic uncertainty of now, where the traditional pathways to ‘success’ have been eroded by the social, political, and environmental realities of the moment, and equip them with the tools they will need to get to know themselves and their core purpose as well as possible.”
School is back in session and once again we have teamed up with our neighbors, The Thacher School, by incorporating turtle conservation into several class curriculums. This year the Field Biology and Conservation course has expanded to two separate sections plus an advanced class. For the duration of the school year, each student will be paired up with one of our giant tortoise ambassadors where they will be conducting weekly behavioral observations and health checks!
Last month our education coordinator, Manci Rasmussen, and Thacher School intern, Katie Vyhnal, were invited to join our local library and elementary school for their weekly children's storytime event. That week’s topic happened to be turtles, so we took this opportunity to share our mission to protect turtles and tortoises and their natural habitats with the kids...
On October 19th, the Turtle Conservancy team joined with the community of Ojai to celebrate one of its most historic days, Ojai Day. Originally founded as Nordhoff in 1874, the city was renamed Ojai and was re-developed by Edward Drummond Libbey. Ojai Day traces its origins back to 1917, when the citizens held a celebration in honor of Libbey’s contribution to the construction of the new Spanish-inspired architecture that is still admired today…
