Save the Bay!

Earlier this week, we went on a field trip to Byxbee Park in Palo Alto, CA. The park is a wetland with a huge range of biodiversity, including several endemic and endangered species. Save the Bay is an organization based in Oakland that is focused on restoring the sections of the bay area that were harmed in the projects to develop more land throughout history. Restoration is currently in progress in Byxbee Park through the efforts of Save the Bay and local volunteers.

When we went to Byxbee Park, two members of the Save the Bay organization introduced us to the projects they work on to restore the bay, then we did the actual volunteer work. We measured biodiversity, soil moisture, soil salinity, and soil pH at five levels of the unrestored side of the road. Before taking measurements, we hypothesized how each measurement would change according to the spot’s distance from the water in the wetland.

I learned about the several different interesting species that live in the wetlands. One species is spartina. This species has special adaptations that help the plant to live in an environment with saltwater. The plant excretes salt crystals from the leaves in order to get rid of the excess salt that it absorbs from the soil. This was an extremely valuable experience because I learned about the processes that some workers do everyday to improve the environment. Although the impact of each individual person may be small, overtime it makes a huge contribution to the earth.

One challenge was trying to figure out if the data we collected was correct or not. Especially since some of the equipment was old, the measurements were questionable. For example, our pH indicator gave us the same pH level at each location that we measured. My group wasn’t sure if this was due to an equipment malfunction or the soil was actually the same pH.

One change I would make to the field trip is to have the chance to participate in the restoration process instead of just taking data. It would be interesting to be part of the group that actually plants native plants. But overall, this field trip was very educational, and I would recommend it to any student interested in biology and environmental science.