Welcome To Friends of the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories

Friends of Moss Landing Marine Laboratories (FoMLML) has designed a 1,000-foot long outdoor, public access trail called the MLML Coastal Boardwalk Trail. The Boardwalk will provide a unique opportunity for underserved school children and the general public to discover first-hand some of the diverse ecosystems on the coast of Monterey Bay. Visitors will be able to explore three threatened habitats along a barrier-free, ADA-accessible trail. The Boardwalk will lead visitors through a grove of Monterey cypress, past a restored and thriving native dune ecosystem, and to a salt marsh. The walk will culminate at a viewing platform at the edge of the Old Salinas River. The Boardwalk will be a prime area for year-round observations of wildlife including rabbits, birds, sea otters, harbor seals and a variety of native plants. The entire Boardwalk will be built to Leaders in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards and will promote sustainable practices in all aspects of its construction as well as continue in the tradition of sustainable building practices at MLML.

Friends of Moss Landing Marine Laboratories and partners are designing and developing a pilot interactive multimedia educational experience in the outdoors utilizing wireless technology. Handheld devices will be given to students exploring a 1000-ft boardwalk trail that covers 4 habitats on the property of Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, a graduate research and education facility in Moss Landing, Monterey Bay, California. As they walk from station to station, they will be able to download observations (animal and plant identification, data, video, photos, audio etc.) and answer inquiry based questions. The handhelds will be able to query them to reflect on their observations. As "ecologists", the students will measure such mechanisms as plant type, canopy cover, leaf size or soil type to help them determine the different zones. The educational experience along the boardwalk does not end with the fieldtrip. Once students return to their classroom, they can continue to research a particular topic of interest, as well as access their observations (audio, photos, written observations) from their visit at a designated website. Potentially, students can also extend their experience in the field beyond the classroom by sharing their findings with other classes, schools or even with their families at home on the World Wide Web.

Friends of MLML in partnership with Cisco Systems, Digihound, TELS (the Center for Technology Enhanced Learning in Science) at University of California-Berkeley and California State University Monterey Bay, are currently working on the design and development of the content and student experience along the boardwalk, so that we can begin to develop the software/hardware interface and eventually a prototype educational module.