201904.13
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Thank you, Mother Nature: Festival at Bolsa Chica wetlands celebrates Earth Day a week early

by in News

At the Bolsa Chica wetlands in Huntington Beach, every day is Earth Day – and sand, ocean and animal day, too.

  • A stuffed Coyote seems to watch as Marti deMetropolis, left, with the California Fish and Wildlife Natural Resource Volunteer Program shows Linda Fillet, a naturalist with the Amigos de Bolsa Chica a card with animal tracks at the Bolsa Chica Conservancy free annual Earth Day Festival Saturday with educational activity booths, tours, food, a bounce house and more in Huntington Beach on Saturday, April 13, 2019. (Sam Gangwer, Contributing Photographer)

  • Alex Shu of the Orange County Birds of Prey Center holds a Red-tailed Hawk at the Bolsa Chica Conservancy during its free annual Earth Day Festival Saturday with educational activity booths, tours, food, a bounce house and more in Huntington Beach on Saturday, April 13, 2019. (Sam Gangwer, Contributing Photographer)

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  • Alfred G. Cruz, Jr. with the Acjachemen People shows a gourd rattle to children as the Bolsa Chica Conservancy hosted its free annual Earth Day Festival Saturday with educational activity booths, tours, food, a bounce house and more in Huntington Beach on Saturday, April 13, 2019. (Sam Gangwer, Contributing Photographer)

  • At the Bolsa Chica wetlands in Huntington Beach, every day is Earth Day – and sand, ocean and animal day, too. But the Bolsa Chica Conservancy also acknowledges the actual event – this year, celebrating it a week early on Saturday, April 13. For kids, the festival offered an array of delights and sights, from […]

  • A Great Horned Owl from the South Bay Wildlife Rehab watches as the Bolsa Chica Conservancy hosted its free annual Earth Day Festival Saturday with educational activity booths, tours, food, a bounce house and more in Huntington Beach on Saturday, April 13, 2019. (Sam Gangwer, Contributing Photographer)

  • Evynn Cooper, 5, touches a California King Snake at the Bolsa Chica Conservancy during its free annual Earth Day Festival Saturday with educational activity booths, tours, food, a bounce house and more in Huntington Beach on Saturday, April 13, 2019. (Sam Gangwer, Contributing Photographer)

  • At the Bolsa Chica wetlands in Huntington Beach, every day is Earth Day – and sand, ocean and animal day, too. But the Bolsa Chica Conservancy also acknowledges the actual event – this year, celebrating it a week early on Saturday, April 13. For kids, the festival offered an array of delights and sights, from […]

  • At the Bolsa Chica wetlands in Huntington Beach, every day is Earth Day – and sand, ocean and animal day, too. But the Bolsa Chica Conservancy also acknowledges the actual event – this year, celebrating it a week early on Saturday, April 13. For kids, the festival offered an array of delights and sights, from […]

  • A Flammulated Owl, full-grown and about the size of a soda can, sits on the gloved hand of itÕs handler at the Bolsa Chica Conservancy during its free annual Earth Day Festival Saturday with educational activity booths, tours, food, a bounce house and more in Huntington Beach on Saturday, April 13, 2019. (Sam Gangwer, Contributing Photographer)

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But the Bolsa Chica Conservancy also acknowledges the actual event – this year, celebrating it a week early on Saturday, April 13.

For kids, the festival offered an array of delights and sights, from a face-painting booth to a bounce house. Youngsters also got to interact with live snakes, tarantulas and other squeal-inspiring critters.

Nesting season underway, visitors bird-watched on guided tours of the wetlands – which were established in 1990 to shield the fragile ecological system from development. Its 1,200 acres make up the fraction of wetlands still surviving in California, which has lost 90 percent of coastal lowlands critical to plant and wildlife.

Earth Day, officially marked on April 22, was founded in 1970 to support protection of the environment. It is now recognized by hundreds of countries around the world.