New Park Video

Check out the video Inland Empire Waterkeeper made featuring Patriot High School enjoying a Water Discovery Field Trip at the Chino Creek Wetlands and Educational Park!

For more information on Inland Empire Waterkeeper

Sign up for the FREE Environmental Education Workshop Series with Santa Ana Watershed Association

Our partners, Santa Ana Watershed Association is hosting an Environmental Education Workshop Series for educators. It is completely free!

The first of the series will be Project Learning Tree and will be held on January 21, 2012, 10:00am - 3:00pm
The second will be Project Wet on January 28, 2012, 10:00am - 3:00pm
and the third is Project Flying Wild on February 4, 2012, 10:00am - 3:00pm
All the workshops will be held at the Mary Vagle Nature Center at


View Larger Map
You'll have to bring your own sack lunch. But, you'll receive a free curriculum guide along with the workshops.

To register, contact: Carrie Raleigh at carrie@sawaedu.org or 909-280-1120http://www.sawaedu.org/

IEUA Career Day Event

On November 22, 2011 The Agency held a Career Day for a group of high school age boys that are in foster care. They live in a group home in San Bernardino. Their placement is due to many factors, such as parents being unsuitable for guardianship.

The program through the University of Redlands was created to address the academic needs of this population outside of school. Statistics show that foster youth have low success rates for high school completion and high rates of homelessness, drug abuse, and incarceration after emancipation (after age 18). The program is designed to change these statistics and have proven successful and recognized by state organizations such as California Council on Teacher Education.

The students are from a wide range of areas, including Bakersfield, San Diego, Riverside, Los Angeles, and Orange County and locally in San Bernardino. 

The students received information from Agency staff on careers in the wastewater industry and how/what it takes to enter the industry. Students also participated in a tour of IEUA wastewater treatment Regional Plant No. 5 and the Chino Creek Wetlands and Educational Park.

We had a total of 24 students in attendance with 9 adults.

Fall Festival of Birds

Great Horned Owl: Wild Wings Booth

The 3rd Annual Fall Festival of Birds hosted by the Santa Ana Watershed Association was a huge success on Saturday.  Over 500 people visited the Chino Creek Wetlands and Educational Park to celebrate our feathered friends. Thank you to all of the SAWA staff who helped make this a wonderful experience for all of the visitors and participants.  We appreciate all of the following organizations for participating in this event:

• Santa Ana Watershed Association Biology and Education Departments
• Healthy Chino
• Orange County Water District
• Monte Vista 4-H
• Inside the Outdoors
• Inland Empire Utilities Agency
• Mary Vagle Nature Center
• Riverside-Corona Resource District
• Riverside County Parks
• Troop 2624
• West Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District
• Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden
• Pomona Valley Audubon
• Inland Empire Resource Conservation District 
• Wild Wings
• Loma Vista Middle School  

Water Discovery - Service Learning Project

Just recently, Patriot High School from Riverside came out and did a service learning project in the park. The Santa Ana Watershed Association and Inland Empire Water Keeper led the students through the park as they learned about our regions water and wildlife. Towards the end they helped clean up and plant new plants in our Garden in Every School®(GIES) demonstration garden. Here are some photos from that event.

Listening for instructions with their teacher.

Planting new plants. (Don't forget to take them out of the bucket first)

Here's Brett from Santa Ana Watershed Association helping out one of the volunteers.

Delicately placing the new plant in the ground.

A beautiful new penstemon planted in the ground.

After about an hour of planting, the students from Patriot high learned why we do the GIES program. The importance of water for growing food, and about our mediterranean climate and appropriate plants for our climate. Just because we have a relatively dry climate, doesn't mean that we have to plant cacti only. The students also learned about different types of irrigation and we showed them examples of drip irrigation that is in the demonstration garden in the park.

Bird Festival!!!!

Looking for a fun, educational and free event that will get you outside?

Come out to the Chino Creek Park on November 5th and experience

the Annual Bird Festival hosted by SAWA!!

Bird Festival 2011 Flier

Virginia Rail and Green Heron on the same day!



Photo taken by John Mellin

On September 2, 2011 one of IEUA's avid bird watchers, John Mellin saw a Virginia Rail in the late afternoon from the covered bridge looking south at the cattail island. This was a life bird for him!! That same day he saw a Green Heron. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/

Virginia Rail

 A secretive bird of freshwater marshes, the Virginia Rail most often remains hidden in dense vegetation. It possesses many adaptations for moving through its habitat, including a laterally compressed body, long toes, and flexible vertebrae.



Photo taken by John Mellin

Cool Facts


• The forehead feathers of the Virginia Rail are adapted to withstand wear from pushing through dense marsh vegetation.
• The Virginia Rail can swim under water, propelling itself with its wings. It swims in this way probably only to flee predators.
• The Virginia Rail and other rail species have the highest ratio of leg muscles to flight muscles of any birds.
• The Virginia Rail builds numerous "dummy nests" in addition to the one where eggs are actually laid.

Green Heron

A small, stocky wading bird, the Green Heron is common in wet spots across much of North America. It can be difficult to see as it stands motionless waiting for small fish to approach within striking range, but it frequently announces its presence by its loud squawking.

Cool Facts

• The Green Heron is one of the few tool-using birds. It commonly drops bait onto the surface of the water and grabs the small fish that are attracted. It uses a variety of baits and lures, including crusts of bread, insects, earthworms, twigs, or feathers.
• The Green Heron is part of a complex of small herons that sometimes are considered one species. When lumped, they are called Green-backed Heron. When split, they are the Green Heron, the widespread Striated Heron, and the Galapagos Heron.
• As is typical for many herons, the Green Heron tends to wander after the breeding season is over. Most wanderers probably seek more favorable foraging areas and do not travel far, but occasionally some travel greater distances, with individuals turning up as far as England and France.