For the past 20 years, Irvine Ranch Water District and the Sea and Sage Audubon Society have enjoyed a unique partnership. In 1992, Sea and Sage was offered the use of an old bunkhouse at that would become the San Joaquin Marsh, in exchange for providing educational programs for the community.

“Twenty years of developing a wonderful nature experience for adults and children – I have loved every minute of it,” said Trude Hurd, Project Director of Marsh Education for Sea and Sage, who has been a part of the program since the beginning. “This has been the perfect place for Sea and Sage to engage more than 50,000 adults and children in personal experiences with nature.”

During the school year, Audubon and the Discovery Science Center conduct educational school field trips. But during the summer, things don’t slow down at the marsh – it becomes an exciting hub of activity for all ages.

The Marsh Learning Center is the center of much of this activity, with summer camp taking place in both rooms. Sea and Sage is hosting its array of Marsh and Bird camps, while the Discovery Science Center is hosting Summer Smiles and Project Discovery camps.

At night, discover a different environment at the Marsh, by participating in a bat walk. The evening begins with an indoor presentation by a local bat biologist. Then a walk is led to see the bats feed in the Marsh.

At the end of this month, July 28, Sea and Sage will hold its annual Summer Barbecue. This celebration features dining under the stars with a program, “Wild Flowers of Orange County and the Santa Ana Mountains” by local photographer and biologist Bob Allen. There will also be a book sale and after dinner, evening bird walks. At nightfall, enjoy stargazing in the meadow with telescopes, or a bat walk through the marsh.

On August 25 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., join IRWD and Sea and Sage, as we celebrate our 20-year partnership. A Marsh bird walk will be held at 8:30 a.m. and a special presentation at 10 a.m. Take a walk through the butterfly garden and enjoy the native plants that make the Marsh their home. Displays will be set up, including microscopes for viewing creatures that live in the Marsh ponds. Get an up-close look at live raptors and colorful taxidermy bird specimens. Play games and enjoy celebratory cake and ice cream.

More information about environmental programs and Marsh is available on our website.

Irvine Ranch Water District uses a budget based rate structure which provides you with the water you need and promotes the efficient use of water. 

"If you are lucky enough to be an IRWD customer, you enjoy some of the lowest water rates in Orange County," said Nathan Adams, IRWD Water Efficiency Analyst.

Each customer receives a basic water budget that provides a reasonable amount of water for your needs and property characteristics, including the number of occupants, lot size, size of irrigated area, climate, etc. How your cost of water is calculated is based upon how much water you use (measured by reading your meter) and whether or not you stayed within your budget. During the month, if you use more water than your budget, your cost of water will increase due to the need for IRWD to purchase more expensive sources of water, such as imported water from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. To see how this works, we have developed a user friendly water budget calculator.

Use IRWD’s rate structure to your advantage and capitalize on efficiency in the following ways:

• If your usage is consistently in the Low Volume or Conservation Base Rate tiers, congratulations!  Continue to keep it here and enjoy the low rates!
• If your usage goes beyond your budget and into the more expensive tiers (Inefficient or Wasteful tiers) use this as signal to check for leaks (e.g. your toilet) or over-watering.  IRWD staff can help by conducting a site survey at your request.
• Take advantage of one of IRWD’s many rebates to offset the cost of investing in water efficiency and then enjoy the future savings.

Let’s put the third bullet to practice.  Using the water budget calculator for a single family account the budget for the month of July is 15 ccf (1 ccf = 748 gallons).  This results in a commodity charge of $16.62.  If because of poor-performing sprinklers and over-watering the same family used 25 ccf in July it would result in a commodity charge of $48.10.  This is $31.48 more than budget charges!  Instead, let’s put this money to work by investing in efficiency.

This family decides to tackle the over-watering problem by fixing the sprinkler issues around the yard and installing a new weather-based irrigation controller.   Think of this as a $500 investment in a home’s landscape and value!  But factor in the $425 rebate IRWD offers for weather-based irrigation controllers and the average monthly watering savings and the payback may only take several months.  You see, it pays to be Always Water Smart!

The Irvine Ranch Water District’s Public Affairs Department was honored by the Public Relations Society of America and the Association of Marketing and Communications Professionals for its work in 2011 on the 50th anniversary celebration and the residential tour program.

“These OCPRSA awards represent the top echelon and best public relations in Orange County,” said Doug Fleischli, Advocacy Chair for OC-PRSA.

The PRSA honored IRWD at its 37^th annual PROTOS Awards Ceremony on June 1, which honors the top Orange County public relations organizations and professionals for outstanding campaigns and achievements. The competition was open to all members of the Orange County Chapter of PRSA and to non-members serving an Orange County Area event, company or client. Entries were judged on four key areas including: research, planning, implementation and evaluation.

IRWD's public affairs team submitted applications for two award categories and won both. The 50th Anniversary Campaign was entered in the "Special Events and Observances" category. The Resident Tour Program was entered into the "Community Relations" category.

The Public Affairs team also won a 2012 Hermes Gold Award for the 50^th Anniversary Campaign.  The Association of Marketing and Communications Professionals administers and judges several international competitions for marketing and communication professionals, including the Hermes Awards.

The Hermes Creative Awards is an international competition for creative professionals involved in the concept, writing and design of traditional materials and programs, and emerging technologies. Entries come from corporate marketing and communication departments, advertising agencies, PR firms, design shops, production companies, web-based innovators and freelancers.

The foundation for AMCP began in 1995 as a means to honor outstanding achievement and service to the communication profession and its membership consists of several thousand people and organizations that enter its awards programs each year.

More information about IRWD programs is available on our website.

Youngsters of all ages from Anaheim to Irvine have discovered that the Irvine Ranch Water District San Joaquin Marsh is the place to be during the summer. Sea and Sage Audubon is observing 20 years of presenting its summer nature camps, while the Discovery Science Center is enjoying its fourth year.

“We have many of the same campers coming back year after year,” said Trude Hurd, Project Director of Education for Sea and Sage.

The summer camps are held in the IRWD Learning Center at the Marsh Campus and combine hands-on activities with Marsh education. Veterans of the Sea and Sage Advanced Camp may go on to become members of the Junior Naturalist Program.

The Sea and Sage Fledgling Camp for seven and eight-year-olds introduces young campers to the world of birds and journaling. Marsh Bird Camp is for nine to 12 year olds. Campers 11 years and older may participate in Advanced Bird Camp or Birds, Bugs and Blossoms Camp.

Discovery Science Center has two offerings – Summer Smiles for five and six-year-olds and Project Discovery for ages seven to 10.

On a recent day of camp in the Discovery Room, Discovery Science Center instructor Karyn Nagel and her staff worked with Summer Smiles campers in constructing bird feeders from bread and birdseed. Egg was spread on the bread, and then pressed into the bird seed. Cookie cutters allowed the youngsters to create fun and interesting shapes in their bird feeders before they were allowed to dry. The finishing touch was placing a ribbon on the bread and birdseed so it could be tied on a tree to attract birds.

This was a jam-packed day – the youngsters heard a story, made leaf prints, took nature walks and capped their day making edible aquifers from vanilla ice cream, lemon-lime soda and chocolate chips.

In the Adventure Room, the Sea and Sage Marsh Bird Camp was enjoying Raptor Day. Volunteers from the Orange County Bird of Prey Center brought several visitors with them – Aries the American kestrel, Gus the screech owl, Spartacus the burrowing owl, JR the Harris Hawk, Wrong Way and great horned owl, and Hank the red-tailed hawk.

These birds have all been injured in some way and many are unable to be released into the wild. Volunteer Michelle Andre, wearing a long leather glove to protect from the birds’ sharp talons, deftly handled her specimens.

“We are all volunteers, we don’t get paid,” she explained. “We do this because we love the birds.”

In the afternoon, the campers continued their education about birds of prey by dissecting owl pellets. Because owls don’t chew their food, the soft portion of their prey is digested and the harder materials such as bone, fur and hair congeal into a mass and are regurgitated.

Please visit our website for more information on Marsh summer camps and community education programs.