The MINT Van Program




The MINT (Mobile INTerpretation Station) Van is a GEM electric vehicle stocked with display materials related to the preserve's flora and fauna. Docents drive it to locations where they encourage visitors to touch and feel items, including otter and seal pelts, a pelican wing, and whale bones and baleens. On Sunday, March 26, 2023, at the Piney Woods Bluff parking area, I shadowed Pat Sinclair, who founded the program in 2012. 
 





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Landscape Restoration

Image
Red circles show areas that volunteers and others have restored since 2016.  Restoration efforts at Point Lobos State Natural Reserve address impacts made by both human and environmental causes to the natural habitat. On March 23, 2023, Katie Spitz and Pat Lovejoy led a tour of restoration sites from the Piney Woods Bluff to the South Short Bluff, Sea Lion Point, and Allen Memorial Grove. Recent heavy rains have spurred the growth of the first Monterey Cypress seedlings to emerge from an area of the grove recently cleared of invasive purple veldtgrass . Volunteers working at Granite Point in May 2022 Katie Spitz Piney Woods Bluff Sea Lion Point Allen Grove area cleared of veldtgrass.  
Read more

Color in the Tidepools

Image
  On Friday, March 17, Elaine Gehrmann led a walk to explore the tidepools of Weston Beach. A minus 0.95-foot tide at 2:30 PM yielded a treasure trove of color and wriggling life. When hiking some of the more interesting trails at Point Lobos, to avoid hazardous rocks and tree roots, I typically spend too much of my time looking down at my feet. In the tidepools, that is exactly where you want to focus as there are wonderful things to see. Mossy Chiton Saphire blue underside of a chiton shell plate Lined Chiton Stubby rose anemone Bat star Ochre star  Purple sea urchin condo Red sponge  Bleached coralline algae Turban snail and crab [Rev 3.17.23]
Read more

Whalers Cabin Museum

Image
Built as a residence by a group of Chinese fishermen circa 1851, Whalers Cabin is the oldest wood-frame building in Monterey County. Today it serves as a museum for Chinese and other cultural groups that have occupied and exploited Point Lobos. Exhibits include illustrations and artifacts of the Rumsen indigenous people, Portuguese whalers and dairy farmers, workers who quarried granite for building San Francisco, Japanese abalone divers, miners who shipped coal from Coal Chute Point, and land developers who sold lots at Point Lobos City in 1890.  A Whaling Station Museum adjacent to the cabin houses harpoons and equipment used by on-shore whalers who operated from Whalers Cove beginning in 1862.  Whale bones and tri-pots for rendering oil are displayed outside  
Read more