Many young people often feel there's not much they can do to help wildlife. But two local students have shown that there are opportunities to help right here in San Diego! Last week, two enterprising young people received the prestigious Zoological Society of San Diego's Award for Outstanding Achievement. Their projects were selected from more than 800 entries at the Greater San Diego Science and Engineering Fair for meeting our criteria of conservation.
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Nestled on over four acres in the northern corner of the Wild Animal Park is the Nativescapes Garden. Eleven plant communities are represented in this unique garden, from montane to coastal sage scrub. This garden was designed, developed, and is maintained by the Lake Hodges Native Plant Club.
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The Butterflies & Orchids event at the Wild Animal Park is winding down (the last day is Sunday, May 7). The Wgasa Bush Line Railway is closed through May 5 and the final phase of construction for the shortened Railway tour is nearly completed; it will open May 6. During this week, there are more up-close animal encounters and discovery stations set up for visitors to enjoy while the Railway is closed.
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See Mary's first Weblog about the start of her Visit-A-Job day at the Giant Panda Research Station.

The panda keepers shared all kinds of interesting stories about their jobs and their experience with the pandas during our lunch break. Some of them had traveled to the Wolong panda reserve in China and had introduced training methods to the panda keepers there. Their tales fascinated me; before long, lunchtime was over.
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A major milestone in panda conservation was reached last week with the release of a captive born panda to the wild. This is the next important step in ensuring the pandas' survival into the future. Will it be successful?
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April 27 was " Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work" day. I feel very fortunate to work for an organization that encourages its employees to bring their children on this day, providing a wonderful opportunity for me to spend some quality time with my daughter, Chloe.
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When Girls In Science visit a new place in the Zoo, voices are usually animated and steps are full of spring. This week, though, the girls shuffled quietly into the Zoo's veterinary hospital, voices hushed and full of awe. " This is where stuff happens," one of the girls whispered to another.
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