Our Mission

The California Gray Whale is the most ancient Baleen whale on Planet Earth and the last surviving population of a species which once inhabited many of the world's oceans.

The Gulf of Catalina Gray Whale Preservation & Education Foundation (GWF) is dedicated to educating children on the importance of this species.

In a partnership with the Sierra Club's Inner City Outings (ICO), GWF is planning a series of on-the-ocean expeditions that will educate and inspire children that may not otherwise have an opportunity to ever feel the wind in their hair and the salty spray on their faces, much less the opportunity to learn how to collect data and help protect a species in danger of extinction.

GWF is in the process of developing curriculum with ICO teachers and group leaders that will include a strong mentoring program, partnering Advance Placement environmental science and chemistry students with elementary school students. This curriculum will be science-based and geared towards research techniques and data collection. The data collection curriculum will include instructional activities in the classroom as well as the actual collection of data while on the ocean viewing the whales, extrapolation of data and presentation of findings.

The GWF team consists of naturalists, scientists, educators and whale watching vessel boat captains that have been traversing the waters of the Gulf of Catalina for decades.

Once we meet with the ICO folks I will have a better idea of how to complete OUR PLAN, OUR RESEARCH, OUR PROMISE.