Delta Science Center works on raising profile

By Rowena Coetsee
Contra Costa Times


OAKLEY -- Delta Science Center is trying to raise its profile.

The organization, that is -- not the building, which doesn't yet exist.

"It's a little confusing," said Roni Gehlke, executive director of the nonprofit group that will be sharing its name with an educational site East Bay Regional Park District has planned for Big Break Regional Shoreline in Oakley.

And one where Delta Science Center might find a new home.

Its namesake is an approximately 5,500-foot structure that also will acquaint the public with the Delta's ecosystem when it opens, which Gehlke said will be either late this year or in early 2012.

Once that happens, the Delta Science Center -- the organization -- which currently operates out of a sanitary district's office, hopes to move into part of Delta Science Center -- the building.

In the meantime, the organization has designed a new logo to reinforce its identity and has set up a new phone number to ensure the public can reach it.

In addition, Gehlke, along with board President Mike Painter, have spent the past six months reintroducing the center to the public.

They've been speaking to a variety of groups around East County, giving presentations to Antioch, Pittsburg and Oakley city councils, as well as to service clubs, local water districts and educators.
Delta Science Center isn't a physical place, per se, but an organization that evolved from discussions Ironhouse Sanitary District initiated with a couple other entities nearly two decades ago.

Its mission is to foster an appreciation for the approximately 700 miles of waterways that supply a huge portion of the state's drinking water and nurture a rich array of plants and wildlife.

In that vein, the center has gotten young people involved in its projects; Gehlke noted that it once arranged for 500 Freedom High School students to gauge the health of Marsh Creek by analyzing water and soil samples.

Another activity called for teen volunteers to collect water from the Delta at different times of the day and year to test the concentrations of salt and toxins.

For the past several years Delta Science Center has been publishing and distributing free calendars containing facts about the Delta to fifth-grade classrooms around East County.

Now Gehlke and an Oakley schools administrator are meeting with teachers to come up with a curriculum that builds on topics highlighted in the calendars such as the region's endangered species and the crops that farmers grow on some of the 57 islands in the Delta.

The goal is to incorporate these lessons into not just science classes, but English, math and history as well, Gehlke said.

Delta Science Center is aiming to have them on DVDs by September so it can give them to fifth-grade teachers at the same time it distributes approximately 10,000 calendars to classes from Martinez to Rio Vista and everywhere in between.

The organization also plans to put more youngsters on the water this year.
Last year, Delta Science Center paid for two Oakley fifth-grade classes to explore the Delta aboard the Robert G. Brownlee, a research vessel used for educational cruises during which youngsters can fish or observe some of the water's microorganisms through microscopes.

This year Gehkle said the organization is trying to drum up the thousands of dollars needed to send 20 East County classes on the half-day excursions.
Reach the Delta Science Center at 925-289-5711.
Rowena Coetsee covers Oakley. Reach her at 925-779-7141.