Long Island Sound has a wide variety of habitats, like salt marshes and beaches, that many living things call home. But how are they different? Students will spend time in each habitat, investigating the living and non-living things that make up a beach and a salt marsh. In the salt marsh, students will rotate through stations, investigating the animals, plants, and the peat that forms the foundation of the marsh. At the beach, students will comb the beach to investigate what the beach is made out of. They will also wade into the water to look for living things, like fish and crabs!

To prepare for this trip: Students should wear boots or water shoes. We will be walking in the marsh, which can be wet and muddy. No flip flops please as they can get stuck in the mud. Water shoes or boots will be best to wade into the water to use small nets to catch marine life.

Bluff Point State Park is entirely outdoors- there is no gazebo or covered area. There are picnic tables available for meal times before or after the program. The park is a carry in-carry out space, there are no trash cans on site. There are restrooms available at the picnic area closest to the parking lot. A note for buses: if using a charter bus, there is a bridge at the entry of the park that is too low to allow the charter bus to pass through (school buses do fit under this bridge). Charter buses can make a drop off before the bridge and participants can walk to the picnic areas (about a 5 minute walk).