Bolinas Field Station

The Bolinas Field Station is an integral part of the College of Marin's Life and Earth Sciences Program. For over 42 years, the Station teamed with students eager to learn and investigate the physical and natural world around them — spawning a life-long passion and love for the environment. And now, we are rebuilding the Station in an effort to educate and inspire a new generation of students who will personally and/or professionally address the issues confronting our collapsing environment.

The Jay Pritzker Foundation, will be matching dollar to dollar up to $250,000. Double your donation today!

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Case Statement

The Marin Community College District is excited to announce its plans to break ground on the new Bolinas Field Station during the summer of 2023. The Field Station will be a one-of-its-kind facility for a community college district in California. This exciting state-of-the-art project designed by Perkins Eastman Dougherty Architects will include indoor and outdoor classrooms on edge of the Bolinas Lagoon. The Field Station has been planned for versatility in its potential uses. The laboratory and lecture spaces are designed for education and faculty-directed student research in all of the environmental sciences with an emphasis on marine-related areas of study. Seawater tanks and outdoor exploration tables are also planned. The Field Station will also include office space and areas for storing specimens. The existing dock and boat launch will continue to be a critical part of the facility.

The Field Station will support the District in its mission of delivering educational excellence rooted in providing equitable opportunities and fostering success for all members of our diverse community:

  • The new Field Station will be used to prepare students who are considering or have chosen, the sciences as their focus for transfer to four-year colleges and universities by providing the opportunity to do fieldwork in the unique seasonal estuary of Bolinas Lagoon and the nearby Duxbury Reef. Many former COM students who went on to obtain post-graduate degrees in the sciences have cited their experience at the Field Station as seminal to triggering their interest in the sciences and motivating them to its further study. The new Field Station will continue that tradition. 
  • The new Field Station will facilitate both new studies, as well as the continuation of prior long-term studies, of the Bolinas Lagoon and Duxbury Reef, the key to understanding human impacts on those critical environments and for presenting fact-based prescriptions for these and similar marine environments for the future.
  • The new Field Station will once again offer an innovative learning environment that promotes social and environmental responsibility by enabling the study of our critical marine and terrestrial systems. The impact that accesses to such a facility has on deepening the understanding of and care for the stewardship of diverse ecosystems by COM students cannot be overstated, whether or not they choose to continue their education or future work in the sciences.
  • The new Field Station has been designed to have impacts that will be directly felt on a spectrum of students broader than the immediate COM community. The District plans to collaborate in the use of the facility with organizations that seek to bring equity to historically underserved populations by making the exploration of science more available through hands-on programs for children and young adults.

This is an opportunity to play a part in the creation of what has been previously proven to be an effective and dynamic teaching and learning center, providing important and rare educational opportunities while addressing pressing environmental issues.


Bolinas Field Station Renderings

Bolinas Field Station Rendering 1   Bolinas Field Station Rendering 2


Letter of Community Support

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