Mountains Restoration offers cleanup, youth program

•Mountains Restoration Trust will sponsor Fall Restoration Sunday: Neighbors Helping Neighbors, as part of the national Make a Difference Day, from 8 to 11 a.m. Sun., Oct. 28 at Juan Bautista de Anza Park, 3701 Lost Hills Road, Calabasas.

Participants will restore and enhance the homes of birds and animals with planting, weeding and restoring native habitat. Individuals should bring gloves, hat and water. Cider and apples will be provided. RSVP at (818) 591-1701, ext. 186.

•MRT also announced the launch of a new afterschool enrichment program modeled after its popular Youth Naturalist Program to give Calabasas students an opportunity to learn more about their natural environment.

Activities include mapmaking, stream ecology, native plants, observation skills, short hikes and environmental games.

"The after-school enrichment program is designed to introduce kids to the native environment of the Santa Monica Mountains, which they are fortunate to have as their backyard," said Youth Naturalist Program Director Susan Haugland.

"This program will show them the uniqueness of the area and help them to understand how each part of the environment is connected to a larger whole," she added.

Eco-adventures is offered to third and fifthgrade Calabasas elementary school students on Wednesday's banking day dismissal.

The city of Calabasas provides free transportation from Chaparral Elementary School to Headwaters Corner, where the program is taught, at 3815 Old Topanga Canyon Road, Calabasas.

Other Calabasas elementary school students are eligible to enroll if they can provide their own transportation. The space is limited to 20 children.

For more information, call Susan Haugland at MRT, (818) 591-1701, ext. 181.