High Tech High's (HTH) singular and continuing approach to environmental education and conservation – an "Integrated Urban Ecology Study of the San Diego Bay" - has over the course of three years, introduced 160 high school juniors to original research in ecological assessment and engagement in writing and reflection regarding their urban ecology. From these studies and reflections, two field guides were produced which focused on the issues that reflect San Diego's most pressing environmental priorities including those that students identified as most meaningful to their generation. These books -- Two Sides of the Boat Channel: A Field Guide and Perspectives of San Diego Bay: A Field Guide (Next Generation Press, March 2006) have informed, inspired and achieved importance with local residents, marine scientists, conservation advocates and policymakers alike.

High Tech High is located in the ongoing redevelopment of Liberty Station, the former Naval Training Center in San Diego, within 200 meters of San Diego Bay. The school's proximity to the Bay affords easy contact with several wetland and armored bay habitats.  As the City's redevelopment efforts continue to progress, the students’ study of the complexity and fragility of urban-bay ecosystems contribute to the City's ongoing discussion and decisions.  Using this unique setting as a field laboratory, student understanding of the interconnection between human activities (eg. fishing, boating and military exercises) and local marine life provided decision makers with invaluable perspectives, recommendations and original research. 

San Diego Bay is an intricate mix of both human construction and nature’s slow, but inevitable, reclamation. The questions posed by the study of our interaction with Bay are meaningful ones:  What is our place in nature?   Is civilization inherently harmful to nature? Can we repair our broken relationship with our environment? Can we accept ourselves as part of nature? These questions are exactly the kind we need to ask in times of human population explosion, pollution and resulting environmental change. The San Diego Bay is the perfect site for naturalist and scientific observation. It is a place ideally suited for interdisciplinary investigation.