Living Coast Discovery Center

The Living Coast Discovery Center is an environmental education center with marine animal, animal and bird exhibits located in the Sweetwater Marsh Unit of the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge in Chula Vista, California.

The site consists of several large exhibit spaces:

• Turtle Lagoon – Eastern Pacific green sea turtles
• Discovery Center Galleria – includes seahorses, jellyfish, eels, sharks, lobsters, crabs, octopus, garibaldi damselfish, sea stars, snakes, lizards
• Shark & Ray Experience & Sting Ray Touch pool – Leopard sharks, grey smooth-hound sharks, horn sharks, swell shark, shovelnose guitarfish, bat rays, round rays, diamond rays, crabs, fish, and loggerhead sea turtle
• Burrowing Owl Courtyard
• Shorebird Aviary – light-footed clapper rail, snowy egret, black-crowned night heron, Black oystercatcher, red-breasted merganser, hooded merganser, and more
• Raptor Row – red-tailed hawk, red-shouldered hawk, Cooper’s hawk, osprey, peregrine falcon, turkey vulture, barn owl, great horned owl, burrowing owl, American kestrel
• Eagle Mesa – golden eagle, bald eagle
• Native plant gardens and composting demonstration garden

The Living Coast runs a new seasonal exhibit each year, featuring animals from around the world, from late March–early April through Labor Day.

There are 1.5 miles of trails from the Center in the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge out to the shore of San Diego Bay.

In addition to general public exhibits, the Living Coast hosts over 15,000 school children at their facility each year for educational field trips that focus on Science and Environmental programs.