Lake Merritt Institute

LMI is a stewardship nonprofit. Here's what's free and open to the public:

• Public lake cleanups every Tuesday and Saturday at 10 AM — hands-on and educational about the watershed. Lakemerrittinstitute

• Free classroom/field-trip programming on water quality testing and lake stewardship for school groups (if you're a teacher or with a youth group). Lakemerrittinstitute

• A PowerPoint presentation on Lake Merritt's history, urban runoff, and wildlife to schools and community groups on request. Lakemerrittinstitute

For nature/birding-specific classes near LMI's office, the Rotary Nature Center and Golden Gate Audubon have historically run free public sessions there (e.g. wintering-bird intros, nature journaling) — worth checking communityforlakemerritt.org and the Rotary Nature Center Friends site for current offerings, since these rotate seasonally.