Little Lagoon – Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow LLPS July 20 topic

Little Lagoon – Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow LLPS July 20 topic
Public invited to hear Chan West at Gulf Shores Activity Center

Chan West will present a program titled “Little Lagoon – Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow” on Thursday, July 20 beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the Gulf Shores Activity Center (260 Clubhouse Dr.) in Gulf Shores.
Chan’s program will review the development of our system of five coastal lakes, the largest of which is the Little Lagoon, beginning with the geology and pre-colonial use by the native Indians.
As a child, beginning in the ‘30s, Chan spent many weekends and summers on the shores of the Lagoon. Her parents became permanent residents in 1960 and she has been living here permanently since 1982. All her life she has been a student of the environment and will share a few of her stories. The program will include exploration of Lagoon with Google Earth.
Chan has been a member of LLPS since its inception and is a member of the LLPS Water Quality Team. She has been an active volunteer for the Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge, leading tours and in the turtle programs.
Other agenda items to be discussed include the Little Lagoon Pass Update and progress on planned Lagoon oyster gardens.
•••••••••
About program presenter Chan West

Born and raised in Mobile, Chan West was six weeks old when she first came to the property where she has had her permanent residence for the last 28 plus years, spending her childhood summers and weekends in this wonderful spot.
Following college (math major) and graduate school (physics), she married Hugh West, and raised four children as the wife of a career Army officer. Growing up, she was able she lived near water in Wilmington, NC, Panama, Hawaii, fishing and hunting. She spent two and a half years in Guatemala and four years in Panama, learning Spanish while there.
Chan and her husband built a home adjacent to her mother’s home at the beach in 1982. Six weeks after retirement Hugh had his first surgery for cancer and spent the next seven years battling it. During that period one of Chan’s recreations was to become a self-taught botanist specializing in beach plants.
After her husband’s death, Chan and three friends started a wildflower club that took field trips around Baldwin County to learn about tress and plants. She also became active in LLPS, the Ft. Morgan Civic Association, and the Christian Service Center. Active in Holy Spirit Episcopal Church, she has used her Spanish language skills on many medical and construction missions to Latin America. She is on the LLPS phytoplankton water quality study team and is also sthe LLPS secretary.