In the summer of 2009, Environmental Studies graduate student Tiffanie Rainville travelled to Ecuador to engage local coastal communities – Portavelo, Bellavista, Bunche, and Santa Rosa - in a community mapping project. During these workshops, the themes covered ranged from documenting significant cultural sites, natural environments, and the location and management of mangrove forests, as well as changes to the natural environment (especially with reference to the El Niño phenomenon). The participants in these small communities, plan to use their maps to highlight their community’s environmental assets and to promote tourism in the area. They also plan to use their maps as an educational aide within the local schools, as a way to document and share the effects that El Niño has had on coastal habitats over time.