Sunday, January 20, 2013

Back to Natives Service Learning Program in Santiago Park Nature Reserve

Back to Natives Restoration (BTN) has had a great start on our Habitat Restoration Service Learning program, this year.  The program, funded by REI, Wells Fargo, the Orange County Community Foundation, Ralphs and a Project Learning Tree GreenWorks! Grant, has brought 181 students to Santiago Park Nature Reserve, a 23 acre reserve in Santa Ana, CA, bisected by over 5000 feet of Santiago Creek.

Students volunteer in the reserve, pulling non-native weeds, casting native seed, planting native plants and more.  Back to Natives staff provide educational opportunities for students, who learn about the importance of biodiversity and habitat restoration.  Participants do more than just pull weeds – they come to understand why pulling those weeds is important. 
 
The program introduces potential science careers, and generates interest in the environment.  Students learn what it is like to be a real restoration ecologist, as they participate in the entire restoration process, from beginning to end.  They learn about the issue of invasive plants in our wildlands, and become aware of the need to restore habitat for the benefit of biodiversity, and for people to enjoy. 

This project addresses the community need for habitat restoration AND something more difficult to put into words…  it helps the community around Santiago Park take pride in the resource and want to protect it and improve it.  A biking and walking trail loops through the park, and connects with other pedestrian trails within the City and beyond.  Our volunteers frequently encounter friendly park visitors, many of whom ask what they are doing.  The students have an opportunity to educate the community about habitat restoration, and they receive a great deal of satisfaction when community members thank them for volunteering.  After seeing volunteers in the Reserve, some community members have signed up to volunteer alongside them!

Students from Irvine High School, the “Do Something Club” at Garden Grove High School and others volunteered 565 hours between October and December. This is our second program year.  The program will continue through May and resume again in September.  This high frequency of engagement provides meaningful results for the habitat within the park, and for the volunteers who see that their efforts really do make a big difference over time.

Participants become aware that they can play a direct role in the health of their local natural areas and their local communities by accepting personal responsibility for actions to improve environmental quality and to achieve sustainable outcomes. This project is intended at its core to instill a sense of responsibility and increase environmental stewardship, and to encourage behaviors that result in environmental protection and improvement.  Many of the volunteers will undoubtedly continue to volunteer at their local parks, and some will likely make volunteering a permanent part of their life. 
 
Back to Natives Restoration is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation  dedicated to the restoration and conservation of Orange County and California wildlands.  We provide education and restoration programs about native plants and biodiversity. 

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Back to Natives Santiago Park Nature Reserve Volunteer Program

Back to Natives is working with the City of Santa Ana Parks and Recreation Department to provide a habitat restoration volunteer program within the Santiago Park Nature Reserve. Volunteers gather in the Reserve once a month to pull weeds, collect seed, and plant seed/cuttings/plants. Here are a few shots from a recent event!


Thank you to the Orange County Community Foundation, REI, Ralphs & the Wells Fargo for funding our 2011-12 Service Learning habitat Restoration Volunteer Program!


Removing invasive Fountain Grass from Santiago Creek!


Volunteers removed ALL of the seed heads, and now they are going through and removing as many of the plants as possible.


Removing the invasive, non-native weeds allows space for the natives to grow. Native plants provide habitat for animals and a diverse ecosystem is more enjoyable for humans that visit the reserve!

Come join us! Upcoming volunteer dates are listed at http://www.backtonatives.org/volunteer.shtml - see you soon!

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Back to Natives teaches campers at Audubon Summer Camp!


Reggie leading campers on a Riparian Plant Scavenger Hunt!




Narrow leaved milkweed.


Feel the fuzzy leaves!


False Indigo.















Seed collecting at Mason Park - we "released" the seeds in our restoration site there.
















Sunday, April 5, 2009

Brownie Girl Scouts earn their "Plants" Try-it


Building a tree!


Discussing how animals use plants.


Planting natives to provide habitat for birds and butterflies in our yard.


Hiking thorugh the El Dorado Nature Center.


Making our "seed" grow.


Hiking through the El Dorado Nature Center - discussing non-native invasive weeds - a monoculture of them!

Sunday, October 5, 2008

San Juan Elementary Native Plant Garden in the Fall

This school garden was planted last December & January, and it has filled in nicely!

The yarrow has turned a chocolate brown in time for Fall!



This is my favorite view - a row of aster chilensis, followed by a row of California Sagebrush, followed by a row of buckwheat. Once the coyote brush behind these plants fills in it should look marvelous! Especialy NEXT fall when the coyote brush goes to seed and it looks like snow! Deergrass is in the foreground.



A blue butterfly stops for nectar on one of the last remaining buckwheat flowers.


The milkweed was successfully pollinated and has gone to seed - there will be lots more next year!


Can you believe this was the same spot just last year?

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Harvesting Seed in Mason Regional Park

How appropriate that on the day after the August Full Moon - the Grain Moon - we took a few hours to collect seed at Mason Regional Park in preparation for our Service Learning restoration project that will begin in September.

Harvesting buckwheat seed, just as the Tongva and Acjachemen did for throusands of years before the Europeans arrived. I wonder if they had any better luck finding the seeds?
Encelia seeds

harvesting deerweed
Prickly Pear Cactus

California Fuchsia