NATURAL PERSPECTIVES:Conservationists party too

The holiday party season is upon us. While many people enjoyed the Christmas lights and boat parade in the harbor last weekend, our social calendar was filled with other activities.

On Friday, Vic attended the Bolsa Chica Conservancy’s conservator of the year luncheon at the Waterfront Hilton. This year’s conservator was REI Inc., a store for lovers of the outdoors. Their employees have volunteered extensively for restoration work at the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve.

At the event, Vic was lucky enough to win a gift certificate for a Sunday brunch for two at the Hilton’s Palm Court. We already used it to celebrate our wedding anniversary a bit early.

Friday night, the Amigos de Bolsa Chica held its annual potluck Christmas party for docents. Dave and Margaret Carlberg hosted the event at their home. They put on an elegant spread, with such Swedish delicacies as herring in wine sauce, dilled herring, sardines and smoked oysters.

Dave ladled out enough hot glogg to ensure that we all had a rousing good time. As our potluck contribution, Vic and I brought a hot vegan entree of sliced Brussels sprouts with lemon, garlic, olive oil, sea salt and cashews. After we had eaten our fill from the appetizer and dessert bar, Margaret summed up the year, and Beverly Stewart handed out awards. Among the 39 attendees, most received recognition for conducting tours for the Amigos’ education program.

Top tour guide was Al Vari, who led 24 tours during the past year. That was nearly half of all the tours led.

Each year, between 1,000 and 2,000 people enjoy the Amigos private tours. This year, 1,683 people (1,192 children and 446 adults) took educational tours.

Our social activities continued on Saturday, when the Friends of Shipley Nature Center held a potluck luncheon at the nature center to celebrate another year of progress. Vic had to teach that morning and was a bit late, but there was still plenty of food. I brought red beans and rice jambalaya with knackwurst.

Shipley’s beloved habitat coordinator, Benny Ramirez, was honored at the event. Ramirez began work at Shipley at the same time I did, back in January 2003. At the time, he was a supervisor with the Orange County Conservation Corps. My experience had been mainly with saltwater restoration, so I learned a lot from him during the years that we worked together.

Ramirez moved on to Crystal Cove State Park, and eventually I moved from Shipley to the corps. When a paid position opened up at Shipley this March, the Friends lured Ramirez away from Crystal Cove. He had poured his heart into restoration at Shipley. It was a match made in heaven. He keeps the place looking marvelous.

After lunch, Vic and I took a walk around the nature center. It changes every time I visit, and every time it’s better.

I looked around for the laurel sumacs that I had planted, but I couldn’t find them. Then I realized that they were the huge shrubs in front of me. A cottonwood that I planted is now over 25 feet tall.

There is still work to do there, but the heaviest work of restoration is over. In a few short years, our nature center has gone from a weed-choked wasteland to a thriving habitat for lizards, snakes, rabbits, ground squirrels, opossums, raccoons, coyotes, butterflies and birds galore.

The years of work that so many volunteers have poured into Shipley really have made a difference. The city got a start on removing dead Monterey pines and some nonnative species with funding from the Waterfront Hilton back in 1999. But it was the dogged work of the Orange County Conservation Corps from 2001 to 2005 that laid the real foundation for restoration.

Several Shipley volunteers deserve special mention. Nancy Harris spent untold hours pulling out castor bean. She also planted and maintains the area by the oak woodlands. Bill Neill volunteered his services spraying castor bean, poison hemlock, and other nonnative plants. Ron Schnoor earned the title of the Arundo King for relentlessly rooting out any re-sprouts of that nasty nonnative plant. Jean Nagy funded and supervised the planting of hundreds of trees and shrubs. Steve Engel took over maintenance of the riparian woodlands, planting the understory and giving it the extra water that it needs to thrive. Dave Pryor and Fritz Koepp used their chain saw skills to remove many nonnative trees and buck up the ones that fell onto trails after windstorms. Shipley is a labor of love for many, many people.

You’re probably thinking that we’ve gained a dozen pounds with all this partying, but fear not. Vic never gains weight, and I had a chain saw workshop at Bolsa Chica on Monday.

Restoration work will sweat off anything. I just have to make sure that I balance partying with work.

If you would like to balance your seasonal parties with restoration work, there are plenty of opportunities. The Friends of Shipley Nature Center, Bolsa Chica Conservancy, Bolsa Chica Land Trust and Friends of the Huntington Wetlands all have work days. Take advantage of restoration as recreation. You can stay fit and enjoy yourself, knowing that you’re making a positive difference for the environment and your community.