A birthday notice

Paul Clinton

On the eve of its first birthday, the interpretive center in Upper

Newport Bay is still struggling to find itself -- much like a newly

hatched osprey that has just found its legs.

The nature hub, formally known as the Peter and Mary Muth Interpretive

Center, has not drawn huge crowds. But efforts are underway to publicize

the hidden treasure.

Those efforts are set to get underway shortly, according to Silvia

Marson, a board member of the Newport Bay Naturalists and Friends. The

group raises funds and supplies volunteers to staff the center.

“We have a lot of work to do, getting people to know it’s there,”

Marson said. “The plan would be to encourage groups and individuals to

use it.”

The center’s unusual architectural design -- the building is nestled

in a spot below ground off University Drive -- causes it to blend into

the landscape, rendering it invisible from the street.

The center was designed that way by Corona del Mar architect Ron Yeo.

It opened to the public in October.

“We put it down there so it wouldn’t obstruct anybody’s view” of the

Back Bay, Yeo said. The goal was “to make it one with nature.”

A center instead of a condo

The center was the brainchild of environmentalist Frances Robinson,

who, with her husband, Frank, took on the Irvine Co. in 1969, suing to

stop a complex land transfer from Orange County that would have resulted

in the development of the Back Bay into condominiums and a marina.

As a result of their efforts, the 752-acre estuary was designated as

an ecological reserve. Fran Robinson, who died June 30, had dreamed of a

center to educate the public about what she saw as the bay’s endlessly

fascinating ecosystem of birds, plant life, wetlands and rare coastal

sage scrub habitat.

The center’s exhibition hall is named after the two environmentalists.

The building itself is named for the Muths, a couple who put up $1

million to help build the center.

“They gave what they had, the money,” Frank Robinson said. “And we

gave what we had, the energy and time.”

In many ways, the center faced as many obstacles getting built as the

Robinsons faced in their fight to protect the bay from development.

Preliminary work on the project began in the late 1980s and ultimately

cost almost $8.5 million to complete. It was put on hold during the

county bankruptcy and delayed by the Robinsons’ fight against the county

to stop the extension of University Drive.

A little sensory overload

Walking into the interpretive center’s exhibit hall can lead to

sensory overload. With chirping birds and other lifelike sounds ringing

out in the hall, a series of see-touch-smell exhibits engage the visitor

in a bevy of ways.

There’s an exhibit called “The Wetlands,” in which ordinary household

objects are used to illustrate how the estuary works. A sponge, strainer,

soap and other objects symbolize various functions.

“How is a wetland like an eggbeater?,” a panel teasingly asks.

Pull up the hinged panel and you get your answer: “Tidal action in

coastal wetlands mixes nutrients and oxygen into the water.”

Other exhibits detail the migration patterns of birds during the late

spring through the estuary, the various qualities of wetlands mud, the

smell of coastal sage scrub and other aspects of the reserve.

“You want to make [the exhibits] as interactive as you can so they

form some connection to what they’re looking at,” said Grace Yick, the

senior park ranger at the center. “We’re not trying to spoon feed

information. We’re hoping to spark questions.”

A continuing campaign

The Newport Bay Naturalists and Friends have been on a constant

fund-raising campaign to keep the center’s exhibits fresh, according to

the group’s president, Jack Keating.

The group provides the center with a $100,000 operating budget per

year and $200,000 for capital projects. Keating said the goal is to raise

$1 million.

“That money will go toward rehabilitation of exhibits later on,”

Keating said. “One of the things you notice is the exhibits get a little

seedy sometimes.”

As more people explore the northern end of the Back Bay, where the

center is located, it should get more visitors, Keating said.

Newport Beach Mayor Gary Adams, whose City Council district includes

the center, agrees with that assessment.

“I don’t think a lot of people know about it,” Adams said. “My sense

is it hasn’t become a destination yet.”