Native plants making comeback at park

Deirdre Newman

Efforts to restore Castaways Park with native plants and flowers are

blossoming while the city is enjoying the fruits of the park’s

success.

The Public Works Department received a 2004 Project of the Year

Award from the Southern California chapter of the American Public

Works Assn. Thursday.

The park, located next to the Upper Newport Bay Ecological

Reserve, is a self-sustaining ecological site. It is populated with

low-maintenance plants and flowers, which need only a modicum of

water to survive. The city’s focus on returning to natural vegetation

at the park was praised by environmentalist Jan Vandersloot.

“I think it shows a lot of environmental sensitivity and forward

thinking in restoring their park to its natural condition, and in the

case of Castaways, it’s part of the Newport Bay ecosystem,”

Vandersloot said. “I think it’s just a great and laudable action that

the city has taken such restoration efforts.”

The park has a colorful past -- from its early use as a port, then

a country club, a restaurant and now a park. The Irvine Co.

transferred the land that is now the park to the city as part of a

development agreement. The city dedicated the 17-acre park in 1998.

But only a small portion of the park was planted because of budget

limitations at the time.

A Castaways Park Advisory Committee was formed in April 1999 with

members who included representatives from the California Native Plant

Society and the nearby Environmental Nature Center. The committee

developed a varied California native plant palette and tapped grant

funding of almost $100,000 from the California Coastal Conservancy

and $50,000 from the Nature Conservancy.

The planting and restoration work started in March and the first

fruits of the labor are starting to blossom. Bright California

fuchsia, vibrant yellow bladderpods and mountain lilac are popping

out, a harbinger of the rainbow medley of colors expected to infuse

the park landscape this spring. Early rains have helped jump-start

the blooming, said Marcelino Lomeli, park and tree maintenance

superintendent.

“People had the perception that native [plants and flowers] were

brown and not beautiful. But diversity that has color and leaf

texture, that’s our goal,” Lomeli said.

The annual flowers and grasses were installed using a

hydro-seeding method, which spreads the seeds using water pressure,

Lomeli added. The process enables the seeds to bind with the soil to

prevent them from getting washed away during a heavy rainstorm. The

flowers will reseed themselves, because as their seeds fall into the

soil, they acclimate well and germinate, Lomeli explained.

Fences csurround the restoration areas. They will be removed when

the weather and vegetation are ready, Lomeli said. Some of the plants

are also covered with small tepees, for now, to protect them from

ravenous rabbits.

The park is meant to be educational by illustrating native plants

and flowers and the display of a firebreak zone. This zone is planted

with natives such as coyote brush, bladderpod and coastal sunflower,

which are fire resistant and retardant, Lomeli said.

A meadow area that’s about three-fourths of an acre offers native

sedge grass that is so drought tolerant, it can potentially survive

being watered only once a week during the summer, Lomeli said.

“It’s the largest stand of sedge grass I know of in the state,” he

said.

A visitor from Santa Monica was so impressed with the sedge grass

that she contacted Lomeli and said she wanted to use it in her front

and back yards, he said.

Mulch paths for meandering through the restoration areas will be

accessible once the fences are taken down. The vegetation can grow

from knee-high up to six feet, Lomeli said.

“I think most people enjoy the park because there are not a lot of

things to do,” he said. “You can just come, think and enjoy being

with nature. We have 46 other parks where you can do active things.

Everyone coming and leaving [here] is smiling.”