A moving haven on Earth Day

The Bolsa Chica parking lot at Warner Avenue and PCH was filled with Earth Day booths and activities this past Sunday. Bob Adams of the Southern California Marine Institute brought a portable saltwater touch tank that was very popular. Kids and adults had plenty of opportunity to touch round stingrays, ochre stars, bat stars, Kellet’s whelks, nudibranchs and other critters.

Another popular activity was the fish-print booth, where participants could coat rubber fish with finger paint to stamp patterns on cloth.

Bob and his helpers also skimmed the water of the Bolsa Chica with plankton nets. Then, with microscopes and laminated charts, they showed the public some of the many microinvertebrates that call Bolsa Chica home. I thought the little swimmy things were creepy looking, but Vic said it showed that the wetlands are full of wonderful life. Whatever.

Marinka Horack and Janed Sax were two of the many volunteers who helped make the Bolsa Chica Land Trust booth and native plant sale a success. California native plants are good for home landscaping because they’re water-thrifty. Grassy lawns require 52 inches of water a year, but California natives get by on our normal rainfall, which is about 12 to 15 inches a year. With only a little supplemental watering, native landscaping will look great all year long.

The Bolsa Chica Land Stewards, the restoration arm of the Land Trust, had a restoration workshop on the mesa. They provided plants, tools and instructions. Members of the public were able to plant bladderpod, black sage and other coastal sage scrub plants. The new native plants eventually will crowd out the non-native grasses.

Grace Adams showed off the new interior of the Bolsa Chica Conservancy building. Over the past few months, I’ve watched the interior get stripped down to the studs and then rewired, re-floored and painted. Now it looks brand-spanking new. The live reptiles are back, as are the skins and displays. Be sure to stop by to see the renovated digs. Volunteers usually staff the building Tuesday through Friday from 10 to 4, plus Saturdays from 9 to 12 and Sundays from 12 to 3. Be sure to notice the nice planter boxes that were replanted with California native plants by students from Edison High School.

Senior volunteers with the Department of Fish and Game had a booth with information on wildlife of southern California’s coastal wetlands. REI was there to promote hiking, camping and other human-powered outdoor activities.

The Amigos de Bolsa Chica had a great display of the big wetland restoration project that will return ocean water to the back Bolsa for the first time in over a hundred years. The ocean opening is now scheduled for fall after the terns have finished nesting. Dave Carlberg, Phil Smith and Jim and Jennifer Robins were on hand to answer questions.

During planning for this event, Vic had a great idea of how to involve the public in some science at Bolsa Chica. He suggested that the public participate in “point counts.” Every fifteen minutes a group would count the total number of birds that they saw in four different areas: mudflats, uplands, water and air.

As often happens in volunteer groups when a person suggests that “someone should do such and such,” the person who suggests the great idea is often the one who ends up implementing it. That’s how Vic wound up standing on the bluff overlooking the wetlands, instructing each new group how and where to count, and keeping an updated table of results. He credits Margaret Carlberg for getting it nicely set up for him.

Things started out slowly at Vic’s station, with few birds in sight because the tide was high. But as the tide drifted out, more and more mudflat was exposed, and the birds flocked to the feast that awaited them. The number of birds spotted grew all morning as the tide ebbed.

Many people worked hard to put on this fabulous event. Coordinators included Laura Bandy, Margaret Carlberg, Marc Stirdivant, Kim Kolpin and Brian Shelton.

It was good to see so many children having fun at Bolsa Chica. They are our next generation in the ongoing battle to save the environment.