NATURAL PERSPECTIVES:March madness at Bolsa Chica

Bolsa Chica received a lot of new plants last week, thanks to several grants, the Bolsa Chica Conservancy, and students from Edison and Pacifica High Schools.

On Tuesday, Greg Gardiner and his AP environmental biology/science students from Edison High School came to Bolsa Chica to present the results of their soil, water and plant analysis, and to install about 150 native plants.

It was a madhouse, as Casey Collins, George Martinez and Jackie Cabrera from the Orange County Conservation Corps hauled plants and water to the planting site along Warner Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway, and Barry Nerhus and I flagged where the plants were to go.

The Bolsa Chica Conservancy’s education director, Laura Bandy, brought some of the high school students to the planting site with shovels and gel irrigation supplement, and showed them how to plant.

Twelve students remained inside the interpretive center, making formal presentations on water, soil and plant analyses they had performed over the past year. Their project — including the plants that we were installing — was funded by grants from Toshiba America and The Boeing Co.

Among those listening to the students’ presentations were Edison High School Principal D’Liese Melendrez, Huntington Beach High School District Asst. Superintendent Steve Ritter, and Bolsa Chica Conservancy board members Steve Holden and Diana Lang. Representing the agencies that had helped fund the project were Vicky Sever of Toshiba America and Kevin Ober of The Boeing Co. We really appreciate the support these companies give for scientific education and habitat restoration.

The purpose of Gardiner’s project was to teach students the ins and outs of scientific inquiry, data collection and analysis. Additionally, they learned about habitat restoration first-hand by planting.

The buffer strip along Pacific Coast Highway was first planted three years ago by the Orange County Conservation Corps, working under a grant from the Southern California Wetlands Recovery Project to the Bolsa Chica Conservancy. Casey Collins of the Corps supervised the crew that spent days removing iceplant and other non-natives. They installed the first native plants that went into the ground there.

The California Coastal Commission provided a grant to the Bolsa Chica Conservancy for additional planting by my orientation crews from the Orange County Conservation Corps, who also kept the area weeded. Tuesday’s plantings filled in the last remaining bare spots.

We were thrilled to find a California legless lizard in the project area. We’ve also found Western fence lizards, side-blotched lizards, Southern alligator lizards, gopher snakes and Western field mice, as well as birds that hunt these species. Watching a weed-choked strip transform into viable habitat is our payoff for years of planting, monitoring and maintenance.

On Thursday, we had another Bolsa Chica planting day, this time with Steve Doucette’s 9th-grade class from Pacifica in Garden Grove. Doucette’s class came to Bolsa Chica using funds they received from Disney’s “Show Your Character” program. The primary purpose was to engage the students in community service and help them understand the value of habitats.

We bought plants for the class to install as part of the Conservation Corps’ dune and wetland restoration project south of the south parking lot that is funded by a different grant from the Southern California Wetlands Recovery Program

Doucette brought 45 students to install the 150 plants. But with 9th-graders, it seemed more like 150 students. The kids were full of enthusiasm, bouncing and raring to go, and as noisy as courting elegant terns. We were more than happy to channel that energy constructively.

I had flagged about two-thirds of the area the day before. Dr. Chuck Nichols, a volunteer with the Conservancy, helped me flag where the remaining plants were to go. Laura and I showed the kids how to plant, while Casey and crew followed along to correct any errors in installation. Our Conservation Corps planting professionals made sure the plants had enough water, that good water wells were built around the plants and that they weren’t planted too high or too deep in the soil.

After lunch, I helped Laura with education. We took the kids over to the public docks by the Huntington Harbour Yacht Club. Laura showed them how to grope under the docks for slippery, slimy things. At first the kids were reluctant to dip their hands into the dark water, but once they saw all the neat invertebrates that live there, we had trouble getting them to leave. We took a small container of algae, mussels, sponges and amphipods back to the Conservancy to examine under the microscopes.

One of the students, Roger Childs, got into wetlands biology quite literally: He was covered with mud and slime. That was a boy after my own heart. He has all the makings of a biologist.

We sent the kids back to their school dirty and happy. We had turned yet another group of kids on to wetland restoration and the wonders of nature. You just can’t beat a job like mine, even if you feel like swallowing a bucket of Prozac beforehand and sleeping for days afterward to recuperate.

If you want to get down and dirty too, the Bolsa Chica Land Trust is having a big planting day on March 17 and could use help from the public. They’ll be planting again on April 21. If you just want to see and touch creepy critters, the Bolsa Chica Conservancy is unveiling its new marine aquarium and touch tank on March 19 at 4 p.m.