New face at the foundation

Karl Warkomski is happy to be back in South Orange County — and with his new job as executive director of the Laguna Canyon Foundation, based in Laguna Beach.

Warkomski was appointed in June to fill a vacancy left when Meg Jones — who took the position a year ago after founding director Mary Fegraus stepped down — resigned to focus on motherhood.

The foundation raises money and lobbies for preservation of the wilderness areas in and around Laguna Canyon. It has been so successful that now more than 31 square miles of wilderness have been set aside and turned over to the state parks system, from Crystal Cove to Laguna Niguel and east to Irvine.

Warkomski’s credentials as an environmentalist and background in local politics — as well as his degree in biology from UC Irvine and a master’s in public administration from USC — convinced the foundation board that he was ideal for the job.

A longtime environmentalist, and former Green Party activist — he is now undeclared in party affiliation and describes himself as politically “progressive” — Warkomski has been championing recycling, water quality and “green” building for years. He drives a 55-mile-per-gallon Volkswagen that burns biodiesel fuel — when he can find it.

Warkomski was on the Aliso Viejo City Council for seven years, serving as mayor in 2005. In 2007, he decided to go to North Carolina to help out his widowed sister, and ended up staying a year and a half. During that time, he worked for a recycling company, managing the bioconversion technologies division that uses worms to turn food waste into biodiesel and compost.

Returning to Aliso Viejo, his old haunt, he was delighted when the foundation position opened up.

As executive director, Warkomski said he will focus on outreach, especially outside of Laguna Beach.

“We will reach out to communities surrounding the park,” he said. “The foundation has traditionally been Laguna-centric, but 20,000-plus acres of the park system now reaches Irvine, the Newport Coast, Laguna Woods and Aliso Viejo, and we need to have exposure to those communities.”

The foundation is now focused more on education and restoration of the wilderness, as well as continuing to find new parcels to purchase and add to the park system, he said.

“Now that it’s protected, the Foundation is migrating away from trying to save open space to managing and restoring it,” he said.

Warkomski said many people don’t realize the Laguna Canyon wilderness is part of the California Floristic Province, one of 25 globally designated “hot spots” where the diversity of wildlife is threatened by development. Other “hot spots” include parts of the Amazon rain forest and Hawaii. The topography of the area creates many different “microclimates” that support a vast range of flora and fauna, he said.

“Being surrounded by development, we must be extra vigilant.”

He is very excited about the plans included in the Irvine Great Park for a wildlife corridor that will connect the Cleveland National Forest with the South Coast wilderness — consisting of Crystal Cove State Park, Laguna Canyon Wilderness and other pristine areas.

The high-energy executive director has “hit the ground running,” and can be found answering phones and fielding numerous questions, as well as attending back-to-back meetings, at the foundation’s small storefront office.

His first order of business was to pay a backlog of bills, a chore that took two days. The foundation had been paying its bills by hand, so Warkomski immediately instituted a Quickbooks system.

“What used to take two days will now take two hours,” he said.

He also attended a volunteer training session, where, he says, he learned a lot. One of his key missions is to increase the volunteer army that staffs the parks and conducts educational programs, as well as continue fundraising efforts.

The Laguna Canyon Foundation is located at 303 Broadway, Suite 107, Laguna Beach. The phone number is (949) 497-8324 and website is www.lagunacanyon.org

CINDY FRAZIER is city editor of the Coastline Pilot. She can be contacted at (949) 494-2087 or cindy.frazier@latimes.com.