We’re restoring the south-western section of the
Preserve to the native Coastal Shrubland that once covered Gardena. Towards that end, we planted hundreds of locally
native plants near the amphitheater last spring. On the positive side, the new plants are
thriving. The shrubs have grown several
feet; many have already flowered and set
seed. Insects, hummingbirds and seed-eating birds flock
to the area. And a place that once was
bare – with a few non-native weeds – is well on its way to being restored. But restoration is a bit like remodeling: once
the remodel is completed, the whole house looks shabby around it. And herein lays our source of inspiration.
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| English Ivy (lighter green) covering a Black Willow tree |
The Preserve’s amphitheater sits on a gentle
slope overlooking the wetlands. It’s a
nice venue for teaching, thanks to an Eagle Scout project in 2009. It’s also a great place to sit and relax
after a couple hours of weeding. But the
view from the amphitheater could – quite frankly - use some work! As seen above, a few large non-native shrubs competed
with the native willows and other wetland trees. The area was overgrown with non-native English
Ivy (Hedera helix – the same ivy many people have in their yards)
was literally invading, climbing high into the trees and threatening their existence. The front area was bare except for some weeds,
non-native grasses and an unsightly-looking dead branch. In short, it was not the kind of view
we wanted from the amphitheater.
Fortunately, our young and enthusiastic
volunteers love a challenge. Last month
– as part of our regular restoration day on the 3rd Saturday of each
month – a group of students from the Gardena High School Honor Society and the
Circle K Club from CSU Dominguez Hills tackled the view from the amphitheater. They came in on the ground floor of the
restoration process - a process that begins with assessing the area and setting
restoration priorities.
After
preliminary discussion, we decided to explore the area before setting
restoration priorities. Here’s what we
found:
·
The area has lots of potential – the riparian woodland area is pretty
and could provide wetland access close
to the teaching amphitheater
·
English Ivy is a huge problem – more extensive than we’d realized
·
Natural pathways exist in the area, but these are overgrown
·
The non-native shrubs are large and will take some work to remove
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| Large ivy trunk growing up a willow tree |
As a group, we decided that ivy removal was the
first priority: ivy was spreading and
threatening the native trees - and the problem would only get worse if nothing were
done. As a first step we cut the trunks
of ivy growing up into the trees. It
took some work just to find the ivy trunks, even though some were several
inches in diameter and stretched 20 feet or more into the trees. Several weeks after cutting, the leaves were
starting to die making it easier to see the remaining ivy. We’ll tackle that in the future.
As we cut ivy, we decided to prune branches that
were making ivy removal – and access in general – more difficult. The branch trimmings are now being composed in
the form of a brush pile. The pile is
located near enough to be useful for teaching, but far enough off the trail to
hide it. The brush pile will provide a hiding place
for birds and lizards, as well as food for decomposing insects, worms, bacteria
and other organisms. The decomposed material will also return
nutrients to the soil rather than removing them to the landfill. We’ll be getting years of benefit from the
pruning we did to provide access. Now
that’s smart restoration!
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| Area after first work day - bare but much nicer appearance |
At the end of the morning, we sat back and admired
the view from the amphitheater. We could
already see improvements. The area was
less overgrown, some of the ivy was gone and the ‘ugly branch’ had been turned
into an interesting bit of native landscape.
But the front area still looked plain and empty – and we wanted it to eventually
look pretty and interesting. We decided
that the trees provided a nice backdrop.
But we needed plants in front of them. And we needed to plan ahead so we’d be ready
to plant when the rains came.
We
worked together to build a list of the types of plants/plant characteristics we
wanted to include in the area. Here’s
what we came up with:
·
More
leaf & flower colors
·
Small
bushy purple plant (if possible)
·
Focus
on plants native to the Gardena area
·
Increase
the diversity and number of plants – shrubs, grasses, flowering plants
·
Fruit
trees (native)
·
Include
signage/information
·
Flowers
·
Include
plants found in other parts of Preserve – especially those in surrounding
Coastal shrubland area – to make the area seem part of the Preserve as a whole
At
our November work day we’ll review the plant choices and develop a plant
list. Our goal will be to plant at least
part of the front area in December/January while still leaving access for our
on-going ivy removal. The new plants
will make the area look better while we continue our restoration of the
interior sections.
At the end of the day, our ‘ugly view’ turned
out to be something lovely – a source of inspiration. It brought together a diverse group of
students (and one professor) to solve real-life restoration challenges. Many points of view are leading to practical
and creative solutions. And that’s a
beautiful thing indeed!
We’ll
update you with our progress in the future.
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