Santa Paula High Teens Do Good Things for the Earth

By Nina Danza

With school ending and tests looming, it was an inspiration to see high school teens from Santa Paula High give up a few personal hours to get out and give time to environmental service. On Sunday 5-31-15, a few SESPEA club representatives did light duty ecological work at the Hedrick Ranch Nature Area (HRNA). SESPEA (Students Encouraging Social, Political and Environmental Awareness) members have volunteered repeatedly this past academic year doing Santa Clara River riparian restoration at Hedrick Ranch Nature Area.

Teen ecologists on the Santa Clara River

On this work day, the high school teens and several college grad students were immediately immersed in environmental science. After brief instructions, the UCSB Riparian Restoration manager expected volunteers to identify native plants, capture insect species, record GIS coordinates, and more! College level work! All ages and academic levels were treated equally by the manager which really raised the bar for the SESPEA teens!

Some of the work accomplished that day included: collecting seed from native riparian plants, and catch/release of butterflies for tracking species that populate the preserve. Did you know there are butterflies dependent on riparian ecology? The number and location of riparian-dependent butterflies is important to document to monitor the preserve habitat health. And YES at least 2 of those species were found by the volunteers.

Butterfly identification

Tasks at the preserve at this time of year were limited to non-disruptive activities because April through September is when birds (including endangered species) migrate back to nest and raise young. Too much commotion might drive the parents to abandon their nests and obviously goes against to the environmental goals.

The Hedrick Ranch Nature Area is a 220 acre preserve at the ‘greenest’ stretch of the Santa Clara River. Why ‘greenest’? Because subsurface water rises upward due to geologic formation in the preserve area. Then what happens? Wetlands! Willows! And the riparian ecological niche of specific birds, bugs, butterflies, and more.

Collecting native plant seeds for a better future

Please thank the Santa Paula high school SESPEA volunteers, for they are the future stewards of our earth. And if you want to get in on the action, the Santa Clara River riparian restoration program is open to ALL and will resume in late Sept/Oct. Watch for events at www.facebook.com/SantaClaraRiverConfluence.

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Nina Danza is a Ventura Sierra Club advocate for the Santa Clara River and is a civil engineer specializing in stormwater issues.

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