Nature Center

Eron Ben-Yehuda HUNTINGTON BEACH -- Local environmentalists are split about the wisdom of the California Coastal Commission's 7-5 decision Tuesday to allow a developer to destroy a small wetland in exchange for restoring a larger habitat elsewhere in the city. The Robert Mayer Corp. can now move forward with its plan to build luxury townhomes on land that includes O.7 acres of "isolated and degraded" wetland at the northwest corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Beach Boulevard, said Steve Bone, the company's president.

GETTING INVOLVED runs periodically in the Independent. If you'd like information about getting your organization listed, call (714) 965-7170. Access to Sailing Inc. offers sailing programs for disabled children and adults. Duncan Milne, (714) 722-5371. Adult Day Services offers therapeutic programs for memory-impaired adults. Volunteers are needed to assist with group activities, clerical and reception work, board committees and advocacy. (714)

ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS Amigos de Bolsa Chica offers free public tours from 9 to 10:30 a.m. the first Saturday of each month at the pedestrian bridge at the Bolsa Chica wetlands on Pacific Coast Highway across from Bolsa Chica State Beach. (714) 840-1575. Bolsa Chica Conservancy Interpretive Center at Warner Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway features marine aquarium and displays about wetland plants, invertebrates, fish, birds, reptiles, mammals, ecology and restoration.

Send AROUND TOWN items to the Huntington Beach Independent, 18682 Beach Blvd., Suite 160, Huntington Beach, CA 92648; fax to (714) 965-7174; call (714) 965-7176 or e-mail hbindy@latimes.com. Submissions must be received two weeks before publication. A complete listing may be found at www.hbindy.com. FRIDAY The Friday Nite Funtime Dance for developmentally disabled teens and adults will be held at the Edison Community Center. Doors open at 7:00 p.m. and the dance ends at 9:30 p.m. Fee is $1 per person.

On a trip to New York in 1988, my wife and I were in midtown Manhattan when the lunch hour arrived. For most of us, that's a casual time of day, when we take a little time to relax before completing the rest of our duties. Not in Manhattan. In Manhattan, the lunch hour is a race against the clock and your fellow man. The loser is the person who did not get his or her order in at the deli in time, or who did not bring sneakers in order to get in some power shopping.

Diana Nguyen spent Tuesday at the Shipley Nature Center in a hard hat, orange vest and gloves, working by the outdoor nursery in the sweltering July sun. Her job? Preparing for rain. Nguyen, a sophomore at UC Berkeley, joined about a dozen other LA Conservation Corps members to install 12 large plastic tanks outside the public restrooms at the facility in Huntington Central Park. The tanks, designed to catch rain as it falls from the roof, will provide Shipley with a ready source of water for the nursery plants it sells at fundraisers.

Public television will highlight some of the landmarks of Huntington Beach as part of a weeklong series on Orange County. The episodes from the series ?California?s Gold? and ?Road Trip with Huell Howser,? will air on KOCE-TV Orange County through Sunday, with Huntington Beach Central Park featured tonight. Howser toured the Redwoods at the Shipley Nature Center April 29 and watched as children were learning about how the Native Americans hunted, according to a news release. He also spent time learning about the California Native Plants exhibited in the Demonstration Garden.

El Dorado Nature Center is part of the El Dorado East Regional Park and provides a quarter mile worth of paved trails and two miles of dirt trail around two lakes and a stream for visitors to enjoy. The 102.5 acre center was opened to the public in 1969 and offers a place for visitors to see various wildlife, like coyotes, ground squirrels and hawks as well as extensive plant life. The nature center began as a barley field, but was soon turned into a ranch by Spanish settlers in 1772.

When the Shipley Nature Center opened in 1974, it was dedicated to providing an educational preserve of Southern California’s unique habitats. Years of neglect, however, saw its native plants slowly being pushed out by invasive species that spread through the center unchecked. Passion Vine gleaned nutrients from the soil, choking off the center’s redwoods. Animals that had made their homes among the natural flora in Huntington Central Park became scarcer, and Blackbird Pond suffered from a lack of oxygen.

People seem to be enjoying the outdoors even more this year than last. The Friends of Shipley Nature Center report that they've had 5,377 visitors so far this year, versus 4,900 for all of 2006. If you haven't been in a while, you'll be shocked at how much the plants have grown. There are always plenty of flowers in bloom, and there are even a group of newly-fledged Cooper's hawks to enjoy. To accommodate the increased interest in the nature center, the Friends of Shipley Nature Center are opening the facility in Central Park on Thursdays during July through August from 4 to 8 p.m. so people can enjoy the habitats in the cool of the evening.

It has been a week of eco-consciousness throughout Huntington Beach, with Earth Day celebrations and service work taking place last weekend. But those with an eye toward habitat restoration have more to look forward to this Saturday, as the Shipley Nature Center in Central Park has its second annual Spring Festival. The festival, which begins with a continental breakfast at 9 a.m., will feature entertainment for kids and adults as well as educational opportunities, from face-painting to talks on the Western Monarch Butterfly.

Huntington Beach police continue to investigate vandalism to 34 recently planted pine trees in Central Park but have so far found no leads, authorities said Wednesday. Walkers in Central Park in front of the Shipley Nature Center discovered March 8 that someone had snapped young pine trees in half throughout the area the night before. Some of the destroyed saplings were memorial trees planted in honor of donors' loved ones, said Jean Nagy, director of the Huntington Beach Tree Society.

It's winter, but while some may not be brave enough to dive into the surf in a 4/3 wetsuit, across Pacific Coast Highway you can still get a taste of the great outdoors. On the first Saturday of every month, the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve is open for free tours, letting visitors explore the grounds on guided trails while learning about the story behind the wetlands. And it is quite a story. The tidal lands were almost destroyed after the natural ocean inlet was closed for improved duck hunting, according to the Amigos de Bolsa Chica website.

When Arline Huff Howard looks out at the fields in the Huntington Central Park, she doesn't see the vibrant-colored grass or the disc-golf course. She sees the land the way it was when she and her family lived on the 40-acre ranch on the land. Instead of the Shipley Nature Center, she sees the pond and stream where she and her sisters caught tadpoles. She sees a mesa ? dubbed Huff's Hill ? that vanished to make way for the 405 Freeway. She sees sprawling walnut orchards and crops of lima beans, celery and other vegetables, which would later be sold at a Los Angeles produce market.

Since its founding in 1975, Shipley Nature Center in Central Park has seen major changes. At first, oak, sycamore, alder, willow, redwood and pine trees were planted at the former county dumpsite. Shrubs grew, flowers bloomed and wildlife flourished. Then, due to neglect during the 1990s, the center went into decline. The entire east side became a jungle of nonnative castor bean, passion vine, giant reed and Brazilian pepper trees. Tamarisk and myoporum crowded out native plantings on the north side, and the pine forest on the west side was dying.